Freezer
Keeps Tripping the Breaker
A freezer tripping breaker or GFCI outlet goes quiet and dark, you reset it, and hours later the same thing happens while the cabinet slowly warms with the food inside.
Mon–Sat, 8am–8pm
- Food at risk now
- 5 questions that narrow it
- 5 causes, cheapest first
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Keep it shut, move the food, and cut the power at a dry panel if it smells burning
A tripping circuit is urgent twice over: the food warms each time the power drops, and a trip can mean current is leaking somewhere it should not. Protect the food first by keeping the freezer closed and moving it if the power will not hold, reset only from a dry panel, and do not keep resetting it; book a visit to find the cause.
What it
usually means.
The circuit protects the house by opening when it sees too much current or current leaking to ground. A freezer tends to trip it at two moments: when the compressor starts, which draws a burst of power, and when the defrost heater switches on, which is when melt water can reach a wire that has lost its insulation. Garages and basements add their own cause, because many of those outlets are GFCI-protected and a damp slab or an old outlet can trip them with a healthy appliance. Sharing a circuit with a space heater, a shop tool or a second freezer can do it too. The pattern of the trips, when and how often, is what separates the house wiring from the appliance.
The 5 causes, cheapest first
Answer these first
Is it the breaker at the panel or the reset button on a GFCI outlet that trips?
Does it trip within seconds of the compressor starting, or hours later, at random?
Is anything else plugged into the same circuit, such as a space heater, a tool or another freezer?
Is the freezer in a damp place, a garage or a basement, or on an extension cord?
Did you notice a smell, a buzz or water under the freezer around the time of a trip?
Check these
before you book.
Freezer tripping breaker: 5 checks, and none of them costs anything.
Keep the door or lid shut while the power is off; if the circuit will not stay on, move food to a working freezer or a cooler with ice.
Check the food with a thermometer and keep what still holds ice crystals or reads 40°F or below.
Reset the breaker only once, and only from a dry panel away from the freezer; if there is water on the floor near the cord or a burning smell, leave it off.
Also worth checking
- Unplug anything else on the same circuit, then note whether the next trip comes at the compressor start or hours later.
- Tell us whether it is a breaker or a GFCI outlet, where the freezer stands, and how often it trips.
The causes,
cheapest first.
5 things freezer keeps tripping the breaker turns out to be, from shared or overloaded circuit to start relay or compressor drawing too much.
The cost guide-
01 no repair
Shared or overloaded circuit
A freezer that shares a garage circuit with a heater, a compressor tool or a second appliance can tip it over when both start at once. Giving the freezer its own outlet is the owner's fix.
-
02 low to moderate
Defrost heater leaking to ground
A heater with a cracked sheath trips the circuit when it switches on, often every eight to twelve hours, and a GFCI outlet catches it first.
-
03 low to moderate
Damaged cord or wet wiring in the base
A cord pinched under the cabinet, or wiring near a drain pan that overflowed, leaks current to the frame. Water on the floor under the freezer makes this more likely.
-
04 low to moderate
Fan motor shorted
A condenser or evaporator fan motor with a failed winding can trip the circuit the moment it is powered, even with the compressor healthy.
-
05 moderate
Start relay or compressor drawing too much
A relay that sticks or a compressor that struggles to start pulls a heavy current, and the breaker opens within seconds of the start.
-
What it costs
Every repair on the site's cost scale, side by side
Open the cost guide
What else
it could be.
Most often confused with burning smell near the freezer, then freezer won't turn on.
All problemsCodes that come with it
POWER OUTAGEElectrolux · Power and voltagePOWER OUTAGE lightFrigidaire · Power and voltageLOWPOWERGaggenau · Power and voltageGreen light offGE · Power and voltagePower light offKenmore · Power and voltagePower FailureMarvel · Power and voltage
Also related
The makes
it happens on.
28 makes on this site; freezer keeps tripping the breaker can show up on any of them. Each mark opens that make's own page.
All 28 brandsFreezer Keeps Tripping the Breaker,
where we come out.
9 metros, each with its own page.
All service areasTampa BayFL · 31 areas
Miami / South FloridaFL · 47 areas
New York MetroNY · 75 areas
HoustonTX · 36 areas
ChicagoIL · 50 areas
Los AngelesCA · 95 areas
San DiegoCA · 31 areas
Questions about
freezer keeps tripping the breaker.
Why does the GFCI outlet in my garage keep tripping when the freezer runs?
Can I plug the freezer into a regular outlet to stop the trips?
Is an extension cord part of the problem?
The breaker trips only at night. Why then?
Back to your everyday
Still seeing freezer keeps tripping the breaker?
Book with what you checked above — 5 answers save the technician the first part of the visit.