Refrigerator - on or off

[JMK]

When leaving your boat during the week is it better for the refrigeration system (refrigerator and freezer) to leave the units on or turn them off to save the wear and tear?

Thanks,
J.M.

[Richard Kollmann]

I would not want to leave water cooled refrigeration systems running unattended if there was no need for refrigeration as compressor or electronics could be damaged, by excessive heat if water flow gets restricted.

If this unit is powered by 12/24 volt DC current direct from batteries battery life will be shortened even if batteries are kept charged by a battery charger.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by JMK

When leaving your boat during the week is it better for the refrigeration system (refrigerator and freezer) to leave the units on or turn them off to save the wear and tear?

Thanks,
J.M.

We recommend our clients leave their units running when away from the boat during the week for for small periods. That way you have cold beer and food when you show up rather than not a cold fridge until Saturday morning. Do you turn your home refrigerator off when you leave for a week? Wearing out the compressor just isn't a real concern when you are dealing with a near 30yr life span on the compressor based on normal duty cycle times.

Now what is a concern to be aware of and things to consider.

1. If your dock power goes out on Monday then by Friday when you show up your house bank could be sucked down and dead. So I would NOT leave my unit on unless you have enough solar or wind aboard to keep up with your refrigeration load. Relying on shore power...well that is a coiled snake waiting to bite you in the A#$.

2. As if you need another reason to NOT have a pumped water cooled unit, as Richard mentioned above, if your water cooling loop fails...you can damage your system. So with a pumped water cooled reefer system, no...it's just too risky. Turn it off, another good argument against that nightmare. Ask Skip on Flying Pig about pumped water cooling nightmare and you will understand why pumped water cooling is a disaster waiting to happen.

3.
Some refrigeration systems have a faster/slower start-up time.
For example, a rolled thin aluminum evaporation unit has a much faster box pull down time than say a eutectic holding plate. The aluminum thin evaporator just needs to pull heat out of the box at start-up, where the eutectic holding plate needs to pull heat out of the box AND freeze the liquid to a solid, so that takes more time and works the compressor harder.

4.
From a convenience standpoint, I'm an advocate of leaving the refrigerator/freezer on because you and I know that the more comfortable you can make the boating weekend, then the more your Wife/Girlfriend or Significant other (hell even you) will want to spend the weekend on the boat. If its like camping every weekend where you are having to load and unload the refrigerator every time....sheesh...who wants to worry about that.

[pete33458]

I would think it depends on whether you are leaving anything in it. If it's going to be empty, why leave it on? It's not like a household refrigerator where you have to pull the unit out in order to unplug it from the wall...I assume you have a breaker for it. If you're leaving stuff that needs to be refrigerated and you have adequate power, leave it on!

One thing that I have noticed on the boats I have been on is that it can take a very long time to get back down to temperature, so that is something else to consider. Pete

[DeepFrz]

If you decide to leave it OFF then make sure you leave it OPEN.

[senormechanico]

And defrost it before you leave or you might have a mildewy/wet mess.

I just leave mine running all year on solar.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

Do you turn your home refrigerator off when you leave for a week? Wearing out the compressor just isn't a real concern when you are dealing with a near 30yr life span on the compressor based on normal duty cycle times.

I rarely disagree with RB, but do in this issue, although not with the rest of his post.

Unless your boat is behind your house or across the street from your officer and you can check it regularly, it makes little sense to run something that DOES have a finite lifespan if it is NOT being actively used.

We've had over 29 years of C34 experience with air cooled A/B units, and I've only heard of three skippers who do so and they qualify due to the first sentence above.

My boat is almost 29 years old, and unless I'm there, either cruising or at the dock plugged in with the charger working, it is OFF.

Why would I want to use up something that could last longer?

One of our skippers reported a power outage a week's worth of work cleaning up spoiled mayo.

YUCK!!!

As always, your boat, your choice.

But, you did ask.

[sailorboy1]

I leave mine on, it's out on a mooring with more than enough solar! It takes a long time to cool off if you turned it off. Plus I keep food and drinks in it all year long.

But if you don't keep food in yours except for a weekend when you are on the boat it is less trouble and faster to just bring ice.

[leftbrainstuff]

Originally Posted by JMK

When leaving your boat during the week is it better for the refrigeration system (refrigerator and freezer) to leave the units on or turn them off to save the wear and tear?

Thanks,
J.M.

We usually turn the fridge and freezer off. Good chance to clean them out and defrost.

Our keel cooled frigoboats cool down quickly.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Rhapsody-NS27]

Personally, I would likely turn it off Unless there is a need to have it on. I left mine on once to come back later to the boat with dead batteries. That was even on shore power. I think maybe the charger couldn't keep up with it.

[Cdreamin]

Forgive my ignorance but what is a "keel cooled frigoboat"

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

Why would I want to use up something that could last longer?

As the King of Cheap...I'm with you all the way Stu.
My answer I'm sure is tainted by the below data graphs, showing the comparable start/stops of one of our holding plate systems compared to a standard AB Cold Machine system. 4 on/off cycles in a 24hr day vs over 150 on/off cycles. So in my mind, a holding plate system already has so much less wear and tear on it that it's almost inconsequential in the bid scheme to turn it off.

[JMK]

Great info. Until we move aboard in a few months I think I'll take the safer route of turning it off when we're not there. This is a new/old boat for us so we're still in the process of figuring out what works and how.

[Richard Kollmann]

Come on Rich Really Creative Advertising at its best you must know this is not a properly operating balanced Adler Barbour temperature Chart or in fact it is not any variable speed Danfoss compressor application. Two complete cycles of a Danfoss compressor per hour today is even on the high side. Your chart must be from an old fixed speed BD 2.5 compressor system with small evaporator in a small box.

Rich, I believe you have maybe the best icebox conversion unit on the market today for the right application but stay true to the product and realize there are other system applications you can not compete with.

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by Cdreamin

Forgive my ignorance but what is a "keel cooled frigoboat"

See (click on) Keel Coolers