Turning OFF the refrigerator till the week or month would damage the device?

In vessels, emergency generators, fire pumps and lifeboats are prone to fail candidates. The last, being permanently in the open, have to sustain whatever comes to mind.

It is hard sometimes, to make the crew conscious of the necessity of maintaining things that your life could depend of when things go wrong.

MrAl said:

...Do you turn it on once a month, once a week, twice a week, or every day for an hour, or leave it on but turned way down? We would need some sort of data for that decision too.

Click to expand...

Hi,
Nice thought! In the case of freezer, I am turning it ON half an hour twice in a week.

Actually why they make devices 'maintenance free'? Like freezer, some lead acid battery etc. I think it's not good for technical person but it might be easy to use for non-technical person.

Willen said:

Hi,
Nice thought! In the case of freezer, I am turning it ON half an hour twice in a week.

Click to expand...

Why? Is there food in it? Why not leave it off until you need it, like stated in your original question?

John

Willen said:

Hi,
Nice thought! In the case of freezer, I am turning it ON half an hour twice in a week.

Actually why they make devices 'maintenance free'? Like freezer, some lead acid battery etc. I think it's not good for technical person but it might be easy to use for non-technical person.

Click to expand...

Hi there Willen,

That's nice, but what i was saying was that the question of how we solve the problem comes up, even if we assume there is a problem to begin with.

As Nigel suggested, there is some practical evidence that says that there could be a connection between leaving it off for extended periods of time. But now to fix that problem, what is the solution? Is it one hour a week, two hours a week, one hour a day, etc., etc. We dont really know what the proper solution is other than of course leaving it on 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
I guess if there is a problem then any time on would probably be better than no time on. But my question is then why dont air conditioners fail every other year?

Another idea that might work is to put a large container of water in the fridge and leave it turned on. The water will keep it from tuning on and off more often than it needs to.

jpanhalt said:

Why? Is there food in it? Why not leave it off until you need it, like stated in your original question?

John

Click to expand...

To make the freezer alive. I am not sure I can turn it OFF until I need it. Some are warning me to not to turn it off for long time.

MrAl said:

But my question is then why dont air conditioners fail every other year?

Click to expand...

Yes, nice question!

Another idea that might work is to put a large container of water in the fridge and leave it turned on. The water will keep it from tuning on and off more often than it needs to.

Click to expand...

Did you mean that the freezer's ON and OFF interval increases, due to water's characteristics to tenperature (cools showly and heats slowly)?

One approach is to follow the manufacturer's recommendation. Lacking that, then I would follow the recommendation of a major manufacturer and common sense described in post #16 . That is, of course, assuming the refrigeration unit of of relatively modern design.

John

When still going at sea, my car remained in the garage because my former did not drive.

Few days before coming home I had to arrange a mechanic to go and check the car which, usually, had problems of various kinds.

atferrari said:

When still going at sea, my car remained in the garage because my former did not drive.

Few days before coming home I had to arrange a mechanic to go and check the car which, usually, had problems of various kinds.

Click to expand...

Mostly what kinds of problems? Related to moving parts like gears, breaks, piston etc?

Car storage is a bit different that a refrigerator. **broken link removed**

My take is that electrically, and mechanically it will be OK as long as it;s stores in the orientation of operation.

So, your biggest enemies will probably be dust, mold and bugs, both in and outside.

Baking soda is typically used to remove odors. An open box in the fridge goes a long way even during operation.

Willen said:

Mostly what kinds of problems? Related to moving parts like gears, breaks, piston etc?

Click to expand...

In all of them, engines not starting even after many tries. Rusty parts. Mechanisms frozen, refusing to work.

It is well known that even if properly protected, the wires in the rigging of boat falls, cranes and derricks, when not put in action from time to time, decay inexorably.

atferrari said:

It is well known that even if properly protected, the wires in the rigging of boat falls, cranes and derricks, when not put in action from time to time, decay inexorably.

Click to expand...

To add to that, rubber drive belts (and pulleys etc.) in tape recorders disintegrate with not been used - I've seen various ones over the years where you can't even tell where the belts are supposed to go

Hi,

I have seen rubber belts in tape recorders and VCR's try to retain their installed shape due to sitting for so long wrapped around two or three pulleys. When the unit is run after so long the speed is not constant because the belt is not as flexible and so it slips for a bit, then grabs, then slips, etc., causing the speed of rotation to vary rather than be constant. That's if it turns at all.