Weird electrical issue at home (long)...

General Questions
#1

Okay I’ll try and explain my issue, hopefully someone here can tell me how to correct it.

In my basement I ran a new 15 amp circuit (using 14 gauge wire) from my electrical panel to where my beer fridge is located (about 10 feet away).

A couple months later, I was given a deep freeze (probably 3’x3’x6’), so I plugged it into the same circuit. I know I shouldn’t have a fridge and freezer on the same circuit, but I figured if I started popping the breaker I would add a second circuit for the deep freeze.

A few months later I added 1 more duplex receptacle on that circuit and hooked a mini-bookshelf stereo system that I turn on when I’m working in my basement. So that is all that’s on this circuit. This has been running in this configuration for 3 years.

A couple of days ago when I opened the beer fridge I noticed the light didn’t come-on when I opened the fridge door. So I took the bulb out and put it in a light socket and it worked. I then turned my mini-stereo on and it worked. So I unplugged the fridge and checked the voltage of that plug with my multimeter and I got 120v.

So I thought the fridge was the problem. I took the fridge apart and looked for any burnt wires, corroded connections, checked for continuity where it made sense etc. But I couldn’t find anything.

I then looked at the freezer, and it wasn’t working either! So I grabbed a heavy-duty extension cord and plugged the fridge and freezer into another circuit. The fridge light then started working and I could hear the compressors kicking-on on both the fridge and freezer.

However the fridge only gets cool, not cold. So here are my questions:

1). Does this make any sense? Can the breaker have "worn"out and still provided 120 volts, but not 15 amps?
2). Is this common?
3). What are the chances that I screwed-up my fridge, as opposed to the breaker?

Thanks

MtM

#2

Best guess without being able to poke at things with a Wiggy tester… (multimeters are all but useless for electrical work)

The receptacle that the fridge and freezer were plugged into has suffered a bad connection. By chance, did you use the push-in back terminals? Those are notorious for going bad, especially wihth large loads like refrigerators.

Another possibility, but not all that likely, is a bad connection at the breaker - either it’s not pushed into the bus all the way, or the screw terminal’s just loose enough that a tiny load like the radio gets the power, but not a large load. (current through a bad connection = voltage lost, possibly to the point that the fridge won’t run)

My bet’s on a burned-out connection at the receptacle. Re-do everything with proper wirenuts to make pigtails and use the screw connectors on the receptacle, and I’ll bet the fridge runs again.

#3

You should leave the fridge plugged into one side of the receptacle and probe the other half of the same duplex with your VOM. You weren’t checking the circuit under load. If you read a low voltage there, probe the socket that your stereo is plugged into. If that’s normal, you’ve probably got a bad duplex outlet. If abnormal, the problem is probably in your breaker panel.

#4

You’ve got a bad connection somewhere, and based on other info in your post, I would strongly recommend letting a professional electrician sort this one out.

What you often find with a bad connection is that with no load it tests at 120 volts, but once you put a load on it, the voltage drops significantly. While this is happening, the fault is generally getting VERY WARM and can easily cause your house to burn down.

Also, breakers are protective devices. They are there to catch the “oh crap” things that happen. You shouldn’t rely on one to tell you whether or not you are overloading a circuit. This is a very dangerous way to wire things up in your house.

The fact that everything has been running in this configuration for three years may only mean that it took that long for the excessive heat building up somewhere to do a noticable amount of damage. It is not an indication that you did things right.

Chances are the fridge is fine. Everything else on the entire circuit, including the breaker box, the breaker for this circuit, and the two next to it, needs to be carefully examined for damage.

#5

At this juncture, calling an electrician would be best.

Ditto _geek "breakers are protective devices. They are there to catch the “oh crap” things that happen. You shouldn’t rely on one to tell you whether or not you are overloading a circuit. This is a very dangerous way to wire things up in your house.

And ditto _geek “the breaker for this circuit, and the two next to it, need to be carefully examined for damage.”

If you don’t want to call an electrician, replace the breaker and the one(s) next to it, and the wall receptacle - they are cheap - and this should solve the problem, assuming there are no wiring problems.

Wiring problems, in that there are not breaks in continuity caused by improper installation or rodents - and that the proper wiring was use. 14 GA will sufficiently handle the load for this circuit - assuming you have used solid conductor THHN or Romex - and it’s not a run of more than 200 feet. Not trying to insult your intelligence, but I’ve seen people use speaker wire for electrical circuits.