Plugging Fridge into Extension cord

[joybells1975]

I have a 2nd fridge in my basement. It's a full-sized fridge.
My husband refuses to plug it directly into a plug. He insists on using an extension cord... He doesn't want it sitting where it would need to be physically located in order to plug it directly into a wall outlet... GRRR.
Is this even safe?

Another question I just had my primary fridge die... The compressor went.
I bought a brand new fridge for my kitchen. Should I plug that into a surge protector as opposed to a wall outlet?
No clue what is best/safest to keep my fridge from tanking in another electrical storm.
Thanks for any insight you can provide.

[zepper]

If he is using a heavy duty, 3-wire extension rated for the refrigerator's load, there is nothing wrong with that. Sorry, as I'm sure that's not what you wanted to hear...

In bad electrical storms, I'll go and flip the breakers off to my major appliances, air conditioners and/or furnace. The worst part is when the power comes back as all sorts of surges and spikes happen just afterwards as all the heavy equipment comes back on line. You could use properly sized surge protectors on your appliances - won't hurt but may not be able to handle the garbage that happens when the power comes back on - and those will need to be replaced about every three years as the MOVs that do the surge handling in most suppressors wear out. What you do get with a surge protector is a switch, so you can disconnect the appliance itself rather than switching off the entire circuit at the breaker. Wait for 5 or 10 minutes after the power comes back to switch them back on - the power should be settled down. If additional dropouts happen after the power, wait until the power has been good for at least 5 minutes - longer if you can.

Unplug the stuff you really want to protect from lightning if you are home when the storm pops up as lightning (really close or direct hits) can jump switches, cause MOVs to fail in the shorted mode etc. Unplugging is the only almost sure way to protect from lightning. I say almost as near strikes can generate voltages in power wires from their fields that can damage electronics, but generally not major appliance motors. Putting a 3-wire shorted plug onto the ends of the power cords to sensitive equipment can protect from fields too, but is too much for most to bother with.

.bh.