POLLING QUESTION; do you leave your refrigerator running 24/7.
OK so we FINALLY installed the new Sidewise Dometic NDA 1402 refrigerator, it was a job whew...
I can say the side window on our 1995 U295 is 26 1/2" on the height with the window removed. The new fridge is 26 1/16" and with wrapping the back of unit with cardboard it was still tight.
It is a very nice unit with built in cooling fans on the rear, a circulation fan on the refrigerator inside going across fins to the bottom of unit. It has water and ice in the door and an auto defrost cycle. Yes I know I'm rambling on but trying to give description of what we have.
I have looked at Barry Beams tech help and seem to make out to leave running per "gasrefrigeration.net". But the book per Dometic says to shut off when not in use...or do they just want units to fail so they can sell more??? I wanted to get the maximum time we could on this refrigerator so I don't have to take it back out again. Thanks Kerry
We keep our refrigerator running 24/7 but mostly because it's at the shop where we have 50-A service and we use the coach as a break room with sodas and water. We may start leaving the ice maker on 24/7 too since it's dang hot in the afternoons this summer (about 10-deg hotter than average).
When winter comes that will probably change. :)
Craig
When our coach is in storage we shut it off with the hope that it will last longer. We do the same with the water pump, the rear view TV, AC/heat and anything else we can leave off without creating an inconvenience. When the frig is off, we do prop the door open with some rags over the top of the door to keep it well aerated. It is stored in Tucson, AZ during the winter months.... very dry.
Kerry,
When I had a gas reefer, I left it on all the time but made sure I had some thing in it, not just empty air. One gallon of water in freezer and two gallons in the refrigerator side would do.
I now have a residential and it is always on too.
We also keep ours running at all times, I figure it keeps the system "exercised". As we don't open the door to let the cool air out it doesn't seem to use too much prpane.
Roalnd
And the solar panels keep the batteries charged.
Roland
We do the same during times of non-use or storage, especially since we store off site (but also did so at the previous house when we kept the coach at home). Everything off, fridge and freezer doors propped open, basement freezer lid removed, even the 12V disconnect by the entry turned off.
Michelle
Ditto George & Michelle.
We leave the refrigerator on most of the time. We leave it operating on the electric element. The coach is plugged to a 50A source and is visible from our back door. If it were stored off site, we would probably use different storage practices.
To the best of my knowledge, the original owner left the refrigerator on while he owned the coach. It was stored in an airplane hangar and people were on site daily. The refrigerator on the coach built in 1996 failed in 2011. A pipe ruptured near the heating unit. I replaced the cooling unit in 2011.
24/7. We keep it at the house plugged into 50 amp service.
We are plugged in and keep it and the air cond. on 24/7
FWIW,
I am not an expert on these dang things, but a knowledgeable friend of mine who is on his 3rd or 4th motor home and who has helped me replace one (in a previous MH) says "leave it on low". He told me that he has never had a problem with his. I have always previously turned mine off when not using. Now, I am a convert. I leave mine on 24/7 with it on low. Since I was converted (to on 24/7) I have not had an issue, and seems to work great. It does cost a little more in electricity obviously. A plus is that there is always a cold drink in there when I go out to work on it. LOL.
I want to thank all that answered and took the time to respond. We keep or MH plugged in and it is next to our house so electricity is not an issue. We would like this one to last as long as the last refrigerator did. So we were curious what others did on their Foretravels.
We are appreciative to have the forum and have learned so much from all of you. Thank you all Kerry
In the past we used to do that on our other coaches, didn't seem to make a diffrence one way or the other except on the electric bill. We now leave ours off when not in use, along with everything else in the coach (except the battery charger) when not in use, although we use our coach every couple of weeks. Every thing is 12 years old and works great. All things mechanical and electronic have a design life of only so many hours. As long as they are excersized monthly I just can't see running them for the sake of running them and the power company, but thats just me
I don't live aboard and there is no electric power where the coach is stored, so I turn every thing off and disconnect the chassis battery. I leave the house battery connected. I leave the refrigerator doors cracked open. The heat in Texas seems to keep everything dry. I drive the coach once a month and run the generator if I have used the house batteries when working on something to keep them charged. I disconnect the chassis batteries as something seems to drain them slowly. If I lived somewhere else, I might do it differently.
FWIW, I asked a MOT service tech what his recommendation was, regarding turning off or keeping the fridge on when storing (this was at the time he had just finished installing a new Dometic in our coach a year ago). He said that despite what Dometic recommends, his experience was that the majority of replacements in which he was involved (over more than 10 years) were made in coaches where the units had been turned off while in storage. Therefore he suggested leaving them on (if possible) all the time. That said, my previous Dometic had been left on continuously and lasted 6 years to the week. Go figure.
The one time I had a referigerator go bad (big time ammonia leak) was with the SOB stored and everything turned off. My FT is parked next to my house and plugged into a dedicated 20A outlet. I keep the referigerator on, and can run the A/C so long as I am careful to have the charger turned down and the WH electric turned off.