brownsat259 Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 Advice needed please. Our motorhome is parked up behind the house when not in use and we usually leave the electrics on. (Actually paid for proper outside power point to be installed by electrician!) We leave a small radiator in the van on frost control to stop things getting too cold. We also tend to use the fridge for extra storage at Christmas & family gatherings. So my question is, when we know we won't be needing to use the fridge for a while, is it better to leave it switched on or off? Over to you experts... Thanks I apologise if this has come up before - I tried to do a search on fridges, but nothing happened at all. I also tried looking at old threads, but just turning the pages seemed to be a real effort, so I gave up on that too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aultymer Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 Ours is on all the time - you never know when a mate will phone to say he just caught an 18lb salmon and is there space in your fridge?! No doubt, someone, somewhere will have investigated the effects of switching on and off Vs leaving it on. With it on, it is always ready to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blizzard Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 We're plugged in at home too and never leave the fridge switched on, unless its to cool it the night before a trip. In fact, the fridge and freezer doors are left open most of the time to allow air to circulate within. During the winter, we have also use a small radiator with frost protection, and at that time of year, we also leave the bathroom door and all of the cupboard doors open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 brownsat259 - 2011-09-22 3:17 PM Advice needed please. Our motorhome is parked up behind the house when not in use and we usually leave the electrics on. (Actually paid for proper outside power point to be installed by electrician!) We leave a small radiator in the van on frost control to stop things getting too cold. We also tend to use the fridge for extra storage at Christmas & family gatherings. So my question is, when we know we won't be needing to use the fridge for a while, is it better to leave it switched on or off? Over to you experts... Thanks I apologise if this has come up before - I tried to do a search on fridges, but nothing happened at all. I also tried looking at old threads, but just turning the pages seemed to be a real effort, so I gave up on that too. When you KNOW you won't be using your motorhome's fridge for a while, why you you want to have it switched on? Logically, there's bound to be a projected 'life' for a fridge's 230V heating element, thermostat, etc, so I'd guess that not running the appliance constantly on mains power should extend that period. (I don't think this question has ever come up before, possibly because nobody ever thought it would be a normal thing to do. However, as aultymer does it, and you are thinking about doing (or not doing) it, that assumption may be completely wrong. It could well be that lots of motorcaravanners/caravanners who have a home hook-up have their fridges running constantly. Perhaps we could have a forum poll to check this out?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 brownsat259 - 2011-09-22 3:17 PM So my question is, when we know we won't be needing to use the fridge for a while, is it better to leave it switched on or off? If you are not using it then you are just wasting energy leaving it on, in our case we leave doors open to keep it aired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flicka Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 I'm with Derek's thinking here. The Fridge is manufacturered for the Leisure market, not the Domestic market. Taking that logic, the designers will not have factored in for continual use on any form of energy. Fridges work best when full & there is minimal airspace between the items contained within, so left on whilst empty will make it work harder than it's optimum design parameters. Taking these factor into consideration, I would suggest you are shortening the Fridge's life span. Also - We usually load the fridge with items out of the house fridge (already cooled) before switching the fridge on the night before going on a trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownsat259 Posted September 24, 2011 Author Share Posted September 24, 2011 Thanks for your thoughts everyone. On the basis that we don't switch the home fridge or freezer off when we go away for weeks at a time (perhaps we should – feel free to comment on that one) we assumed it would be better to leave the camper fridge on. I'm still not sure if there's a definitive answer here, but Flicka’s point that these fridges are made for the leisure market and not meant for continual use seems logical, so we’ll be switching off this time – until it’s time to stock up for Christmas anyway. