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I was running my vacuum cleaner and suddenly the kitchen GFI receptacle it was plugged into popped with some black smoke, a burning electrical smell and blackened the receptacle itself.

Did my vacuum cleaner die? Is it safe to try a different receptacle? Should I call the electrician who installed this receptacle in the spring?

Jim Stewart
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Shon
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  • Why can't you call the electrician tomorrow? – The Photon Dec 30 '18 at 00:01
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    it is not possible to guess if your vacuum cleaned has died. .... you will have to figure that out yourself. – jsotola Dec 30 '18 at 00:09
  • SInce I discovered this circuit also knocked out my refrigerator, I have called the electrician already. jsotola - I only asked about my vacuum cleaner because I don't know if plugging it into a different outlet would also cause that one to blow up. – Shon Dec 30 '18 at 00:17
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    you can either plug it into another outlet and briefly turn it on, or you can take it to a repair shop and have them do the same – jsotola Dec 30 '18 at 02:02
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    In the short term, get a **3-prong** extension cord, go behind the refrigator and plug it into the extension cord, and run the cord to any socket that still works. Also when the electrician is out, tell him you do not want the refrigerator on GFCI. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Dec 30 '18 at 02:20
  • @Harper Your phrasing is correct "tell him you do not want the refrigerator on GFCI". And then let him figure out how to do it - if refrigerator receptacle is the only one chained after the blown GFCI, then pigtail all to Line instead of using Load works. But if that is not the case (e.g., another countertop receptacle in between) then the electrician may need to do some more work to get things "right". (And not everyone has the panel right below the kitchen like I do...) – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact Dec 30 '18 at 04:13
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    Harper - thank you for the great suggestion! I appreciate it and should have thought of that myself. You probably saved me a couple of hundred dollars of food! – Shon Dec 30 '18 at 04:28

3 Answers3

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The load of a vacuum combined with the refrigerator was probably more than the wiring could handle. I state this because most vacuums are at the max of 15 amp circuits and now the refer kicks in another motor load with high in rush current. Depending on the wiring method it could be just loose connections that sparked but the gfci could in fact let the magic smoke out and this is an easy fix, turn the breaker off, buy a new gfci outlet, pull old outlet and install new oulet making sure to have the wires for line and load in the correct positions. Turn the breaker back on. Make sure the fridge is working , and use another outlet in the future.

Ed Beal
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  • I had a new circuit breaker box installed and all the kitchen outlets upgraded to GFCI (as well as 13 outdoor outlets) in April of this year. So far, 2 of the outdoor outlets have gone bad and now this one in the kitchen. I wonder if we just got a defective batch of GFCI outlets? It certainly is annoying. I will discuss all your suggestions with the electrician when he arrives. Unfortunately, this is Saturday night in the middle of a holiday season. Ugh – Shon Dec 30 '18 at 04:34
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    I'd consider replacing the circuit breaker too. If the combined load of ref and vacuum was too high and caused damage......... That's precisely what circuit breakers are supposed to prevent! Demand to see, and keep the damaged part. Maybe something was screwey with how all of your outlets were installed. I'd say that's a lot more likely than a bad batch...... And if that's the case, don't replace the outlets. Replace the electrician. – Billy left SE for Codidact Dec 30 '18 at 12:44
  • Well, this is interesting. Last night I tried plugging the refrig into every outlet in the kitchen (3 different circuits) then unloaded my entire refrig/freezer into coolers. This morning just for grins I got an even longer extension cord and tried plugging the refrig into a outlet in the dining room and it works! So this means I have three bad circuits and none of the circuit breakers in the main box were off. – Shon Dec 30 '18 at 16:37
  • There's nothing more important in the house than the refrigerator when the refer kicks in. Wait, what? – Mazura May 30 '20 at 04:25
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GFCI outlets aren't designed to last forever. It could be that the GFCI simply died when under load.

One thing I would make sure of is that when the GFCI is replaced that it is NOT put in-line with the circuit (i.e. make a pigtail in the box and have the GFCI not use the LOAD side connections). There's generally no reason why a refrigerator should be protected by a GFCI

There's no requirement to GFCI protect receptacles that serve a refrigerator. Unless the fridge is plugged into a countertop receptacle.

My bet is that it was placed in-line by a sloppy contractor or a prior homeowner who didn't know what they were doing. In either case, putting the GFCI outside the circuit should ensure it is never overloaded again.

Machavity
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  • Agree regarding the refrigerator issue. But as far "don't use LOAD", what if the chain is panel->countertop 1 w/GFCI -> countertop 2 w/GFCI -> refrigerator receptacle? If so, replacing with a pigtailed connection will leave a code violation in the countertop 2 location. – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact Dec 30 '18 at 04:11
  • If that's the case, I would still remove this GFCI from the circuit and install another downstream to cover that second outlet (and anything beyond) – Machavity Dec 30 '18 at 15:54
  • Agree - unless it is really easy to run a separate line for the refrigerator, that would be the best solution. The key is to look at everything on the circuit (which we can't do remotely) before deciding which "fix" to implement. – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact Dec 30 '18 at 16:03
  • I'm approaching this from the assumption that they can't replace or add circuits – Machavity Dec 30 '18 at 16:04
  • Which is a quite reasonable assumption. Or likely not "can't" but "adding a circuit would take a lot more time & $ then other solutions". – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact Dec 30 '18 at 16:08
  • When my electrician updated the kitchen outlets, he told me the wiring was unusual because every other outlet was daisy-chained (I'll try to explain. There are 6 outlets: #1 and 3 are daisy chained, #2 and 5 are chained so he had to put GFCI's on every one - except the refrigerator. It sounds like a complicated mess to me. I don't understand why every single kitchen outlet is not working with one blown GCFI and no circuit breakers tripped. – Shon Dec 30 '18 at 17:04
  • @Shon That's how my counter goes. #1 (norm) goes to #3 (GFCI) which then goes into the dining room. #2 (GFCI) goes to #4 (norm) which goes to the fridge and the other side of the kitchen. So both GFCIs are stand-alone. When we bough the house #3 was dead and took the dining room with it. – Machavity Dec 30 '18 at 17:30
  • Machavity - did you ever change your refrigerator to its own circuit? My new circuit breaker box can handle add-ons to existing circuits. When the electrician installed the new box, he labeled almost every breaker - except in the kitchen he has a few question marks. I guess these are where the problems lie. – Shon Dec 30 '18 at 23:32
  • @Shon No. There really wasn't any reason to. The circuit isn't terribly taxed as-is. If I remodel the kitchen I will. – Machavity Dec 30 '18 at 23:34
  • Thank you to all who answered my questions and concerns! My electrician may not come until after New Years but with my refrigerator running, that's all right! – Shon Dec 31 '18 at 00:33
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Probably a bad GFCI. It should just trip if something is wrong with the vacuum, not smoke and blow up. Try the vacuum with a different outlet. Maybe one without a GFCI just Incase something really wired if going on. Worst that happens is you see a few sparks and the breaker trips. It won't damage anything.

Randomaker
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