# How much current does a refrigerator use? **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-current-does-a-refrigerator-use/993873 **Category:** Factual Questions **Created:** [November 29, 2023, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-current-does-a-refrigerator-use/993873 "2023-11-29T19:58:00Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Showing post:** 4
### Author: ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian) #### Post date: [November 30, 2023, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-current-does-a-refrigerator-use/993873/4 "2023-11-30T00:03:15Z")
Also note that breakers do not trip immediately when their rating is exceeded. Residential (and light duty commercial) breakers have two independent trip mechanisms - thermal and magnetic. The thermal mechanism handles overloads has a “time to trip” curve - the breaker will trip if the load current stays above the rated current for a specified time. For example, NEMA requires that a 20A breaker trip within one hour for a 135% overload (27A) and within two minutes for a 200% overload (40A). The time to trip accounts for the fact that the branch circuit wiring protected by the breaker takes some time to heat to a damaging temperature. The magnetic trip mechanism handles short circuits and is also called “instantaneous trip”. When the current (actually the change in current) exceeds a certain level the breaker trips instantly (in a few tens of milliseconds, anyway). TL;DR - Circuit breakers do not trip instantly when they rated current is exceeded. Small overloads will take up to an hour to trip the breaker. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-current-does-a-refrigerator-use/993873)._