Yucca Bob Posted July 8, 2022 Share Posted July 8, 2022 Just put my 04' Signature Castle IV in my new shop for a few months until I can sell my other house. The new Shop is probaly 10 degree's cooler inside, so if it's 100 degrees outside, well you get it. My question to all; turn off the refrigerater? I've always left them on in my other rigs but haven't had one stored where the temps are above 80 for very long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vito.a Posted July 8, 2022 Share Posted July 8, 2022 Is it an evaporative Norcold, or a residential? Regardless, you can leave it on if you like. If you turn it off leave the doors open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yucca Bob Posted July 8, 2022 Author Share Posted July 8, 2022 It's a residential (Whirpool). I know they put out a small amount of exterior heat so i didn't want to add anymore if it wasn't necessary. I also want to take care of it right way as well. Since I won't be in the area to check on it just want to make sure I do the right thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterskier_1 Posted July 8, 2022 Share Posted July 8, 2022 Are you planning on using the coach those next few months? Do you plan on leaving food in the refrig for a few months? If "no", they why waste energy? Turn it off, and then back on when you plan to use it again. -Rick N. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yucca Bob Posted July 8, 2022 Author Share Posted July 8, 2022 Unfortunately no, we won't be using it. That being said yes it'll be empty. Thanks for the advise, I'm going out to the shop now to unplug it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cherry Posted July 8, 2022 Share Posted July 8, 2022 26 minutes ago, Yucca Bob said: Unfortunately no, we won't be using it. That being said yes it'll be empty. Thanks for the advise, I'm going out to the shop now to unplug it. Probably redundant, but I turn off my Res as I did my Dometic, and leave the doors open for venting. I keep the “door lock” key on top of steering wheel as a reminder to close and lock it. Maybe if the res was allowed to defrost and throughly dry out, you could keep it closed, but in the high humidity south, even a little moisture can start to grow and turn black. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grampy OG Posted July 9, 2022 Share Posted July 9, 2022 I leave my home in Phoenix during the summers ( I wonder why ). I leave the thermostat at 95 degrees because if I don't too many problems happen such as floor tiles lifting, canned food spoiling, fabric softener turning hard. Without A/C the temps can easily hit a sustained 110 in the house. Anyway I have left the refrigerator plugged in and running in a 95 degree environment for 3 summers now and I have experienced zero ill effects. BTW, I now load it up with canned food and bottles of water. I am a firm believer that a stocked fridge runs less than an empty fridge. So in your shop I would personally leave the fridge running. High temps and freezing temps mess with the freon seals and other problems of a non-running fridge. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Hutto Posted July 10, 2022 Share Posted July 10, 2022 My advice (or opinion, if you prefer) On this matter is different from other posters… A residential fridge is designed to operate - all the time. A fridge that stays closed (regardless of what’s in it) will run the compressor very little, and use little energy, but will run enough to circulate oil and keep the compressor lubricated. A residential fridge that sits and doesn’t operate for months has a much greater chance of failure. Based on US average energy rates, a modern fridge will use about $5/month worth of electricity; less if the door is rarely opened. Also, by not running the fridge you have a higher possibility of introducing mildew or mold in the unit. You can mitigate that potential by keeping the doors open and/or using a desiccant like DampRid, but by running the fridge you virtually eliminate that possibility. This is also dependent on your climate. I’m more likely to have an issue with mold in Georgia than someone in Arizona. My choice is to pay the $5/month… I also keep a few water bottles in there in case I’m at the coach and thirsty 😂 Again, that’s my opinion based on my education and experience, your mileage may vary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Cherry Posted July 10, 2022 Share Posted July 10, 2022 2 hours ago, Scotty Hutto said: My advice (or opinion, if you prefer) On this matter is different from other posters… A residential fridge is designed to operate - all the time. A fridge that stays closed (regardless of what’s in it) will run the compressor very little, and use little energy, but will run enough to circulate oil and keep the compressor lubricated. A residential fridge that sits and doesn’t operate for months has a much greater chance of failure. Based on US average energy rates, a modern fridge will use about $5/month worth of electricity; less if the door is rarely opened. Also, by not running the fridge you have a higher possibility of introducing mildew or mold in the unit. You can mitigate that potential by keeping the doors open and/or using a desiccant like DampRid, but by running the fridge you virtually eliminate that possibility. This is also dependent on your climate. I’m more likely to have an issue with mold in Georgia than someone in Arizona. My choice is to pay the $5/month… I also keep a few water bottles in there in case I’m at the coach and thirsty 😂 Again, that’s my opinion based on my education and experience, your mileage may vary. I can't argue with the logic of either post. Just a matter of what one feels makes sense. I also keep mine totally open so that it dry and there is NO mildew.... https://products.geappliances.com/appliance/gea-support-search-content?contentId=17417 Here was one of the articles that I found.... It says....ON for less than a Month. OFF for longer. We, me and DW, had a debate about our Garage Freezer. When we traveled extensively from 2006 - 2018, we would "eat down" the frozen stuff and put all inside the interior side-by-side. Then we pulled the plug. My logic was that the fully packed interior freezer would survive longer if we had a power outage. The garage freezer was an inherited 2005....and is not very energy efficient. Therefore we let it sit and defrost and did a little cleaning each side, every year. Fast forward to 2019 and my broken leg and then into 20 and 21 and Covid. We had NOT shut down the Freezer at all. Many years ago, after defrosting, I let it "settle in" and put an accurate temperature probe, off my VOM, inside in the center. I adjusted the control to get exactly ZERO....and I did random readings and got to "know" the defrost cycle. This year, it was running warmer. We defrosted it for 48 hours and did a thorough cleaning. Had we done that every year, there would probably have been less mold on the outside of the door gaskets. I had had to turn it up as the ice cream was soft. When we started it back up, I set it a smidge warmer than what I remembered the "optimum" set point was. BINGO....it works great there. BOTTOM LINE....it depends.... Mine in the MH would not cost me anything as I have power provided. But, we leave it off. What MAY be the next itteration is to turn it OFF when we winterize and then back on after the first spring outing and leave it on from that point on. I have 30 amp power....so it may go off, but when the power is back on, the Magnum routes it via the normally closed ATS contacts....one each for Circuit 1 and Circuit 2. The THINGS that I have learned from reading manuals to figure out what is going on for folks here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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