Leave it on or off?

[Michael Cohn]

Am I better off leaving my refrigeration on or off when the boat is not in use for long periods of time?Thanks,MC

 

[Mark Johnson]

How long is long?

When I commission the boat in April I turn on the refrigeration and leave it on until I decommission in October. I have done this with all my prior boats without any problems.MPJ

 

[Phil Williams]

On or Off

If you are going to be leaving the boat for a month at a time it is not a problem to leave the refrigerator on. You need to be sure your shore power is protected from having someone un-plugging it and having the food spoil in the box. The refrigeration equipment will work just fine and does not shorten the life of the unit one bit.

 

[Norm Eckel]

Michael I would be careful leaving the frig. on for extended periods. I own a 1998 H-410 and left mine running most weeks between my weekend visits. My "water-cooled" Grunert unit ended up buring up the water pump because the filter became "mucked" up. Granted, weekly checks of the filter might have avoided this $230 problem. Although an air-cooled unit would not experience this problem; electrical outages, and other concerns, I believe cut against leaving it on.Norm

 

[Michael Cohn]

Thanks, Norm..

I do indeed have a water-cooled unit, but I have modified it such that I use a switch to change from water to fan cooling when not underway...fairly easy to do and quite effective.The problem of a disruption in shore power is a whole different story - it's happened twice now from somebody removing my power cord from the dock box to plug in their own electrical equipment and then not replacing it when they are finished....I am going to figure out a way to LOCK that shore power cord into the outlet.MC