Ours did that. We found that water was getting into an outside plug causing it to trip. When we fixed that, the problem stopped.

Refrigerators, washers, appliances with larger motors should use a regular, grounded outlet.

Adding to what dadoes and geoffrey_b said, I have to ask if there is anything else on the circuit but the GFCI and the downstream outlet with the fridge?

If not, replace the GFCI with a standard outlet. Better yet, remove the GFCI, connect the wires with wire-nuts and cover the outlet with a plate. That will prevent anything from being plugged in upstream of the fridge. Virtually all user guides for fridges will say to put the the fridge on its own dedicated circuit.

Does the circuit have anything else on it? Plugs in the house? Garage door opener? Light switches? Outside outlets? If so, look into adding a separate circuit for the garage fridge.

Thanks for the input. The GFCI receptacle is the first outlet on the circuit. The refrigerator outlet is second and there is an outside outlet that is third. Both the second and third are protected by the first GFCI. I think it is the induction surge or the defrost cycle that is causing the GFCI to trip. How would I go about wiring the second or middle receptacle as an unprotected receptacle and leaving the third outlet protected? Is that possible? I read somewhere that there is a type of GFCI receptacle that has a built in delay to accommodate motors. I can't find one listed on the internet, can anyone point me to where I can buy such an outlet?

Code now requires that all outlets in a garage be GFCI protected.

I imagine that weedmeister may be correct about garage outlets. However, it is absolutely nuts to put any unit that could spoil expensive foods or other critical time dependant issues on a gfi.

You can always simply move the gfci to the last plug position.

The first thing I would do is replace the GFCI with a new one and see if that fixes the problem. If that didn't work, you could 'wire around' it. That is, change the wiring at the first GFCI to no longer protect the other outlets. Then replace the other outlets that need protection with new GFCIs. In your example of 3 receptacles with the first being GFCI, the second your fridge and the third something else, you would replace the 3rd outlet with a new GFCI. If there are other outlets in the string after #3, they can be protected by the 3rd one.

txmat -- re your question about GFCI units with a "built in delay," I suspect those are for higher voltage industrial applications and are for protecting machinery rather than protecting persons which is what residential GFCIs are for. What you might want to look for instead is (I think) called a "hospital grade" GFCI. Not time delayed, but more robustly built and less likely to be tripped by the fridge. You probably want to look for a 20 amp version. A brand name is Leviton. (There may well be others, that's just the one that came to mind.) That should help with a search for models and vendors.

So, use one of those to replace the existing GFCI per Weed's suggestion.

If one of those does not solve the problem, you might try posting your question in the Electrical Wiring Forum here. Also, if your "new to you" house/garage was built before 2010, there may be lesser requirements for GFCI in the garage and you might be able to have the fridge circuit without a GFCI. My recollection is new construction now requires GFCIs for absolutely everything in a garage (except maybe dedicated light circuits) but that prior to 2010, the NEC and IRC allowed you to have a dedicated non-GFCI circuit for a freezer or fridge. So, maybe permissible if you plate over the existing first outlet and remove the outside outlet. (No help if that's the only circuit to the garage). If built prior to, I think 2003, codes may have permitted that line go to other outlets as long as the downstream outlets were GFCI. I don't claim to be any kind of code expert, but hopefully this this helps for further research and is another reason to check out the wiring forum.

Quote: Why a GFCI should not be used with major appliancesA Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter is supposed to be a valuable safety device. Why not use them everywhere, even on large appliances with 3 wire plugs?
A properly grounded 3 prong outlet provides protection for both people and the appliance should a short circuit develop between a live wire and the cabinet.

Highly inductive loads like large motors or even fluorescent lamps or fixtures on the same circuit can cause nuisance tripping of GFCIs which needless to say is not desirable for something like a refrigerator.
Nuisance tripping of GFCIs
When used with highly inductive loads like motors or even fluorescent lamps, GFCIs may occasionally (or more frequently) trip due to the voltage/current spikes at power on/off. While the NEC/UL specifications apparently allow for some time delay in their response to combat this problem, it is not known if all manufacturers of GFCIs incorporate this into their product. However, the very common Leviton GFCI outlet probably does use the National chip (LM1851 Ground Fault Interrupter) referred to below.

I quit having GFCI trouble after I fixed all the bad wiring connections, and I haven't had trouble at all with GFCIs and my workshop, which I wired myself. GFCI controller chips include a time delay to reduce false tripping. I used to think GFCIs always tripped at 5 to 6 mA, but the UL allows up to a whopping 200 mA if the GFCI stops the current within 30 ms, and 6 mA leakage is allowed to last 6 seconds.

According to National Semiconductor, their GFCI chips will stop a 200 mA fault in 20 ms, a 6mA fault in .5 sec.

Interesting. Would you provide a link to the source of of the quote? (Maybe you did and my browser is just not displaying it.)

Google GFCI time delay.

What it boils down to is the kind of chip used. Guess you could e-mail the manufacture and ask for the specs for when it trips - the load and ms.

1851 Spec

If I were you I would check with my town's electrical inspector (or alternatively spend a few days studying the 2014 version of NFPA 70) to see whether the requirement for GFCI on garage outlets applies to dedicated outlets for motor-driven equipment. The refrigerator should have a dedicated single-receptacle outlet with its own breaker.

In my kitchen reno starting 2008 and compliant with that year's code, I used a 15A GFCI breaker feeding a dedicated receptacle for an SZ 632 refrigerator/freezer. I don't think this breaker has ever tripped except when tested.

This leads one to believe that either there is leakage current to ground in the refrigerator, leakage to ground at some other location in the circuit downstream from your breaker, or a bad or unsuitable breaker. These points were made above, I think.

kas

Thanks to all of you for your advice and suggestions. After reading and talking to an electrician as well as a supplier, I decided replacing the GFCI would possibly work, but could fail. So I followed the advice of changing the GFCI to protecting only itself and then adding a GFCI to the circuit after the refrigerator. Now the refrigerator is on an unprotected outlet and all the other outlets on the circuit are protected. The delay GFCI might be a better solution, but I didn't find one locally. Thanks again.

It wouldn't hurt if you marked that outlet as 'UNPROTECTED' so no one will be tempted to use it for something else. Also, if this has a dual receptacle in it, maybe swap that out for a single.