AC question

AC - no. You will be able to cool it off pretty quick when you arrive.

Fridge - leave running. Set temp so freezer is still freezing and fridge in the low 40's. Absorption fridges take a long time to cool down from being off, so by the time it cools enough to be a fridge your weekend is half over.
I have put in frozen foods and cold foods then turned on the fridge and all was fine, but I was driving and not accessing the fridge either.

For one week absences leave on for sure, if 3 weeks or a month then turn it off.
Absorption fridges like to be left on, so they will be fine, where you will wear your AC out running it all the time.

My 6 foot Dometic uses 5.7 KWH per day when the ambient temperature hovers around 20 C (68 f).

WTP-GC wrote:
Fridge won't eat up much utility cost.

the bear II wrote:
Leaving anything running unattended is asking for trouble. Moisture can be managed with products made to eliminate moisture in stored RVs.

Based on the stories I've seen in the RV forums and on the news a majority of RV fires are traced back to the fridge.

Read the recent post about the A/C units with smoke coming from the vents. https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/29945396.cfm

Of the zillions of RV’s out there (new, old, should be condemned, etc.), you rarely ever hear of anything like this. It’s a lot of “chicken little” to sit around and worry about what might happen. If that’s how we operated, we’d never get out of bed in the morning.

I know people who leave their RV setup on a permanent site in FL and come back to visit no more than about once or twice a month. They leave their AC turned up a little and the fridge on all the time. Granted, electric rates and usage differ by region, but their metered usage is less than $50 per month.

OP, I’d say give it a try and see what results you get. No one can tell you what to expect, but a month or two of experience will give you plenty of info. Leaving both items running will do absolutely no harm.

Please don’t be the person that spends all their money on a rig and site rental, but then can’t afford to properly use and/or maintain.

Rice wrote:
It depends on the unit. My four-door Norcold uses about 7 kwh/day when it's on electric in moderate conditions. In the summer in South Texas, it will be running close to 24 hours/day, which would be about 10 kwh/day.

$0.15 per kwh is the national average.
At 7 kwh per day equals $31.50 per month
At 10 kwh per day equals $45.00 per month

WTP-GC wrote:
Fridge won't eat up much utility cost.

It depends on the unit. My four-door Norcold uses about 7 kwh/day when it's on electric in moderate conditions. In the summer in South Texas, it will be running close to 24 hours/day, which would be about 10 kwh/day.

That accounts for about half my electric use if I'm not using the air conditioner.

It's an either or proposition. You can't run the AC and have low utility bills. The AC is an energy hog and the insulation in a RV is just about non-existent. If you run the AC, you will pay thru the wazoo. If you don't run it you may have moisture issues. Pick your poison.

Is your fridge a residential style, or an absorption style (uses propane)?

The reason I ask is the residential style tends to have a built-in defrost mode, the absorption ones don't (that I've ever seen). Consequently, when I lived in my first Class A for a year, I'd have to manually defrost the freezer about once a month. With the residential style, no such issues.

I had my first Class A for 1.5 years. It was always powered up.

My last Travel Trailer was parked in storage for part of its life, the rest at our current home, which I've added a 30A connection. It has been powered up since 2006. I sold it last week.

It does NOT harm an A/C to leave it running. Seals tend to fail from lack of use, rather than overuse.

The humidity and heat will destroy the inside of a camper here in FL. But setting the thermostat to 80F, will keep it pristine inside.

Our current Class A was purchased last November, and has one A/C running the entire time. I'll soon be changing my RV outlet on the house to a 50A, so both units can cycle as needed.

If you are paying for power then turn the fridge off. Similarly with the air conditioner.

When you return, start the air conditioner and fridge, then go out for supper or to a movie.

Be sure to leave the water off.

kr1928 wrote:
I recently purchased my 1st travel trailer to place in a RV park on the Texas coast. It is a weekend getaway and will only be used a couple of weekends a month at best. My question is, should i leave the AC and fridge on when i leave or turn them off ?? I have a pretty tight budget for utilities due to high cost of RV spaces in coastal areas. Would love some advice from experienced person.

I'd start with following your practice at home; you can always set the temp to trigger the AC high, at 85 for example, and see how that works. Just keep in mind that on a95 degree day, the unit will run a lot, and expense and triggering electrical concerns shared earlier. We matched to burn out a smaller guage extension cord on a 105 degree day when it ran straight for hours. Yes it was a dumb move, but a good learning lesson here too.

I'm for leaving AC units off. Do you have 30 or 50 amps and do you know what the voltage is like when you're away? If it's on the low side near 105 volts at times, that will lead to damage to AC units. If you're 30 amps, running 2 AC units is inviting trouble even if you have good voltage. It can't really take that long to cool down? If it even does much anyway if really hot out... :(

Folks leave fridges running all the time on electric when parked. Have you ever inspected the fridge burner or had a tech do it? They can deteriorate or get fouled up.

I anything, do NOT leave water turned on!