Refrigerator leave on or off during non use times?

[Gundog]

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?

[ILVMYGT]

Our original refrigerator 1402 Dometic side by side. The refrigerator performance was OK but I noticed that it used a lot of energy. My coach has a power monitoring panel and it seemed the Dometic ran almost continuously. Although it ran a lot it cooled just fine even when it was 95 degrees outside. To check how much electricity it was using I plugged it into a "Kill-A-Watt" meter. In April when I started our RV season we turned on the Dometic and plugged it into the meter. Dometic duty cycle is running 42% of the time at 420 watts. After running 2000 hours the predicted cost was $154/year (@ .10Kw/hour).

We replace the Dometic with a 14.5 CF Hotpoint. Hotpoint duty cycle is running 25% of the time at 92 watts. This works out to a yearly cost of about $20.

I would buy a Kill-A-Watt meter and see what your refrigerator is using and make a decision based on the data you collect.

[tropical36]

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?

We used to turn everything off in our old coach, including the ac.
Nowadays and with our present rig, it's on, as well as the ac, but set around 85 in summer and a few degrees less in winter for keeping the humidity down.
After all, you can't take your utility payments with you either and it's only money. Does save on unloading everything, including the mini fridge in the basement. Sitting in the driveway, makes it useful in more than one way and doing this, along with some other things, does save a lot in preparation for going and coming.

[ppine]

Turn it off. Only in a rich country with cheap power would anyone consider leaving any appliance on.

[Mile_High]

If its on reliable power, leave it on! If it's on power susceptible to power loss like a GFI circuit in a distant storage location, I would shut it down and open the doors or you might end up with a mold surprise.

[ferndaleflyer]

Mine has been on for 20 years. Might have been off briefly a few times but for the most part it stays on and has never failed. Just came back from a 10 day run. All is good

[mike_brez]

I keep mine on all camping season. When home it's usually packed with beer.

[Bill_Satellite]

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.

[Jim]

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.

[DrewE]

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.

[2edgesword]

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.

[enblethen]

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

[Gundog]

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??

[Lwiddis]

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

[MountainAir05]

We turn ours off. Saves power.