Refrigerator Tripping GFCI/Breaker

[robledjl]

First of all thank you for reading my post, i'll try to make this as short as possible. I installed a 3 in 1 start run capacitor, after manually turning the defrost timer it kicked right on and work perfectly. Before going to sleep last night i checked it one more time and it was still working, well this morning i woke up and the refrigerator was dead, this time there was no light on or anything, well i had it plugged into a GFCI in the garage, i quickly reset the outlet and as soon as the plug touched the outlet it tripped, i then changed it to a different outlet that wasnt GFCI, it lasted less than a minute when it actually tripped the breaker outside the house, non of these are specifically for the refrigerator. Now before coming here i did some reading and saw some videos but before i chuck this refrigerator i wanted to get some opinions here. I am not sure how old is the refrigerator since my dad gave it to me a year ago and it had worked perfect until this weekend, I read about a short in the defrost circuit? a short in the compressor which would mean pretty much to get a new one...can it possibly be the defrost timer messing things up? Once again thanks to anyone that replies and reads this post...i was here years ago and thanks to the people here i was able to fix my washer and dryer.

[robledjl]

sorry...i forgot to mentioned that the refrigerator works fine and doesnt trip the outlet, also i am getting readings from each prong when i touch one end to a copper pipe and the other to a prong on the compressor, should i be getting any readings?

[LI-NY Tech]

The second time it tripped did it trip a regular circuit breaker in the electrical box or a GFI on a different outlet than the one it was plugged into?  

[johntech]

You should not have continuity from the compressor terminals to the refrigeration lines. That means your compressor is breaking down and will cause it to pull high amp draw and trip breakers. Refrigerator should not be on gfci outlets per manufacture, 

[robledjl]

The second time it tripped a regular breaker, I plugged it into a non gfci outlet. I learned there shouldn't be continuity within the terminals on the compressor so I'm guessing that's an indication I need to get rid of it since it'll be cheaper to get a new one or used one correct?

[johntech]

You shouldn't have continuity from the terminals to the refrigerant line which would be considered a chassis ground. You should have resistance between the posts. I have not looked up what your compressors start and run windings should be because if you have continuity to ground then the compressors toast.

[robledjl]

Hey thanks for trying to help me out. I tried to based my assumption from readings in this forum since I'm not too savy with appliances although I'm OK with the basics but when it comes to getting deeper into the problem that's when I ask questions, I'm trying to figure out the readings from the post coming out of the compressor and from my understanding they should be around 4.2 to 5.2 each post and they should add up when testing them across,I hope that made sense. Then someone told me to touch one lead to the copper piping and the other lead to the compressor post and I should be getting a reading of "OL" which in my case I don't... I still managed to get fluctuating readings.... In your opinion this compressor is done right? Once again thanks for the help

[smee123]

dead

[robledjl]

Sweet.. Hahaha dammit