Refrigerator Cooling, Propane vs. Electric
Question about refrigerator cooling during preparation for a trip. Does it cool faster when plugged into electric (in my driveway) or just leaving the propane on and cooling that way? Thanks for any ...
Forum Discussion
DrewE wrote:Jim@HiTek wrote:
If you turn it off whenever you return from a trip, you'll likely get 7 to 10 years of useful life so I always leave mine plugged in and on all the time. The pluses for leaving it plugged in and running continuously (it's ready to go when you are!) far outweigh the minimal power usage. Your batteries are always ready too.
As far as which method cools fastest? Never saw a much of a difference those few times I had to shut it off. But my gut feeling is for my Dometic, gas was faster. Slightly. My Norcold? Seems faster with electric. I'd tend to agree that there's not enough difference to be concerned.
That "minimal power usage" of an RV fridge is somewhere in the rough vicinity of 2000 kWh per year, or perhaps $400 for the year depending on your electric rate. Maybe that's minimal to some people, but it's more than enough for me to shut it off when not in use and start it up (or do without) before taking a trip.
For a quick trip, I usually just toss perishable food into a cooler and dump in the ice from my (house) freezer.
From my calculations for my refer in my RV surviving my lifestyle, it isn't so high.
Two door refer, 1 person usage, 3 amp when calling for cold, 8 hours/day average On time (I avoid hot areas), $0.085/kWh rate. For me, it comes out to around $90 per year.
