Samsung American fridge freezer trips electric every two days

[Crazy_nutter]

Hi everyone

I'm hoping someone can help me diagnose a fault on a fridge freezer. It all works fine but every two days it trips my elecitric so everything running on the same circuit as it goes off.
Any idea what it could be?

[joe-ice]

More than likely a defrost heater faulty in the freezer section.

[Glenn Moore]

As Joe has advised its most likely the defrost heater in the fridge section that's faulty . I changed one in a friends recently which had a similar problem .

[Crazy_nutter]

Is the defrost heater likely to be labelled with a part number as someone has removed the sticker which showed the fridge serial/model number :( also would testing the part with a multi metre show if it is definately the faulty part?

[simon_b2004]

Hi,
not familiar with the fridge freezer exactly, but may be able to help with the electrical side.

You mention it 'trips' the electric - but you do not mention which device trips:

If it is a circuit breaker tripping (MCB), it will be labeled something like 16A or 32A then the fridge is drawing over-current. Although in this instance the plug fuse should blow first.

However, more likely, it is a residual current breaker RCB (earth leakage circuit breaker ELCB) tripping, it will be labeled something like 30mA or 100mA

In the first instance a check of the resistance of the heater (with the fridge unplugged from the mains, and the heater dis-connected) a reading above 0 ohms is a must (for a 20 watt heater somewhere around 3000 ohms is expected).

In the second instance the fault could be harder to find. Electric current greater than 30mA is finding its way 'out' of the insulated circuit to the earth of the fridge. This could be via a number of sources. Items to check would be (again with the fridge unplugged):

1. signs of water / moisture anywhere on any electrical components including the heater cables
2. poor / damaged insulation on cables and/or plugs going to the heater
3. any other form of damage

Check the resistance between the heater terminals and the earth connection. A very high resistance (open circuit) is a must here. This is not a very good test with a multi-meter as the mains voltage can cause the resistance to reduce - normally this is measured with an insulation resistance meter (Meggar)

Hope this helps

Simon