Leaving fridge at home running?

Fridge off, empty, scrubbed down, door open AND something put in place to make SURE the door doesn't close.

Makes a difference where you are from. Up North bad winters power failures during snow storms happens. You are not there to know or know how long it was off.

I've been in many power failures and I am hear to tell you 'just keeping the door closed' does NOT keep your fridge temps at a safe level after a day. It does not prevent food from spoiling or defrosting.

I wouldn't even think of leaving food in a fridge while gone that length of time. Nor would I leave it on empty.

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I turn mine off if we are gone three weeks. Great opportunity to give it a scrub down and toss the old condiments. Let it sit open.

dons2346 wrote:
We have to much frozen shrimp and crab to empty our refers. I can afford 10-12 bux a month to keep them running

How do you know it did not lose power a time or two, thaw, and re-freeze?

Answer:: Freeze a cup of water, put a nickel on top of the ice. If you return and find the nickel at the bottom of the cup, you know it thawed at least once.

We have to much frozen shrimp and crab to empty our refers. I can afford 10-12 bux a month to keep them running

We empty and clean our fridge out with bleach water. Leave it open. No food odors to invite bugs. We turn off the water to the icemaker - less chance for a leak. We also turn off the water to our washer & dryer. Turn off the pilot light for the gas fireplace. And turn WAY down the water temp for the water heater. We leave the house temp about 55 and have had very few problems over the past 12 years snowbirding to Florida for 5-6 months in East Central Illinois. Enjoy!

Depends on how the house is heated.

If electric heat a refrigerator will cost nothing to leave on in the winter when house has to be heated.

Even though my house is heated with propane the cost difference between propane and electricity is minimal thus I leave my Idaho refrigerator on when we go to Arizona for the winter.

But I turn off the refrigerator in my Arizona home when it is left for the summer. Temperatures in the house are in the high 90's thus the electric bill for a refrigerator could be substantial. I do leave the doors open.

That fridge will probably use about 1.5 kWh per day. At $.12 per kWh that's about $27 for 5 months time. In my opinion it's not worth the trouble to empty and clean it for $27.

We're only gone for a few months at a time but the fridge at home is always on.

Would you leave the heat at your house off? We leave ours on whenever we leave. At normal home inside temps, and with the door closed, the energy usage compared to your other utilities will be minimal. You probably have a minimum rate for your power anyway. Leaving it cleaned out, and turned on will help to prevent mold and odors from forming. Fridges are designed to be on continuously for years.