Never Off Refrigerator

[JackInAZ]

Just purchased a new RV (our 13th one), a Bounder 33C. It has a Samsung residential refrigerator, model RF197 ACRS. It has a lot of bells and whistles, but what it doesn't have is an off button, for when I want to temporarily store the RF without food but with other things still working, which would not be possible if I have to use the battery cut-off switches as Samsung suggests. Their other suggestion is to never take food out of the fridge and leave it on all the time, which is just as ridiculous as building a refrigerator without an off switch.

The refrigerator is run through a 2000 W inverter when not on shore power. I could, of course, turn off the inverter, but the fridge would then continue to run until it depleted the batteries, not a desirable outcome.

Anyone suggest a work-around to this engineering marvel?

[DSDP_Don]

Pretty simple. The Samsung cannot be turned off without unplugging it. If you have power 24/7 while stored, just leave it on. Ours has been on for three years now.

You can't just turn off the inverter. The inverter has an A/C bypass built in. Even with it off, the refer will still get A/C if the coach is plugged in.

The easiest answer is to flip the breaker or leave it on. There is really no advantage to turning it off unless you're going to winterize it for several months.

Lastly, the Samsung RF197 has an icemaker on/off switch at the top of the refer. Don't forget to turn that off while travelling, unless you want to leave your water pump on.

[J-Rooster]

Lots of good advice on this post! I leave mine on 24/7/365!

[holstein13]

Despite having your refrigerator on the inverter, you should still have a 110 breaker. Usually, there's a separate panel for the appliances and outlets powered by the inverter. Just find your breaker panel and flip the switch.

[DownTheAvenue]

Flip off the circuit breaker that controls the outlet the refrigerator is plugged into!

[ScottG]

wolfe10 wrote:
Route the outlet through a switch.

Seems like the easiest answer.

[Mr_Mark1]

We kept our residential fridge on in our previous motorhome on 24/7 for the 7.5 yrs. that we owned it. We have a 30 amp plug in our storage garage so we kept everything on just like at the S & B. I never saw a need to turn off the inverter other than when it was in for service. Then I would empty the ice maker and fridge (for sensitive items), etc.

We plan on using our new coach in the same manor, everything on, freezer full of ice, fridge ready to roll when we are. I also like to stay plugged in so that the batteries stay charged.

Safe travels,
MM.

[DrewE]

The manual for the Samsung refrigerator does make mention of a "cooling off mode" intended for store display use which seems to actually be, well, actually turned off except for the display. To DISable this mode, it says to push and hold the power freeze and freezer buttons simultaneously for a few seconds until the fridge beeps. It doesn't mention how to ENable it, but maybe it's the same button press, or something similar.

Turning off the inverter or switching off power to the outlet for the fridge might be easier. Certainly one would not want to leave the inverter on for long term storage (at least absent some way of keeping the batteries up to charge, be it shore power or solar or whatever).

[2oldman]

CA Traveler wrote:
Our S&B KitchenAid has a switch as does the Dometic RV refer. 🙂

I just looked at the subject refer's manual, and it appears it may not be able to be turned off.

That's not to say every other refer in the world cannot be.

[CA_Traveler]

2oldman wrote:

KD4UPL wrote:
I've never seen a refrigerator with an on/off switch.

I must live in a different world from the rest of the responders.

Maybe it's just the good life in Coachella?

Our S&B KitchenAid has a switch as does the Dometic RV refer. 🙂

[dan-nickie]

Turn off Refer Breaker in the A/C panel.

[2oldman]

KD4UPL wrote:
I've never seen a refrigerator with an on/off switch.

I must live in a different world from the rest of the responders.

[rgatijnet1]

Unplug it

[jorbill2or]

Normally Samsung my home one has a electronic touch pad .. The one that controls the temp also control of the ice maker is on etc .. Did it come some pamphlet air instructions ? These are normally wired through the inverter so it runs off the batteries or passes the shore 110 through .. There should be a circuit breaker just for the fridge

[KD4UPL]

If it's a residential fridge then it doesn't use 12v. If you turn off the inverter it will turn off the refrigerator. I've never seen a refrigerator with an on/off switch. Imagine how bad that would be every time someone accidentally turned off their refrigerator and didn't realize it.

[2oldman]

This post is really tossing my brain around.

Why does a residential refrigerator need batteries? There's no cooling control on the inside which can be set to zero?

When snowbirds leave their homes and they turn off their refers they don't have to pull them out and unplug them.. at least I never have.