Refrigerator leave on or off during non use times?

It somewhat depends on how the tray under the freezer conducts itself. Mine tends to freeze up a bit after a few weeks, so I usually turn it off unless we are heading out soon.

Gundog wrote:
I have always left mine on and usually the wife has things in there ready for a trip what do you do? Is it better to leave them on or off when stored?

if you're on shore power then i'd leave it on...that's what we used to do.

We turn ours off. Saves power.

I don’t believe in running appliances when not in use and not regularly present.

I have always stored our RV's at home so I leave shore power on to the refrigerator. Monday I pick up my new to me DP with a big frig and when talking to the guy at the RV shop he said he thought they lasted longer left on??

Yes, leaving the refer on stops the cooling unit from rusting out by keeping it warm and dry.

During our camping season there is usually 2 or 3 weeks between trips so we turn it off and turn it back on two days before we leaving on the next trip. Then it's off for six month from October to April. Over a five year period we never experienced any issues with the frig following this practice so I'm not sure if there would be any negative impact over a longer period of time.

Off saves a fair bit of energy, maybe 2-3 kWh per day (for an absorption fridge). Compressor (residential) fridges are a good bit more energy efficient on electric power.

Have left mine on, except for the occasional defrost, for years at a time on shore power. The expected life time based on my reading is 7 to 10 years if turned off after the season, and 10 to forever if left running the entire time. Longest I ever heard of an absorption refer running continuously on gas was 70 odd years in a cabin.

As previously mentioned, leaving it on most of the time keeps the coils warm and dry. Turning it off causes condensation on the coils which can cause tiny pinholes of rust to form that over time develop into rusted through holes letting the chemicals escape and causing a dead refer. Dun dun duuunnnnn.

I would say that it depends upon when you next plan to use the RV. If you are storing it for the Winter I would turn it off and prop the doors open until Spring. If you plan to use it periodically throughout the year I would leave it running so I don't have to keep restocking the fridge.