Community Forums

High Ball · 12-16-2014, 12:34 PM

Hi All
Since I live in a condo there is no room to park MH at home. I rented a space at a storage facility and there is no power there.
Would someone like this leave the fridge on, on gas and have small solar panel to keep batteries good or should install and inverter and big solar panels and keep fridge run on 120 volts.
I don't really like the idea of picking up MH and have a warm fridge after the week being off.
Any ideas

Many Thanks

John H... · 12-16-2014, 12:38 PM

If you are close by, I would just turn it on the day before you intend to use the MH. I wouldn't let it run while in a storage yard for any extended time

Gocoffeer · 12-16-2014, 12:58 PM

Highball... I have been reading the threads and have seen more than a few posts where an RV was damaged by a fire caused by the refrig. Gas OFF is my opinion during storage....if you can run the frig on electric and have the means of doing such OR Solar electric like some are able...that is a different situation.

vsheetz · 12-16-2014, 05:58 PM

I would suggest to shut off the gas to the coach while in storage. The day or two before a trip go to the coach and turn on the refrigerator. While there do the rest of the preflight check - tire pressures, engine fluids, battery levels, etc. This will make for fewer surprises the day of the trip, when surprises are not a good thing.

AKJohn · 12-17-2014, 09:18 AM

You should check your rental agreement closely. The company may not allow you to run anything while the MH is unattended in storage.

ralphie · 12-17-2014, 09:22 AM

Gas off and fridge should be off, too, and you should prop open the doors to ensure no mold grows therein. I've found if you put some frozen and/or cold food in the fridge and turn it on just before leaving on your trip the fridge will take about three hours to get cold.

kenny449 · 12-17-2014, 09:41 AM

There are two issues here. The first has to do with the recall fixes in Norcold fridges due to fires. The problem here is that if your battery voltage falls below 10 V while running on batteries, it will fault and there is no way to get it going again without an expensive repair. It's most likely not covered by Norcold or any extended warranty. So if your battery voltage and your batteries are good, you can fire it up the night before.

This only works if the refer is fairly level. If not and the refer can't adequately cool, you'll find the unit has shut down when you come back the next morning and has to be reset, which is no small task if in fact it can be done with the new features brought on by the recall.

Second, is that all LP/Elec fridge manufacturers recommend loading cold food.

What I've found works even when the refer starts out in the 60 degree range is to load some frozen food from my deep freezer , along with a 1 gallon of frozen water in the freezer section. I also load 1 gallon of the frozen water along with my cold food in the refer section. The refer chills pretty quickly that way and I've never had any spoiled food. If space is a problem, the water can be removed once the refer has reached the proper temp.