How to check when Power is gone?

[nishalp]

I have a freezer in the garage and it gets hot in there.  From time to time the outlet the freezer is connected to trips and turns off the freezer.  If I get the Insteon Plug in Module, plug that into the outlet and then the freezer into the Module, is there any way, I can get a notification when the power is gone?  Can I send if a email if the device does not respond to a status?

 

Thanks.

[Xathros]

You can periodically query the plug in module and use Status Is Not Responding in a program to send an alert if the module becomes unreachable.

If 
   Status 'Garage Freezer APL' is Not Responding
   or Status 'Garage Freezer APL' is Not On

Then
   Send Notification to 'Your Cell' Content 'Freezer_lost_power'

Else

-Xathros

[apostolakisl]

As Xathros said, but be sure to realize you need a second program that does the query every so often.

 

If

every 30 minutes

then

query garage freezer

[nishalp]

Thanks guys.  My Wife will be happy.  No more spoiled food.

[stusviews]

If the electric panel is not also in the hot garage, then the circuit breaker should not trip unless there is a wiring problem. What are the electric ratings of the freezer? the breaker? Is anything else also on that circuit?

[nishalp]

yeah, so new house and they have put so many outlets and shared a lot of the circuits on common breakers.  So the garage is tied into the kitchen which has the exhaust fan, the full refridge, lights.  So some times when plugging in the dyson to vacuum and if freezer in the garage goes on and the fridge in the house and the vacuum, it pops the GFC in the circuit... Poorly designed house by KB...

[apostolakisl]

yeah, so new house and they have put so many outlets and shared a lot of the circuits on common breakers.  So the garage is tied into the kitchen which has the exhaust fan, the full refridge, lights.  So some times when plugging in the dyson to vacuum and if freezer in the garage goes on and the fridge in the house and the vacuum, it pops the GFC in the circuit... Poorly designed house by KB...

 

Well this doesn't sound like poor design but rather plain old cheapskate code violating crappy work.  For one, your kitchen fridge should be on its own dedicated breaker.

 

However, a GFCI is not designed to pop on amps, it pops on failed balance between hot and neutral.  Or in other words, there is a ground fault.  So over-amping a circuit should be popping the regular panel breaker, not the gfci.  Your problem is either an actual ground fault or possible some motors at start up have capacitance or some electric phenomenon that creates a short lived imbalance.

[Techman]

Is the GFCI located in an outlet box or is it a combination GFCI / circuit breaker?  If it's located in the panel then you're overloading the circuit. As apostolakisl pointed out you're got way too much on a single circuit. You should run a new dedicated 20 amp line into the garage and probably move the kitchen refrigerator to a dedicated breaker as well.

[nishalp]

Its actually a GFCI outlet that is popping.  The main panel circuit breaker is doing fine. 

[stusviews]

Where is the GFCI outlet located relative the to garage and "kitchen which has the exhaust fan, the full refridge, lights," and also the vacuum. Typically, there's the circuit breaker, stuff, a GFCI, and then more stuff. When the GFCI trips, the stuff between the panel and the GFCI will still be live. Everything downstream of the GFCI will lose power.

[Techman]

If the GFCI is located in the outlet box that the refrigerator in plugged into and does not serve any other outlets then you probably have a defective GFCI.

[Teken]

At the end of the day the fridge should be on a dedicated circuit. I know in the USA a GFCI is a requirement but in Canada a fridge circuit is never placed on a GFCI outlet or GFCI breaker.

 

Since its in the garage and is considered a wet location (technically not since its not actually outside) a GFCI is required per the NEC in the USA. In Canada the CEC does not require a GFCI within the garage only on the outside of the home / garage.

[apostolakisl]

At the end of the day the fridge should be on a dedicated circuit. I know in the USA a GFCI is a requirement but in Canada a fridge circuit is never placed on a GFCI outlet or GFCI breaker.

 

Since its in the garage and is considered a wet location (technically not since its not actually outside) a GFCI is required per the NEC in the USA. In Canada the CEC does not require a GFCI within the garage only on the outside of the home / garage.

 

Not sure about GFCI for dedicated fridge circuits.  Mine are not GFCI and my house electric was built to code 5 years ago.  Perhaps this is something some local jurisdictions require, but mime didn't.  It doesn't really make sense to have a fridge on GFCI to me.  I can't think of a way for a fridge to shock you aside from a short to the body of the fridge, which should cause the regular breaker to pop.  I suppose it could happen. 

[shannong]

At the end of the day the fridge should be on a dedicated circuit. I know in the USA a GFCI is a requirement but in Canada a fridge circuit is never placed on a GFCI outlet or GFCI breaker.

 

Since its in the garage and is considered a wet location (technically not since its not actually outside) a GFCI is required per the NEC in the USA. In Canada the CEC does not require a GFCI within the garage only on the outside of the home / garage.

 

NEC in the USA does NOT require GFCI for all refrigerators in residential dwellings - only commercial. However, NEC does require GFCI for plugs in the garage. So he's stuck with it anyways.

 

The freezer itself might have an issue that is causing the GFCI to trip.

[shannong]

Not sure about GFCI for dedicated fridge circuits.  Mine are not GFCI and my house electric was built to code 5 years ago.  Perhaps this is something some local jurisdictions require, but mime didn't.  It doesn't really make sense to have a fridge on GFCI to me.  I can't think of a way for a fridge to shock you aside from a short to the body of the fridge, which should cause the regular breaker to pop.  I suppose it could happen. 

 

Since fridges deal with water AND electricity there is definitely a risk presented by them where a GFCI would provide protection.

[stusviews]

According to the NEC, the only outlets in a kitchen that are required to be GFCI are those "installed to serve the countertop surfaces."  210.8(A)(6)

 

There is also an exception for garages that permits not using a GFCI "for each appliance that, in normal use, is not easily moved and that is cord and plug connected... ." 210.8(A)(2) Exception No. 2

 

The above are excerpts. Refer to the NEC for the full listing.

[apostolakisl]

Since fridges deal with water AND electricity there is definitely a risk presented by them where a GFCI would provide protection.

 

The thing with fridges is that you never handle any of the stuff that has power.  All of that stuff is buried inside the machine.  This means that only a short to the chassis could put the user in contact with a hot.  But the chassis is grounded to earth so a regular breaker would pop as soon as that short happened.  

 

I suppose you could be changing the light bulb or futsing with the ice machine and in that case you could touch a hot and be grounded elsewhere.  

 

But those risks must not be considered worthy since as you said and I knew was the case as of 2009, it is not GFCI required.