RV freezer damaged from "running on empty"??

Been using units like that in RV,s for over 40 years and in our house years ago and also had an house AC unit that worked the same. No way the freezer knows whats in there if any thing. I have never had any problems and leave ours empty much of the time as we make short weekend trips and do not haul frozen foods.. For many years they were made with a small area for ice trays. No place for frozen food as we did not use it. Never had a problem and did not make ice cubes.

I vote for a dealer making up that story so he could keep the money he got from the company for replacing it. Not uncommon.

Nope not true. After all. What kind of frozen food are you going to put into a 110 degree freezer before you cool it off.

Tell missy mcoley not to believe every thing she hears. Having the frig/freezer operating while empty will not cause it to fail. I, as well, run ours for two or three days before leaving to insure it is cold and ready to be filled. Our rig is eight years old and working quite well.

robsouth wrote:
Maybe he was confusing the freezer with the microwave. I have heard that a microwave should not be operated empty.

LOL, now THAT is funny! :B

mcoley wrote:
We were proudly showing a friend our new travel trailer and he warned us to never operate the freezer with nothing in it because when he did that he ruined his and had to by a new refer/freezer. Is there any truth to that? I'm doubtful and my wife believes him.

that's probably what the dealer he bought it from told him to avoid having to replace under warranty.
bumpy

Freezer doesn't know it's empty.........:S

Maybe he was confusing the freezer with the microwave. I have heard that a microwave should not be operated empty.

Is this a compressor-equipped fridge/freezer?

I ask because in that case, I s'pose a case could be made that an empty compressor-driven freezer might burn out more quickly just due to the extra work the compressor might be subjected to- it would have to run almost continuously to "freeze" all that empty air space.

Certainly it'll use more electricity, cause there's nothing in it to freeze solid and help hold the temperature...

mcoley wrote:
We were proudly showing a friend our new travel trailer and he warned us to never operate the freezer with nothing in it because when he did that he ruined his and had to by a new refer/freezer. Is there any truth to that? I'm doubtful and my wife believes him.

Totally bogus - at least based on what I remember from my thermodynamics classes. :)

Would be interested in hearing the logic that got him to this recommendation. What is true is that a full freezer will hold cold better than an empty freezer, so maybe it some twisted interpretation of that.

I typically turn mine on empty 2-4 days before we plan to leave just to make sure it is working well. Six years on it and no problem.
Have heard that before. I agree it was just a coincidence on his.