To go into a rental house. I just want to minimize chance of a fridge going out. Unit is a common brand double, bottom freezer type. Is this a good one or what features should I take into consideration?

APC Wall Outlet Plug Extender, Surge Protector

or

Voltage Protector Brownout Surge Refrigerator 1800 Watts Appliance

 

If you own the rental house I would consider a whole house suppressor that mounts to the circuit panel. That would provide some level of protection to everything in the home. With all my rentals I have never put a surge suppressor on any appliance and have never had a surge caused failure. There have been some control board failures of HVAC units but even those weren't definetely caused by surges.

 

I thought fridges were pretty hardy.
If you live in Florida or the Ozarks, tho, you'll get a lot of lightning strikes.

 

I personally wouldn't bother with a surge protector on a standard 'old style' fridge.
Once it has a digital display on the door, or heaven forbid a screen, then protecting the control board is probably worthwhile. But like Pilot Dane, I'd spend a bit more and install a whole house surge protector to help protect all the other devices in the house.

If you are still planning on one of the plug-in protectors, the APC is an actual surge protector/suppressor. I'm not sure if the ProtectRF model has any surge protection in it. I wouldn't bother with it.

 

1000 joules for small electronics, more than 2000 for expensive stuff, but no protector can protect against all voltage spike energy so the $ amount of insurance is very important, assuming they will actually pay you replacement cost.

You're really buying an insurance policy & the price of the one time premium is the sale price of the protector.

To protect $2000 worth of household electronics in my area I'd probably pay no more than $200, but we only got hit my lightning once in many decades & it only took out our IP hardware (which they replaced at no cost).

Protectors may lose effectiveness but I don't know of any easy self-check for the MOVs inside these things, and How often to check?

 

Appreciate all your input, whole house is a great idea!