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aultymer Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 Unless you go out to the van and open the fridge every few days it will remain cool if left on and only cycle occasionally. There is a theory that machines like aircon, central heating and fridges last longer if never turned off but are just kept ticking over on a low duty cyle. From an engineering point of view this makes a lot of sense especially if you look at the number of failures associated with restarting plant after a shutdown. However everone must do what is right for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownsat259 Posted September 24, 2011 Author Share Posted September 24, 2011 Ok -- I think! Thanks for that, which also seems logical and is probably why we felt we should leave them switched on. Now we’re dithering again. Probably too late on a Saturday night for deep thought on what keeps the machinery going – or not going. I think I’ll sleep on it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 Hi Brown - welcome to the mad house :-D My view on this is turn it off - their is no point in keeping the fridge on for weeks at a time, or months, unused. If a fault develops you wouldn't know for some time, unlike a home fridge/freezer where you'd soon realise! And, unlike a home fridge/freezer which you do leave on all the time even when away on holiday, you usually have some food etc still in it which would spoil if it was turned off. :-| I don't think you can really compare 'plant' machinery with a simple leisure vehicle fridge, they are at 2 opposite ends of the scale! 8-) I'm with flicka on this, it is an expensive leisure product, not a much cheaper (generally) home appliance, and as such I cannot see the point nor the sense in leaving it on all the time which will possibly cause premature failure and consume power unnecessarily. :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 aultymer - 2011-09-24 10:12 PM Unless you go out to the van and open the fridge every few days it will remain cool if left on and only cycle occasionally. There is a theory that machines like aircon, central heating and fridges last longer if never turned off but are just kept ticking over on a low duty cyle. From an engineering point of view this makes a lot of sense especially if you look at the number of failures associated with restarting plant after a shutdown. However everone must do what is right for them. But these are not that kind of fridge. They work on a simple thermo-syphon mechanism which has no moving parts. All that is required for it to work is the application of heat at the right point, which is where the various heating elements are sited, and is what drives the thermo-syphon. The gas burner is self evident; the electric heating elements less so, but there is one mains element and one 12V element, both of which resemble short lengths of the kind of electric heating element found in many electric kettles. In effect that is exactly what they are, resistive heating elements. These are simple, and silent in operation, but they do age. So it is, on the whole, better not to use them when the fridge is not required, as this will maximise their lives. As to consumption, it will not be great, the elements are around 80-100W, and the fridge on a stat, but it will still use ore electricity, for no benefit, than when turned off, so why leave it on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 Thanks for that Brian, so I don't need to change my lightly used 21 year old fridge before we go long terming then:D..................mind you I've never left it on.............that costs money8-)8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 Why would you, Dave? Have you seen the cost of them? If it is still working, it is working. It is old, so is more likely to fail that a newer one, but then so are we all! Carrying a spare is out of the question, so yer pays yer money etc.....................but I think I'd be inclined to leave well alone until it packs in, and only then change it. Mind, a new one may cost more than your van is worth! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archiesgrandad Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 The fridge aspect of this thread is to me a no brainer, turn it off if your not using it, but my reservations are about leaving the van connected to the mains for the closed season. We left our van plugged in over winter the first winter we had the Rimor, partly to keep the batteries charged, partly so that we could have a small convector heater plugged in to keep things dry and unfrozen. When we started to sort things out ready for the season to start I found that all three batteries had boiled dry and were beyond rescue, £360 to put things right. We now plug the mains in for a couple of days every fortnight to keep the batteries up to spec, and I have an extension lead from th garage to the van for the heater. Pass the cable through the cab door where the draught seals allow the cable to pass though easily. AGD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 Whether or not leaving the van on hook-up when not in use is a good thing, is one of those highly conditional issues to which there is no simple answer. Whether this will result in damage to batteries through over-charging will depend on how good a charger is fitted to the van, whether the charger is working properly, whether the correct regime for battery type has been selected, and on the conditions of the batteries. With modern, multi-stage, chargers, that take account of battery condition in selecting the charging regime to be adopted, given the correct regime for the batteries, and well matched batteries in good condition, leaving the mains connection live should not cause problems, and I have even seen it recommended that this be done. With older "blunter" chargers, or in the event of a charger, or battery, fault, there may be damage - though whether this is actually due to leaving the charger connected, or merely to a latent fault being exposed, will again be a matter of whether the charger is of suitable type, and whether all else is in good condition. It is too subtle to give categorical responses without knowing with some precision what is involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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