A 115-volt or 120-volt, individual, properly grounded branch circuit with a 3-prong grounding type receptacle, protected by a 15 or 20 amp circuit breaker or time-delay fuse. Should be on a dedicated circuit. This is recommended for best performance and to prevent overloading house wiring circuits.
While many refrigerators can operate on regular outlets, there are instances where a special outlet might be recommended. Larger or more advanced refrigerators (such as commercial units, or those with additional features like ice makers or water dispensers) might have higher power requirements.
However, they can experience sudden spikes, which can cause them to run at around 15 amps. As a result, a refrigerator must run on a circuit that is capable of handling these occasional spikes. The best course of action is to run the refrigerator on a dedicated 20 amp, 120-volt circuit.
If you are talking about a regular domestic refrigerator, you can plug it into the regular 110 to 120 volts outlet. However, do not plug your refrigerator into a wall socket that has two terminals. Ony use your fridge in a three-pronged socket.
A dedicated outlet for a refrigerator (since nothing else can be plugged into it), doesn't have to be GFCI. And not being GFCI has the advantage that something else can't trip off the fridge/freezer and ruin all your food (like a chest freezer in the garage).
Traditionally this requirement applied only to kitchen countertop receptacles, but now any cord-and-plug-connected appliance in the kitchen such as the range receptacle, refrigerator receptacle, disposal receptacle, and microwave receptacle now require GFCI protection.
Refrigerators usually use 120-volt outlets. Divide the 72 W by 120 volts to get the amperage for your appliance: 72 W / 120 V = 0.60 amps.
A 115-volt or 120-volt, individual, properly grounded branch circuit with a 3-prong grounding type receptacle, protected by a 15 or 20 amp circuit breaker or time-delay fuse. Should be on a dedicated circuit. This is recommended for best performance and to prevent overloading house wiring circuits.
Make sure that the refrigerator outlet or receptacle isn't sharing the circuit with another item, like an extension cord or decorative outdoor lights. The cord may be damaged, and the lights can have enough leakage current to trip the GFCI. This is why having a dedicated refrigerator circuit can be a benefit.
It is not recommended to connect a refrigerator to a multi-outlet. If it is unavoidable, please use one with a power rating of 15 ampere or higher.
You should have refrigerators and freezers installed on a 15-20 amp dedicated 120 volt circuit. This will help you avoid an electrical overload due to your current wiring not being capable of handling the additional power.
On a regular basis, most people will almost exclusively use 15 amp outlets. However, there are situations where 20 amp outlets are necessary. This is because 20 amp outlets are designed to handle devices that need more power. This usually means powerful kitchen equipment like refrigerators or electric stoves.
Refrigerator or Freezer – Running a refrigerator via a dedicated circuit is the recommended best practice for homeowners. Most refrigerators use between 3 and 6 amps, but peak draw can spike up to 15 amps. For this reason, refrigerators and freezers should be connected to a 15-20 amp dedicated 120-volt circuit.
Can You Run a Refrigerator on a 15 Amp Circuit? Yes, you can typically run a refrigerator on a 15 amp circuit, as most household refrigerators require between 3 to 10 amps to operate. This usage falls well within the capacity of a 15 amp circuit.
We do not recommend connecting a Refrigerator to a surge protector.
We strongly recommend that an extension cord not be used with any Refrigeration appliances (Refrigerator, Freezer, Compact Refrigerator, Ice Machine, Beverage Center, etcetera) due to the potential safety hazards under certain conditions.
There is the possibility that another outlet could inadvertently trip the GFCI circuit, thus causing a power loss to the refrigerator/freezer.
Refrigerator amps are the amount of electrical current it's compressor uses to cool it's compartment. Amperage for most household refrigerators, is anywhere from 3 to 5 if the voltage is 120. A 15 to 20 amp dedicated circuit is required because the in-rush amperage is much higher.
The simplest and most common reason a refrigerator, or any appliance, would trip a circuit breaker or fuse box is because it's overloading the overall circuit.
Refrigerator receptacles should be mounted 600 millimeters or two feet from the floor. This placement caters to full-size refrigerators, which often have the cord positioned at the top. With a typical six-foot cord length, this outlet height ensures the refrigerator can be easily plugged in.
An upright or chest freezer should always be plugged into its own individual electrical outlet which has a voltage rating that matches the rating plate. A 115 Volt AC, 60 Hz, 15- or 20- amp, fused, grounded electrical supply is required.
Most regular fridges use regular outlets. The fridge should have a label on it saying how many amps/watts it needs, as long as it is below what the amperage of the circuit the outlet is on, it is okay. Exp a 13 amp circuit on 220v has 2800 watts. You want to keep it around 2000 watts or less to give some headroom.
- the sockets of oven, fridge and hob sockets are usually placed at 30 cm from the floor and their ideal position is are in the middle of the appliance itself (except with the fridge where it is better if the socket is slightly off centre due to the space taken by the engine).
Most refrigerators run between 3 to 6 amps, with that said, a refrigerator can spike at peak usage up to 15 amps. It's best to take into consideration worst case scenarios. You should have refrigerators and freezers installed on a 15-20 amp dedicated 120 volt circuit.
2023 NEC Code Changes for GFCI Outlets
Traditionally, this requirement applied only to kitchen countertop receptacles, but now any cord-and-plug connection points in the kitchen (such as refrigerator receptacles, disposal receptacles and microwave receptacles) now require GFCI protection.