[Catalina36]

The outlet you are talking about is a GFI (ground fault interrupter) outlet. It should not be tripping because of lighting or storms. Does the outlet trip with nothing plugged in the outlet?? It is possible the outlet is defective or you may have loose wires on the outlet. If the outlet is the only outlet on the line then yes it can be changed to a non GFI outlet. Check your local electrical code to see if all outlets in a garage need to be connected to a GFI circuit?? The outlet is designed to prevent electrical shock. Possibly there was something wrong with the old freezer causing the GFI outlet to trip.

On the other note of freezers. With so much humidity in your garage when you open the door on a upright freezer most of the cold will come out as you are looking for your frozen food. A chest freezer is always the most economical freezer to run on electric.

[dp000]

Originally Posted by Pairadocs

Have new upright freezer coming in another week. Had old one plugged into outlet in garage but.... the outlet was one that "trips" (??) at any lightening strike, or power interruption, and a red light comes on and no power until you manually push the light "off" and then the outlet will work again. Of course this created a nightmare for the freezer... unlike in the house, where things come back ON after a power interruption, this outlet will not. So, the questions are:

.Can a freezer be plugged into any outlet in the garage ?

. Can this outlet that "trips off" be changed to NOT do that ?

. Does a freezer need a special kind of outlet like a stove ? HD website "seems" to say refrigerators and freezers do NOT need any kind of special outlet ?

. 1 outlet in our garage has sprinkler system, one on ceiling has only door opener, and then there are three others, one of which is the one that has to be reset of power goes off, so we are looking for a better solution for the new freezer... don't want to loose everything again because we aren't here to reset the outlet if the power goes out !

I had the same problem, call an electrician and he told me that Florida code would no allow an independent line to be put in the garage, must be hooked up to a gfi

[irishwonone]

Originally Posted by JoeBell100

Had the same problem and lost about $500 worth of frozen food since we were away when the power was lost and the GFI never came back on.
I contacted an electrician who installed a separate line in my previous house.
When coming to the Villages I had a separate line installed when constructing the house.
Worth the cost for piece of mind and not having the loss of food which will need to be replaced.
Could never really get the bad oder out of the freezer regardless of how many times it was cleaned.

Sounds like you planned well and planned ahead too. The underground utilities in TV serves everyone well. Our second home in North Florida didn’t have underground utilities. Over about 20 years we lost our freezer 4-5 times due to Hurricanes and power outages. Finally we realized it wasn’t needed for the two of us any longer and gave it to a young family. Too it was always nasty cleaning after those episodes 🥺

[DangeloInspections]

This has been a contentious issue for years. Most homes in The Villages have two GFCI protected circuits in the garage. By code, all outlets in the garage must be GFCI protected.

Some folks have an Electrician add a separate circuit....but most Electricians will only install another GFCI protected circuit to pass code...so you are really not 100% solving the problem. The code DOES allow a non-GFCI circuit for a single receptacle for a large, not easily moved appliance like a freezer....but we rarely see this. This is the best solution, and who knows if newer codes will even still allow this.

Another solution is to install a battery powered "Freezer alarm" on your freezer. They cost less than $20 on amazon. If the GFCI trips and the temp starts to go up this alarm will start beeping.

Also, if your freezer does not have a power light on it, plug in a small nightlight on the same circuit and train yourself to always look at it whenever you are in the garage.

Lastly, take a small cup, fill it with water halfway, freeze it, then place a penny on top of the frozen water. Keep this in the freezer. If while away the power goes out, then comes back on you will know to throw away all the food if you return to find the penny frozen on the bottom of the refrozen water.

Hope this helps! Frank D.

[danglanzsr]

We had a similar problem with our garage refrigerator. The GFCI in the garage would sometimes trip after a storm. It turned out that the GFCI nearest the garage door served to protect that outlet and all of the outlets on the outside wall of the house. The refrigerator and golf cart were plugged into that outlet. Water would get into one of the outlets outside and would trip the GFCI. My solution was to change the wiring in the GFCI so it did not protect the outside outlets.

Then I found the next outlet in the chain of outdoor outlets and installed a new GFCI in that box. The new GFCI provided the needed protection but it's tripping would not shut off the refrigerator or golf cart. Much cheaper than running a new circuit for the refrigerator.

[davem4616]

OP, we've had both a second refrigerator and a small chest freezer in the garage for over 4 years and never had a problem...but neither are plugged into an outlet that is on a circuit with a GFI plug.

neither appliance requires anything beyond a normal outlet.

[wganderson13]

Freezers & refrigerators should not be on a GFI outlet. Power interruption will cause then to trip. Electrician since 1976- Walter 352 775 4245

[FUSSY LADY]

You definitely need a dedicated line. We had a dedicated line put in the garage when house was built for a refrigerator with no problems.

[Rose Ann Vinci Igoe]

Originally Posted by Pairadocs

Have new upright freezer coming in another week. Had old one plugged into outlet in garage but.... the outlet was one that "trips" (??) at any lightening strike, or power interruption, and a red light comes on and no power until you manually push the light "off" and then the outlet will work again. Of course this created a nightmare for the freezer... unlike in the house, where things come back ON after a power interruption, this outlet will not. So, the questions are:

.Can a freezer be plugged into any outlet in the garage ?

. Can this outlet that "trips off" be changed to NOT do that ?

