Fixing Outlet in Garage for an Outdoor Refrigerator

[Camille Johnson]

Hi! I'm a new landlord. My first tenant wants to put his refrigerator in the garage, but the outlet can't handle the load and it keeps tripping. He wants me to pay for an electrician to come and fix it. I don't feel like this is something that I should be responsible for, because the outlet works, it just isn't mean to handle that type of load. Would you fix this?

[Jon Holdman]

Could just be a bad breaker.  However, if its relatively new construction then it may well have a GFCI breaker.  You can tell because these have the "push to test" button like the GFCI outlets.  It is possible the breaker is bad.  An electrician could tell you.  I'd suggest you tell the tenant you will send an electrician out to check it out.  And if something is wrong, you will pay to fix it.  But if nothing is wrong then they will be responsible for the electrician's charge.  Could be he's running power tools or something in the garage that's overloading the circuit.