This is probably an old question but seems to be one I've missed. I have an A/B refer/freezer on my boat. I have the boat in my back yard (my canal actually). Is it o.k. to keep the unit on and running all the time or just turn it on before a trip. Will the cooling down and heating up several times a month hurt it more than just leaving it on? Besides, I do a good bit of day sailing in the summer and would love to have the fridge on for that instead of packing a cooler. I'm guessing there would be too much wear and tear on the unit.
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Leave it on!
For the last 10 years, I have left my fridge on for the entire sailing season with no problems. As long as you have an adequate charging system to keep your batteries in good shape and cheque the fluid levels on the batteries you should be ok in my experience
For the last 10 years, I have left my fridge on for the entire sailing season with no problems. As long as you have an adequate charging system to keep your batteries in good shape and cheque the fluid levels on the batteries you should be ok in my experience
Leave it on
Warming up and cooling down again puts far more wear and tear on the motor and compressor than letting it run continuously. If it's dual voltage, the only thing I'd recommend is that you leave the 12v breaker off while at the dock plugged into shore power (and if it's not on a breaker, put it on one)...'cuz if you leave it on, a power outage or a surge that trips your main breaker automatically switches the fridge over to 12v...and a fridge can drain your battery completely in 24-28 hours. There's an old adage about refrigerators that I proved last fall: it'll run forever unless you unplug it long enough for everything to "cool off." The 20 yr old unit on my boat--which runs continuously year-round, btw...was still going strong when I had it hauled for bottom work...but the compressor just didn't have enough oomph left to get going again when the boat went back into the water a month later.
Warming up and cooling down again puts far more wear and tear on the motor and compressor than letting it run continuously. If it's dual voltage, the only thing I'd recommend is that you leave the 12v breaker off while at the dock plugged into shore power (and if it's not on a breaker, put it on one)...'cuz if you leave it on, a power outage or a surge that trips your main breaker automatically switches the fridge over to 12v...and a fridge can drain your battery completely in 24-28 hours. There's an old adage about refrigerators that I proved last fall: it'll run forever unless you unplug it long enough for everything to "cool off." The 20 yr old unit on my boat--which runs continuously year-round, btw...was still going strong when I had it hauled for bottom work...but the compressor just didn't have enough oomph left to get going again when the boat went back into the water a month later.
Leave it ON
As you can see from the other responses it is best to leave the unit on. Much better for the life of the compressor to be allowed to run all the time. Just be sure your systems are capable of handling the small battery requirement in case of a power outage.
As you can see from the other responses it is best to leave the unit on. Much better for the life of the compressor to be allowed to run all the time. Just be sure your systems are capable of handling the small battery requirement in case of a power outage.
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