Does a refrigerator have a regular plug?

Answer 1

In USA, Canada - and other countries where a 60 Hz standard electricity supply service is used - small air-conditioning units, intended for mounting below windows, are available for use on regular 110 - 120 volt outlets. They use either up to 1,800 watts or up to 2,400 watts.

A North-American 120 volt receptacle (socket outlet) is a 'duplex' (twin) outlet with a combined rating of 15 amps unless a link arrangement at the back of the receptacle is broken, in which case, the two 'halves' of the receptacle would be supplied from individual 15 amp circuits from the supply panel, allowing 15 A each.

The design of the duplex receptacle is such that the two outlets are arranged vertically. Because of this, both outlets can only be used simultaneously if appliances having cables fitted with "in-line" plugs are used.

If a grounded 3-pin plug with a cable exiting from it at 90-degrees (like British 13 amp plugs) is fitted to the cable of a relatively high-current appliance - such as an air-conditioner unit - then only one such appliance can be used if it is plugged into one of the duplex receptacles because the appliance's cable covers the other receptacle!

For this reason, air-conditioning units are supplied with cables whose plug is at right-angles to the cable (called an 'AC cable') - meaning that only ONE receptacle outlet can be used.

That scheme prevents the duplex outlet from becoming overloaded (i.e. exceeding 15 A).

So, the simple answer is that an AC unit can only be used with a normal 120 volt 15 amp receptacle if it is connected with an AC cable and not a regular cable ("'regular" meaning a cable with an in-line plug). Otherwise, there is the possibility of overloading the receptacle.

To be able to let the sales person know which kind of air-conditioner you want - so that you don't buy a unit that would overload your wiring - before you buy one it is best to find out for sure if the regular outlet you want to plug it into can safely support a continuous current draw of 15 amps - as would be the maximum amperage used by 1,800 watts 120 volt air conditioning units - or 20 amps, as would be the maximum amperage taken by the 2,400 watts 120 volt units.

Safety Warning

If you use one of those small air-conditioners you must take care not to overload the house wiring by using any other large home appliances plugged into other receptacles that are wired into the same circuit.

Using a small electric light, hi-fi unit or television may be ok, but don't try to use a powerful hair dryer or vacuum cleaner at the same time as the air-conditioner is running.

Most likely the resulting current overload would cause the circuit breaker to trip - to cut off the power before anything catches on fire - but it is wiser not to do it!

Note: Large air-conditioners take a lot more power so they can only be used on a 240 volt branch circuit. (It must have the right kind of outlet, wiring and circuit breakers for 240 volts.)

An earlier answer that does not really answer the actual question:

Air-conditioners are devices with higher consumption of electricity

if it is plugged in a normal house plug it will intake large amount of current which will pass through Power Meter and the filament (element) present in it will burn out. (No, it is the house wiring which might catch on fire if the circuit breaker failed to trip to cut off the current.)

This may even affect the internal wire connections..which may cause fire due to electrical sparks.It is highly dangerious to plug it in plug. (???)

If, over the next 7 days, no changes are made to improve the above earlier answer, it will be moved over to the Discussion page.

Answer 2

For North American voltages it has the same plug as small appliances. On some plugs the blades will be at 90 degrees to the feed wire. This is to accommodate receptacles that are behind the refrigerator and allows the unit to be pushed in almost flush to the wall.

Answer 3

Yes, as long as the freezers operating voltage is the same as the regular outlet voltage. The only draw back not having a dedicated circuit for the freezer is that there is a possibility that the freezer could trip due to the other loads on the circuit.

If the other load on the circuit was a high load and the freezer started, the total circuit would trip. If not noticed for a while, the food could start to thaw. So if you are going to just plug into any plug for the freezer to operate check what other devices are also on the same circuit.

Answer 4

Yes