I was running my vacuum cleaner and suddenly the kitchen GFI receptacle it was plugged into popped with some black smoke, a burning electrical smell and blackened the receptacle itself.
Did my vacuum cleaner die? Is it safe to try a different receptacle? Should I call the electrician who installed this receptacle in the spring?
The load of a vacuum combined with the refrigerator was probably more than the wiring could handle. I state this because most vacuums are at the max of 15 amp circuits and now the refer kicks in another motor load with high in rush current. Depending on the wiring method it could be just loose connections that sparked but the gfci could in fact let the magic smoke out and this is an easy fix, turn the breaker off, buy a new gfci outlet, pull old outlet and install new oulet making sure to have the wires for line and load in the correct positions. Turn the breaker back on. Make sure the fridge is working , and use another outlet in the future.
GFCI outlets aren't designed to last forever. It could be that the GFCI simply died when under load.
One thing I would make sure of is that when the GFCI is replaced that it is NOT put in-line with the circuit (i.e. make a pigtail in the box and have the GFCI not use the LOAD side connections). There's generally no reason why a refrigerator should be protected by a GFCI
There's no requirement to GFCI protect receptacles that serve a refrigerator. Unless the fridge is plugged into a countertop receptacle.
My bet is that it was placed in-line by a sloppy contractor or a prior homeowner who didn't know what they were doing. In either case, putting the GFCI outside the circuit should ensure it is never overloaded again.
Probably a bad GFCI. It should just trip if something is wrong with the vacuum, not smoke and blow up. Try the vacuum with a different outlet. Maybe one without a GFCI just Incase something really wired if going on. Worst that happens is you see a few sparks and the breaker trips. It won't damage anything.
