RV freezer damaged from "running on empty"??

[mcoley]

We were proudly showing a friend our new travel trailer and he warned us to never operate the freezer with nothing in it because when he did that he ruined his and had to by a new refer/freezer. Is there any truth to that? I'm doubtful and my wife believes him.

[Bumpyroad]

mcoley wrote:
We were proudly showing a friend our new travel trailer and he warned us to never operate the freezer with nothing in it because when he did that he ruined his and had to by a new refer/freezer. Is there any truth to that? I'm doubtful and my wife believes him.

that's probably what the dealer he bought it from told him to avoid having to replace under warranty.
bumpy

[Old-Biscuit]

Freezer doesn't know it's empty.........:S

[robsouth]

Maybe he was confusing the freezer with the microwave. I have heard that a microwave should not be operated empty.

[Francesca_Knowl]

Is this a compressor-equipped fridge/freezer?

I ask because in that case, I s'pose a case could be made that an empty compressor-driven freezer might burn out more quickly just due to the extra work the compressor might be subjected to- it would have to run almost continuously to "freeze" all that empty air space.

Certainly it'll use more electricity, cause there's nothing in it to freeze solid and help hold the temperature...

[pugslyyy]

mcoley wrote:
We were proudly showing a friend our new travel trailer and he warned us to never operate the freezer with nothing in it because when he did that he ruined his and had to by a new refer/freezer. Is there any truth to that? I'm doubtful and my wife believes him.

Totally bogus - at least based on what I remember from my thermodynamics classes. 🙂

Would be interested in hearing the logic that got him to this recommendation. What is true is that a full freezer will hold cold better than an empty freezer, so maybe it some twisted interpretation of that.

[BB_TX]

I typically turn mine on empty 2-4 days before we plan to leave just to make sure it is working well. Six years on it and no problem.
Have heard that before. I agree it was just a coincidence on his.

[Gale_Hawkins]

As others have stated that guy's failure was NOT due to running it with empty boxes. I hot wired and ran our new cooling unit leaning up against the counter top until the freezer coils coated with ice just testing it before going to the trouble of installing it.

[BobsYourUncle]

His failure was pure coincidence with having nothing in it.

I frequently have nothing in my freezer and never an ill effect.

[Jack_Diane_Free]

Always run the fridge/freezer for at least 24 hours on empty with no problems.

[2oldman]

no

[Ka_Ron]

My vote is with you mcoley.
It should not make any difference whether you have anything in the freezer or not.
When we are getting ready for a trip we turn the fridge on the day before loading to make sure the freezer and the fridge is cold before we load it.
For the last 20 years, no problem with the freezer being empty while it cools.