I have recently put in a large number of devices, switches and light bulbs. The devices added are Commercial Electric (Home Depot) and are integrated through the subspace integration.
Recently my refrigerator has started acting up. Symptons are like there is a power draw or something that causes the refrigerator to look as if there is almost a power loss followed by an immediate restart.
I am wondering if there is some noise on the power in the home causing issues with the 20 year old refrigerator. Are there any recommendations on how to chase down what is causing the refrigerator bounce? Also does anyone have any experience putting a 20 amp line conditioner to eliminate noise on the line as an issue, and recommendations on a line conditioner?
The house has a 400 amp service so I believe there is adequate power for the entire place.
Your refrigerator compressor is cycling, drawing enormous startup current which trips the circuit breaker attached to the side of it. As it cools down, it restarts.
Time for a service. New gas (may be very hard to find with ozone layer laws excluding use of certain tefrigerants) plus a full evacuation and replacement of lubricating oil may get another year or two out of your unit. Best start saving for a new refrigerator, as 20 years is a good run. Most modern units chew less power and cool more efficiently, so you should recover your outlay fairly soon.
Fix the underlying cause of what causes the spikes instead of installing an enormous power filter.
These symptoms are usually experienced after moving the refrigerator and not allowing the disturbed lubricating oil to settle back into the compressor. You shift it, turn it on immediately, and the compressor motor runs dry. Heat. Rotor lock. Bang! Leave it a few hours, or preferably a day and it should be fine.
For other sensitive equipment in your house, most UPS units contain a suitably rated power filter as part of their design and putting everything on a UPS that needs to stay online 24/7 is cheap insurance. This means your computer, router, HomeAssistant server, but not extras such as displays, etc.
The oil settled and the motor is running well.
You are very fortunate the windings did not burn out as the oil provides cooling as well as lubrication. Melted wirings is called motor fusion in some insurance policies that cover it.
Always try to transport refrigeration equipment without tilting it to prevent these issues.
I hadn’t moved refrigerator. It is a very large built-in. To get refrigerator to misbehave I just turn off a circuit breaker in house, not the circuit refrigerator is on. The unit will bounce its displays and click for a while. Ten it appears to settle down.
Ok. Time for possible regas and maintenance before the warning symptoms become permanent failure. Make sure they extract all the existing oil and replace it as part of the regas.
Check your relay/contactor that switches the compressor is also not faulty, or intermittent. Contact bounce of worn relays will put massive spikes on your circuits as you initially described and not pass full power the compressor motor needs during startup. Often the first point of failure and a relatively cheap part to swapout, as it is considered a consumable in the repair industry.
The compressor starter capacitor is also another critical component that tires and is relatively cheap too.
Brush the dust buildup off your heat exchanger fins can also improve cooling performance - be careful not to dent the fine fins so only brush along, never across, and use a vacuum cleaner to gently suck out stubborn cobwebs etc. Be careful not to bend any fan blades as they will become unbalanced and noisy and lead to premature motor bearing failure.
A little love goes a long way, and may solve your initial problems rather than needing expensive filtering.