My kitchen is small with a poor layout. I could free up some much needed counter space by moving my fridge. It is a standard over/under with no water hookup and a normal 3 prong grounded plug. Is there any reason I can't just move it over to a new spot with a regular outlet?
Nope, no reason at all. Just be aware of the circuit load so you don't overload anything, but even if you do it'll just trip a breaker and you'll learn not to have the blender, vacuum, bread maker, and fridge all on the same one.
The NEC says that the fridge receptacle should be supplied from a dedicated 15 or 20 Amp circuit. As a home owner, you are free to plug your fridge in where you please, but if you plug it into a random receptacle circuit you may end up tripping the breaker as KyAllroad said above.
KyAllroad wrote: Nope, no reason at all. Just be aware of the circuit load so you don't overload anything, but even if you do it'll just trip a breaker and you'll learn not to have the blender, vacuum, bread maker, and fridge all on the same one.
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In reply to WildScotsRacing:
Too easy.
Kitchen outlets are usually (where I am anyway) wired as a split outlet. Top is wired to one breaker, bottom is wired to another.
They do this because they know that Joe twelve pack wants to plug his toaster and coffee maker into the same outlet and use them at the same time.
You'll be fine plugging that thing in anywhere. If you need to use an extension cord, just make sure you buy a heavy duty one like you would use on an air conditioner.
Last I checked a fridge pulls what, 2-3 amps running? Maybe 7 or 8 (whatever the sticker says) for a split second when the compressor starts. A typical 16 gauge cord will handle that fine. I've personally run a fridge and a bigass Panasonic inverter microwave (12.7 amps!) on one 15 amp circuit before and never had a problem, and any kitchen wired in the last 40 years or so will have 2 or more 20 amp circuits feeding the outlets.
It turns out my massive very high end kitchen (put in two owners ago) has the fridge and two other outlets on the same breaker. (brilliant!) It's only a problem if both microwaves are running at full power when the fridge kicks on. If the sequence is different or the power is turned down on the big microwave - no breaker blown. It's only happened once in the close to two years we've lived here.
That's when I discovered that there are six breaker panels in this house and not five like I thought.
So it turns out the current circuit also has the microwave and toaster oven. My wife found out the hard way while I was at work when she tripped the circuit. Instead of going into the basement to reset it, she just moved the fridge over as we considered. Now to see if anything else happens.
BrokenYugo wrote: Last I checked a fridge pulls what, 2-3 amps running? Maybe 7 or 8 (whatever the sticker says) for a split second when the compressor starts. A typical 16 gauge cord will handle that fine. I've personally run a fridge and a bigass Panasonic inverter microwave (12.7 amps!) on one 15 amp circuit before and never had a problem, and any kitchen wired in the last 40 years or so will have 2 or more 20 amp circuits feeding the outlets.
This. Most run under 2 amps, 15 or so peak at start. No problem.
Sometimes they can cause problems when plugged into ground fault outlets, however, so beware of that.
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