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