Something else is most likely ‘on’ the circuit when the refrigerator starts and trips the breaker due to the inrush current.
The refrigerator and the microwave should be on separate circuits.
Update: My nieghbor helped me pull the fridge out. A couple of paper sacks had fallen behind it; we removed those. The coils are semi-protected by a covering; they were relatively clean, but we vacuumed up a bit. So far the fridge has stayed on. I haven’t plugged the microwave oven back in. I’ll take the advice to move it to a different outlet.
The wiring, like everything else in this house, was a do-it-yourself job by some previous owner. I had the house inspected before I bought it, and the inspector said, “If there were a code in Mississippi, this would not be up to it.”
My neighbor is an electrician, but I try not to take advantage of that (he won’t ever take money from me). He didn’t seem overly concerned about the situation, but said to let him know if the breaker tripped again.
To answer a few questions:
- The A.C. is on another circuit.
- I don’t know if it is a single pole or a double pole breaker. There are no handles, only a switch.
- It’s possible the circuit was originally intended for a range and that things got moved around during a remodelling. The house came with a range. I put the refrigerator in the place that seemed the logical place for it to go – really the only place it could go.
- I live in a rural community outside of Memphis. My house (at least parts of it) is 50-100 years old. It started out as a 1-room cabin and has been added onto in unusual but delightful ways over the years. We got hooked up to city water/sewage just a couple of years ago.
Tonight’s the big test. If the circuit trips again, I’ll call an electrician.
If nothing happens for a few days (with the microwave unplugged), then it may just be from the garbage back there. After that plug the microwave back in (for the purpose of this experiment, I would plug it back into the same outlet that it was in to begin with) if the circuit blows, then the microwave is most likely the culprit. Could be some fault to ground going on inside the microwave itself. You could try then plugging the microwave in somewhere else and see if it blows that breaker in which case it may be time for a new one. Of course as others have mentioned it could be ALOT of other things and it’s hard to tell without actually looking at the appliances and wiring in question. But I would like to re-state what others have said. Blowing a 50amp breaker is not good news, especially when the only things (supposedly) on the circuit shouldn’t draw anywhere near that amount of juice.
Here’s another test you can try. Shut off the (dangerously oversized) 50 A breaker. Use a lamp or other small appliance and plug it into every other outlet in the house. I would say in that area, except that your house was “wired” in phases by amatuers, so there’s no telling where the circuit runs. Anyway, the lamp will let you know if any other outlets are on the same circuit. If not, I’d start checking some of the other high amp draw appliances like an electric oven, dryer, water heater or air conditioner, to see if they have lost power. I’m guessing that someone used one half of a 240 VAC circuit to power that plug, or they just couldn’t find a 20A at Home Depot that day. One way to tell if you have a single pole or two pole breaker is by it’s size. Generally a two-pole will be twice the size of a single pole - it will take up two spaces in the breaker panel.
Another thing to check. While the breaker is NOT tripped, check to see if it is significantly warmer than other breakers around it. This would indicate a loose connection or a very high load on the breaker. Also check the outlet the refrigerator is plugged into for signs of warmth and the refrigerator cord itself. These are potential locations for poor connections that could cause a breaker to trip.
Cautionary note: Breakers are sized to protect your wiring, not your appliances. An oversized breaker will not trip when the current carrying capacity of the wiring is exceeded. This is one way that houses burn down. You should get this resolved VERY SOON.
Greenfield, but I work in Mequon.
I work with a lot of people that live in and around Saukville.
Another frequently overlooked load, and sizeable at that, is an electric water heater.
They make no noise, are hardwired in, and are located in a closet, garage, or other “out of sight, out of mind” location.
Since they turn on whenever the water in the tank cools, they can be the source of seemingly “random” events.
I was going to call an electrician this morning, but when I got up, ALL the power in the house was off. That about gave me a heart attack, but I eventually determined that it was off because the power company was working in the area. I just now got power back and am waiting to see if the fridge goes off again. I’ll check to see if the water heater is on the same circuit (didn’t think of that one – thanks).
I wouldn’t go so far as to say that a water heater makes NO noise, but they do make some. Granted you won’t hear it if you’re 100 feet away, but if you’re next to it it will make hissing like sound. At least my electric water heater did. If you want to test that I would first check to see if it’s labeled in the breaker box, if it is then it’s probably got it’s own branch and not an issue. But either way, turn it off at the breaker if you can otherwise turn the thermostat all the way down. Now go and turn the hot water on somewhere and run it until it’s cold, then go and turn the heater back on (either by turning thre breaker back on, or turning the thermostat back to where it was orginally, most likely 120 degrees F) it should start hissing. While heating go open up the fridge to let the cold air out so the compressor kicks on. If you blow the breaker, then we have something to work with.
I am an electrician, and there’s no way a 50 amp breaker should feed a line which supplies a fridge, and no way a fridge should be drawing
over 50 amps to trip the breaker.
PLEASE get someone who knows what they are doing to look at this
and rectify the problem NOW. You can take chances with your own life if you want, but please get the kids (if any) out of the house till that’s done.
First, check to make sure the water heater is electric. It may be gas. If it’s gas you’ll see the vent pipe on top and the gas line with a shut-off vavle running into the exchange chamber.
If it’s electric it won’t be vented and it should have some sort of flexible conduit (hopefully) running to it from a junction box. It may even have an on off switch nearby.
Even if it is electric, it may be on it’s own circuit. See if it’s labeled in the panel as such. You may be able to follow the wiring back to the panel too.
Thanks.
I’m a sparky too. You’ll note a similar sense of urgency in post #14. 
I hope the OP heeds the advice.
Get your neighbor over there pronto.
Update: In the 2 days since the power came back on following the neighborhood-wide power outage due to utility company work, the refrigerator has not tripped the circuit breaker. I still plan to have someone out to look at it soon.