Page 1
Page 1
Started By
Message

Generac generator usage and tripped breakers

Posted on 9/14/24 at 9:42 pm
Posted by shoelessjoe
Member since Jul 2006
10840 posts
Posted on 9/14/24 at 9:42 pm
Wife just called me and told me that the refrigerator and freezer were not working and I suspected tripped breakers. Is this normal if using it during a storm? Or does it depend on the size and if I’m overloading it? (To many lights, microwave, refrigerator, freezer, oven, washer dryer) totally natural gas house.
Posted by bapple
Capital City
Member since Oct 2010
12133 posts
Posted on 9/14/24 at 10:07 pm to
quote:

Or does it depend on the size and if I’m overloading it?


This. Your home panel has thermal magnetic breakers, meaning they protect against short circuits or overloads. For example, if you put 25A on a 20A breaker it will trip due to overload but not instantaneously. If you short a 20A breaker and it sees 1000A it will trip instantaneously.

I don't think your power source would have anything to do with branch breakers tripping.

Now I do know that generators vary on the THD (total harmonic distortion) rating, meaning how clean the power is. The cheaper ones may put out dirty power that can screw up electronics. That could be part of it.

I would troubleshoot exactly what the issue is here. I doubt it's a tripped breaker but could be wrong.
Posted by Chad504boy
4 posts
Member since Feb 2005
172226 posts
Posted on 9/14/24 at 10:38 pm to
Let me guess she was blow drying her hair while the coffee was brewing and the bagel was in the toaster oven with the house set to 69?
Posted by bbvdd
Memphis, TN
Member since Jun 2009
26989 posts
Posted on 9/15/24 at 7:51 am to
Whole home generator or smaller one?

My fridges and freezers need to be run on my inverter generators.
This post was edited on 9/15/24 at 7:51 am
Posted by Clames
Member since Oct 2010
17791 posts
Posted on 9/15/24 at 9:12 am to
quote:

Wife just called me and told me that the refrigerator and freezer were not working and I suspected tripped breakers



If either or both have "Eco" modes, make sure they are running in that mode. That turns off the door and defrost heaters which take up far more power than the compressor does while in the cooling cycles. On my fridge for example, the cooling cycle uses 110 - 125W while defrost cycle uses closer to 500W.
Posted by MikeBRLA
Baton Rouge
Member since Jun 2005
16909 posts
Posted on 9/15/24 at 11:18 am to
Was there a breaker tripped or not? If so, which one? You said you suspected that was the issue and then asked us to troubleshoot based of an assumption.

It could have been a different issue all together, such as dirty power from your generator fried the electronics in the appliances that are not working.
Posted by Milescb28
New Orleans
Member since Oct 2008
209 posts
Posted on 9/15/24 at 8:33 pm to
My fridge was doing the same thing on my portable generator with nothing else plugged in. It has GFCI outlets on the generator. I think certain fridge compressors don’t play nice with the ground and cause GFCI to trip. I may have had too long or too small of an extension cord but it didn’t trip the GFCI right away. I did some googling and a possible work around could be to use a plug adapter that switches plug from 3 prong to 2 prong. I didn't love this idea so I’m currently working on using the 30 amp outlet and breaker interlock system to prevent the same problem in the future.
This post was edited on 9/15/24 at 8:35 pm
Posted by Spankum
Miss-sippi
Member since Jan 2007
58507 posts
Posted on 9/15/24 at 9:21 pm to
Microwave or a coffee pot can sometimes trip my breaker when using a generator.
Posted by shoelessjoe
Member since Jul 2006
10840 posts
Posted on 9/15/24 at 9:41 pm to
quote:

Was there a breaker tripped or not

Yes
first pageprev pagePage 1 of 1Next pagelast page
refresh

Back to top
logoFollow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News
Follow us on X, Facebook and Instagram to get the latest updates on LSU Football and Recruiting.

FacebookXInstagram