The Effect of Electrical Surge on a Refrigerator

Causes of Surges

• An electrical surge in a home may be caused by a number of different things. If you plug too many items into the same outlet and run the electronics all at one time, it may cause a surge. Lighting strikes directly to a home or to power lines around the home may also cause surges. In some instances, a refrigerator itself may be the cause of a surge. Due to the high power requirements of the appliance, when a refrigerator cycles, turning on and off automatically, it may cause a surge that can flip the breaker or burn out the fuse.

Flipping Breaker

• Many times when an electrical surge hits a refrigerator, it doesn’t permanently affect the refrigerator’s operation. Breaker boxes, which can generally be found in older homes, help prevent permanent damage to a refrigerator and other electronics during a power surge. If the breaker box is working properly, when a power surge moves through the electrical line, the breaker for the refrigerator flips to the “Off” position. You can return power to the refrigerator by flipping the breaker back to “On.”

Refrigerator Fuse

• In general, more recently built homes use fuse boxes instead of breaker boxes to help control the electricity running through a house. When an electrical surge occurs in a home, instead of a breaker flipping to an “Off” position, the fuse for the refrigerator may blow out. If a refrigerator fuse blows in the fuse box of a home, you must replace the fuse for the refrigerator to begin working again.

Damage to Refrigerator

• An electrical surge that causes actual damage to a refrigerator is a rare event, but it can happen, especially in instances of lightning strikes. When this type of surge occurs, it may damage any number of components inside of the refrigerator, including fuses on the unit’s circuit board or the motor. Some of these components, such as fuses, can be inexpensively replaced, but others require a complete circuit board or motor replacement.