Leaving Refer on at the S&B -- How Much $$?

happybooker1 wrote:
...snip...So my question is: how much extra will it cost me in electricity per month (average) to run the refer? And does this shorten the refer's "natural" life?

It will not shorten it's life, and IMO it will make it last longer. Rust on the coils from lack of use will kill it sooner then daily use.

For me it costs one dollar a day in electric to run an RV fridge.

We leave ours plugged in,refer on.also leave AC on set at 82, keeps humidity out.Adds about $60. Month to bill in hot summer.We also found a nice campground in Ft.Myers that we leave our 5 r set up for Sept. Oct.& hooked up for $70. a month plus electric.we leave refer & AC on also, last year highest electric bill for sept.oct was $15.00.
At home we find we can go out ,bump the slides out ,have a glass of wine & plan our next trip in the atmosphere we enjoy & all info is left right there where it needs to be!
We tend to do a lot of short term planning trips so works well for us.
Just need to figure out what works for you! & enjoy
GD

I see about a $10 difference when leaving our Dometic running 24/7. Our rig is stored in our side yard and always plugged in.

We have ours up and running sitting in CAMP BACKYARD 24/7. It supplements our house fridge... During the summer the extra electric is not all that bad maybe $10 more a month. This also includes a ceiling fan running all the time. The killer for us is when spend the nights in it and fire up the air conditioner haha...

During the winter months we like to keep a couple of oil-filled heaters going controlled by the FREEZE CUBEs... When inside temps drops to 35degrees these kick in and then turns off when the temp get to 45 degrees inside. The winter months usually add $150 a month to our power bill.

Probably alot of money just to get more fridge area to use but it is kinda nice to get off to ourselves sometimes. Visiting grandkids have a ball sleeping overnight in it... Internet, HDTV, and cellphones all work just fine...

I like the idea of everything being able to be powered up - lets me know what is working.

Roy Ken

You probably will not even notice any difference in utility bill. If so, it will be negligible.

Ok to clarify a little bit more: if we are taking 1-2 short trips during each summer month I would "probably" leave it on all summer if the additional cost wasn't too great.

During the school year, we MIGHT get out 3-4 times so I'd probably shut it off between trips.

It depends on how much your electricity costs. Most require less then 500 watts.
Leaving it on could extend the life of the cooling unit. By leaving it on no moisture hangs on exterior of cooling unit preventing rust.

We've found that it adds $6~7 a month to our bill so we leave it on.
A local rebuilder also told me that they will last a lot longer if they are simply left on rather than cycled on and off between frequent trips.