. Does a freezer need a special kind of outlet like a stove ? HD website "seems" to say refrigerators and freezers do NOT need any kind of special outlet ?

. 1 outlet in our garage has sprinkler system, one on ceiling has only door opener, and then there are three others, one of which is the one that has to be reset of power goes off, so we are looking for a better solution for the new freezer... don't want to loose everything again because we aren't here to reset the outlet if the power goes out !

Had the same issue... found that the outlet was also connected to our outside pole lamp. So the circuit would pop.... we end up, leaving the freezer where we wanted it, and using an extension cord and putting the Plug in another outlet in the garage... no problem. I have an upright freezer (love it) and no more popping. Just locate an outlet that does not have OTHER power feeding off it. We used the outlet on the very Back Wall of the garage (the wall of the garage Attached to the house) The outlets closest to the front of the garage door, seems to have other power sources (outside lites etc) riding off them. Had no need for electrician or change power amps.... just can't put any more power connections on the outlet you use for your freezer...don't worry about reset buttons , they are there for a reason... safety. I have the freezer ON a reset outlet... no problem....

[oneclickplus]

Originally Posted by Pairadocs

Have new upright freezer coming in another week. Had old one plugged into outlet in garage but.... the outlet was one that "trips" (??) at any lightening strike, or power interruption, and a red light comes on and no power until you manually push the light "off" and then the outlet will work again. Of course this created a nightmare for the freezer... unlike in the house, where things come back ON after a power interruption, this outlet will not. So, the questions are:

.Can a freezer be plugged into any outlet in the garage ?

. Can this outlet that "trips off" be changed to NOT do that ?

. Does a freezer need a special kind of outlet like a stove ? HD website "seems" to say refrigerators and freezers do NOT need any kind of special outlet ?

. 1 outlet in our garage has sprinkler system, one on ceiling has only door opener, and then there are three others, one of which is the one that has to be reset of power goes off, so we are looking for a better solution for the new freezer... don't want to loose everything again because we aren't here to reset the outlet if the power goes out !

That is a GFI outlet because it is in the garage and a potentially wet environment. You have the same in all your bathrooms and kitchens. That "light off" button as you call it, is there to reset the outlet after it has tripped due to an event. It is a safety feature. That outlet could be protecting other outlets as well. For example, you may see a similar outlet in your kitchen that is protecting multiple kitchen outlets.

No, you can not safely just change it to a non-GFI outlet. A GFI is designed to protect people (and pets, etc) from electrocution. It is being tripped because of one of two events:

1) You have a *real* ground fault somewhere. This can be a dangerous situation. In this case, the GFI is doing its job. The solution is to find the fault and this will likely require an electrician.

2) The GFI outlet itself is faulty. In my experience as a long-time homeowner, this is more likely. They are inexpensive (Lowe's / Home Depot). You can change it yourself. Just be sure to turn off that circuit at the breaker first. Because this is easy, inexpensive and do-it-yourself, I recommend doing that first. You may find that that is the end of the problem.

[Carla B]

Originally Posted by Gpsma

I cant give you any advice. Just curious, why would you buy a freezer as a retiree here. I understand, up north, most were raising kids, worked, maybe stores not close...and you had to have stuff on hand.

But why now? Stores are local and how much food do two people need to stock up on?

But, Mr. GPS, it's such a pleasure to be able to pull out prepared food and not have to start from scratch for each meal, especially if you are tired. We do meat loaf, chili, casseroles, enchiladas, all manner sauces, soups and stews, pastries, etc.

Life got better when we installed our little chest freezer in the garage.

[DonnaNi4os]

Originally Posted by n8xwb

The problem (I believe) with plugging the freezer into a GFCI plug in the garage is that that circuit is protecting your outdoor outlets. It tripping may have nothing to do with lightning but everything to do with rain getting an outside outlet wet, or something plugged in outside wet! If you don't have an electric golf cart, that plug will work great for your freezer. If you have an electric cart, try using one of the GFCI circuits for the golf cart. If you don't have much else on the circuit, it should work fine and if it trips in a storm it's no big deal.

Best comment yet.

[DonnaNi4os]

Most refrigerators say not to put in a garage. Our garages get pretty hot here and that makes then work pretty hard, shortening their lives. There are freezers that are specific for garage use. Just an FYI.

[ProfZ]

Had the same problem before electrician put freezer on separate circuit; problem went away immediately.

[Zenmama18]

Originally Posted by Pairadocs

Have new upright freezer coming in another week. Had old one plugged into outlet in garage but.... the outlet was one that "trips" (??) at any lightening strike, or power interruption, and a red light comes on and no power until you manually push the light "off" and then the outlet will work again. Of course this created a nightmare for the freezer... unlike in the house, where things come back ON after a power interruption, this outlet will not. So, the questions are:

.Can a freezer be plugged into any outlet in the garage ?

. Can this outlet that "trips off" be changed to NOT do that ?

. Does a freezer need a special kind of outlet like a stove ? HD website "seems" to say refrigerators and freezers do NOT need any kind of special outlet ?

. 1 outlet in our garage has sprinkler system, one on ceiling has only door opener, and then there are three others, one of which is the one that has to be reset of power goes off, so we are looking for a better solution for the new freezer... don't want to loose everything again because we aren't here to reset the outlet if the power goes out !

We had to put our freezer on a separate circuit breaker (20 Amp). The previous one had tripped and we lost all our food.