- Aug 31, 2025
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- If you're a qualified, trainee, or retired electrician - Which country is it that your work will be / is / was aimed at?
- United States of America
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During the recent 2 day power outage in Northern Illinois, I purchased a portable generator. 8,125 starting watts and 6,500 running watts. I plugged my 2015 LG fridge in one 120v 20 amp receptacle with no problem. I plugged my 2002 Maytag fridge in the separate120v 20 amp receptacle. After that, the Maytag kept tripping the receptacles, even the wall one it was plugged into for years. My appliance tech said fridges should not be plugged into generators due to voltage fluctuations and dirty power. What the heck, it's an emergency. He replaced some type of cooling timer which fixed the fridge issue.
I was thinking of hooking my generator to the breaker box via an inlet box next time. Then use an interlock kit on the breaker box. My question is would this be safer for the fridge instead of going directly into the generator? Do breaker boxes act as rectifier/inverter for stable voltage and cleaner power?
I was thinking of hooking my generator to the breaker box via an inlet box next time. Then use an interlock kit on the breaker box. My question is would this be safer for the fridge instead of going directly into the generator? Do breaker boxes act as rectifier/inverter for stable voltage and cleaner power?
