Leave Freezer and Refrigerator running?

[Capt. Rodbone]

Question for you more experienced Trawler owners. Our new to us Trawler is about two hours away and we get up there let’s say not quite every week but certainly less than every two weeks. We have opted to leave things in the freezer and the refrigerator as we are hooked up to the shore power in the slip anyway. Something tells me we should bring those things home each trip. It’s not like we take a lot when we go. Is there any reason to bring things home, other than the obvious which is were the power to go out and we weren’t there things will spoil. I’m willing to risk that, I’m just wondering if this is unnecessary wear and tear on these items on a 78 Grand Banks. I’m sure they are original.

 

[SeaDogAK]

Stinky

It’s been my experience that, when I’ve shut off the fridge when I’m away from the boat, it gets to stinking inside even if there’s nothing in it. I leave the fridge and freezer running year round as a result.

 

[Besslb]

Any time we leave the fridge off, it takes forever to cool back down. We only do this when hurricane prepping or for boatyard time. We keep ours running all the time. Obviously you don’t want to leave milk or other stuff that can go bad. I can tell you to not leave anything in the freezer that would make a mess if you lose power. We left a bag of ice in there once, lost power, the water spread over the galley laminate flooring that warped, buckled and then the water dripped down to the stateroom wall. I now have a really big Tupperware that holds ice when we are gone…..just in case! Live and learn….

 

[rslifkin]

I generally turn the fridge on when we launch in the spring and other than a couple of shutdowns for defrosting, it's on until we winterize at the end of the season.

 

[C lectric]

We turn ours off if we were to be away more than a week and prop the door open.
Never leave the door shut.

If we are leaving again in less than three or four days we will leave them operating.

 

[SteveK]

Fridge always on, freezer is on only when we are on board. Both are 12 volt so will last a few days without AC power

 

[mvweebles]

I'm OPs situation, I'd leave the fridge and freezer on. As a food safety note to alert me if there was a sustained power outage, I'd leave a few ice cubes in the freezer. If they are melted when I return, there was a sustained outage and all perishables are suspect. I've also heard of people leaving a penny atop an ice cube as an indicator

Peter

 

[AlanT]

We only keep ice in the freezer when off the boat. Our Fridge/Freezer is on the inverter so we need to know if it's not receiving power because it can pull down the batteries. We have a wifi setup and it is linked to a battery monitor. It sends me an email when the power goes out on board.

 

[Capt. Rodbone]

The penny thing is pretty darn brilliant! Question though…… given our current inflation rate should I use a quarter?��

 

[tisado]

We keep frig on all year. In the off season it has condiments, drinks, ice, frozen meatballs etc., nothing super expense. If power was off (quarter trick) then we toss it all. We bring on the good stuff when going out with friends which for us will be in a few weeks for lighted boat parades.

 

[syjos]

We turn on the frig right before Memorial weekend, which is when we start boating.

I turn on the freezer right before departing for the summer in June.

Upon return, we empty the freezer, clean it and shut it off with door propped open. The frig is emptied in October after cleaning and turned off with door open. We do a few winter trips where we turn on the frig for the trip, empty it and turn it off upon return.

Refrigeration compressors have finite life so not running it during non use might contribute to longer life, maybe? Additionally, we like to empty the frig and eat it at home so old food doesn't accumulate.

We do that with nonrefrigerated food too. We empty the boat of all food in October and bring what we need for occasional cruises during winter. We found that if the boat isn't emptied of food yearly, old food accumulate, expire and need to be tossed.

 

[BandB]

Wifey B: Keep them on and get alarms.

 

[magna 6882]

We have a 40 ft motorhome in addition to the boat with both fridges fully stocked and ready to go. I put ice cubes in a zip lock in the freezer as a defrost telltale.I leave everything on all year long. I think its better to work equipment.

 

[FF]

The newer the fridge or freezer better it is to leave it on.

Since F 12 was outlawed in the USA the mfg had to use much higher pressures to regain better operation with the poorer refrigerants.

The old F12 units sitting at rest has very little pressure difference between the high and low sides , so 30-40 year old units in cottages and on boats worked fine.

Today with 3x or 4x the operating pressures just sitting can cause leaks.

Here in FL it is standard for winter folks to leave the units on all summer while there gone.

 

[mike66]

We like our beer to be cold when we arrive at the boat.

 

[catalinajack]

We like our beer to be cold when we arrive at the boat.

If ice cold beer is your end, get yourself an Engel fridge-freezer or the like. Very expensive but you will get beer colder than ice cold by tweaking the settings. The alcohol in the beer will allow for a lower freezing temp. With ice, the temp can get no lower than the temp at which water freezes. We learned this after getting an Engel as supplemental refrigeration. We had been keeping beer on ice in a Yeti. We quickly found that we could get our beer colder, noticeably colder, than on ice.

 

[FF]

"With ice, the temp can get no lower than the temp at which water freezes."

This is true but the addition of salt will lower the water freezing temp .
.
This is how Eutetic plates are created.

 

[catalinajack]

"With ice, the temp can get no lower than the temp at which water freezes."

This is true but the addition of salt will lower the water freezing temp .
.
This is how Eutetic plates are created.

True, but isn't the ice most folks use made with fresh water? Isn't this ice 32 degrees? If so, I would think the salt water could not get below 32 degrees. What did I miss?

 

[FF]

Fresh water ice is usually 32F at freezing, sea water maybe 28f to get solid.

The addition of salt will lower the freezing point and the state change between liquid and solid water (the latent heat ) is what cools the reefer contents to as cold as you wish.


A cup of salt in an old plastic container , then frozen, will demo the process.

 

[mvweebles]

Plot of freezing point for increasing salinity. Bottoms out at 35% or so then reverses. A eutectic solution as FF states

 

[Mako]

Just remember, if you turn off the freezer make sure to take out any chicken and sausage you're storing in there, otherwise you'll come back to maggots and the smell of a corpse which will be nearly impossible to remove from your upholstery.

Just saying... not that I would ever be dumb enough to do such a thing

 

[mike66]

After having had a freezer full of chicken crap out while we were away from the house for a couple of weeks, I agree. Just horrible. Did the OP ever find an answer after this thread drift?

 

[wkearney99]

I keep ours running, and full. If not with beer/wine, with water bottles.

If it's going to sit unused for any duration, like winter storage, I turn them off and prop them open.

 

[JimW]

We leave running now that I have replaced my fridge . . . I have added a digital temperature gauge that records Max/Min temperatures to identify any power outages and to assess potential food loss . . .

 

[fgarriso]

We have run ours for a year at a time without any problems. It is also 120VAC.