Moved a Refrigerator and now it is not being seen by Sense

Did an upgrade yesterday removed / retired / recycled older of (2) refrigerators. Moved main fridge (Old Main) from upstairs to basement and installed a new EnergyStar fridge in kitchen (New Main).

The problem I am having is that Sense is not seeing Old Main since it was moved from upstairs to basement.

Any insite?

Different locations in your house will have different wiring lengths and potentially different parallel loads on the circuit in question that the Old Main fridge is plugged in to. This can throw the detection because the loads are different in different locations.

That said, it is possible, and perhaps most likely, that you lost the detection because the basement circuit is on a different leg (phase) than the kitchen. If you have an alternate outlet in the basement on the same leg you could plug Old Main into that and with luck it will re-detect quickly.

The way to check the phase is to look live in Sense at the Settings > Signals.
There you will see which phase (A or B, ā€œleftā€ or ā€œrightā€ in the display) your devices are pulling juice from as they switch on and off.

If you have a large-ish constant-load device (100W lamp for example) you can plug it into the outlet and switch it on and off and you should be able to identify which phase (A or B) the outlet is fed from. You want to match that phase with the kitchen one where New Main is plugged in.

The other (lazy) option that will probably work is to simply wait until Sense works it out. The previous detection data is not lost and the Sense detection algorithm is using it (along with every other successful fridge detection out there) to refine the detection and account for such things as ā€œOld Main moved to basementā€.

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Hi Guysā€¦ long time caller first time listener.

In using the afore mentioned settingssignal I see that my freezer, beer fridge, and main fridge are all on the same phase thus creating an unequal load on my panel.
I am considering rewiring the dedicated ā€˜main fridgeā€™ circuit to the opposite phase to better balance my load.

Will my fridge recognition be lost and how long could it take to be re-recognized? Will Sense compile all the data when the main fridge is detected on its new phase or will my past 6 weeks data be elsewhere?

Oh, if/when detected on the new phase, it will be a new discovery, I can merge the two devices?

Hey there, thanks for calling in :slight_smile: .

Since youā€™re switching to a circuit on a separate phase, the existing detection will likely be lost. Weā€™re fairly good at detecting refrigerator compressors (they run frequently), but ultimately time for detection will depend on a variety of factors. Iā€™d expect a similar timeframe as the initial detection.

The time between detections (after you move the old fridge but before itā€™s detected on itā€™s new phase), you will most likely have a gap for your ā€œfridgeā€ data. Once Sense detects the fridge on the new circuit, youā€™ll be able to merge it with the historical device and should maintain your new data and old data, with a small gap between.

This is correct!

Another note here: if youā€™re worried about the downtime of your Fridge detection after moving to a new circuit, you can always put a smart plug on it immediately after changing circuits and merge the smart plug device with the historical fridge device you already have.

Gotcha, thanksā€¦

It happened just like you (we) anticipated and when it was re-discovered I merged the two onto the same ā€˜bubbleā€™

Now, I just completed the installation of my two new dedicated circuit probes. I am intent on playing/learning about my ā€œHVAC Totalā€ probe and my ā€œGE Water Heaterā€ probe and while doing such, I did note the main fridge was running but I did not have a ā€œMain Fridgeā€ bubble. A few minutes later I heard the main fridge thermostat clink as it shut off and low and behold I had a "main Fridgeā€™ bubble now while it was in standby.?? I climbed down stairs to check if perhaps the Beer Fridge was running and it wasnā€™tā€¦

I am going to be patient and let everything settle down seeing as I had Sense powered off for about an hour while I cut out the center probe port and got everything installed and connected. (I did something cool in that I found the three ā€œsame Phaseā€ legs of my three 230V HVAC components and orientated them through the same probe in the proper direction so I could monitor my HVAC Total)( a 2 ton mini split heat pump, my 3 ton Trane central air conditioning condenser, and my Trane 3 ton air handler with 10,000W heat strip)
With my other dedicated circuit probe I am monitoring my GE water heater to get a solid base line before I install my new Rheen hybrid hot water heat pump.

Time will tellā€¦
ā€¦time and my Sense Energy Monitor.

I had a completely unexpected variation of this theme 2 weeks ago. I have a secondary refrigerator in the garage that has been plugged into the GFI outlet in the garage, that also supports the outlets in the bathrooms. Since that GFI kept getting randomly tripped it became clear the refrigerator needed to be moved. Unfortunately, the only other outlet in the garage is the one in the ceiling for the garage door opener.

So, I decided to invest the effort to add another breaker (panel is in the garage) and run the necessary conduit and wire to put a new circuit in the garage for various power services I might need there on-demand as well as the refrigerator. In this case, the refrigerator is now on a whole new breaker and new wire and outlets.

I was pleasantly surprised that Sense never lost the refrigerator. As soon as I plugged it back into the new circuit, Sense immediately saw it just as it had before on the previous circuit. I was kind of surprised.

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I have a similar issue. Sense found our Keurig pretty quickly, but my wife didnā€™t like where it was, so two months ago we moved it and havenā€™t had detections since, despite using it almost daily. Itā€™s good to hear that the Sense will still look for it and use the same detection algorithm as before. Iā€™ll merge them if/when it is refound.

@don1 I believe that you had a 50:50 chance of it being continuously monitored. The new breaker (circuit) is most likely on the same phase of the panel that it was on with your GFIā€™s

@brian5 Same for your guys but your other kitchen outlet is probably on the other phase leg of the panel. Itā€™ll be found again soon enough, and when you merge the two the data will be seamless like my ā€˜Main Refrigeratorā€™ ā€¦ interestingly enough, Sense just re detected the main refrigerator light today. I merged into the other three detections in and all is good and accurate now.

I could certainly ā€œteach my senseā€ but alas I must wait for it to figure stuff out and then guessā€¦ Iā€™ll try to be patient.

Yesterday, Sense found my condensate pump. It had detected it pretty early on, but then lost it sometime over the summer. I got worried that the pump wasnā€™t working, but no, I would hear it kick on for the 7 or so seconds. No idea why Sense lost it as it wasnā€™t moved, changed, altered, serviced, anything. Not touched at all. I deleted the pump and two days ago Sense found it again. Sense did back data it to November 11th though. Iā€™m going to keep my Keurig detection and see how long it will take to redetect it. Maybe if we go a couple more months without being found again Iā€™ll just delete it to make the redetection easier.

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