How long does it take for your RV freezer/refrigerator to lose its cool?

[brianlajoie]

We ask this question to lots of people. Other that personal preference, we see to main groups of opinions. One group is safety focused at any or all costs. They say turn the frig off no matter what. The other group (which includes the appliance manufacturers) say there are redundant safety features built into the system and it is safe to run the refrigerator on the road. If the frig goes above 40 degrees, the shelf live of your fresh food is diminished more quickly.

 

[katkens]

Refrigeration slows bacterial growth. Bacteria exist everywhere in nature. They are in the soil, air, water, and the foods we eat. When they have nutrients (food), moisture, and favorable temperatures, they grow rapidly, increasing in numbers to the point where some types of bacteria can cause illness. Bacteria grow most rapidly in the range of temperatures between 40 and 140 °F, the “Danger Zone,” some doubling in number in as little as 20 minutes. A refrigerator set at 40 °F or below will protect most foods.
There are two completely different families of bacteria: pathogenic bacteria, the kind that cause foodborne illness, and spoilage bacteria, the kind of bacteria that cause foods to deteriorate and develop unpleasant odors, tastes, and textures.
Pathogenic bacteria can grow rapidly in the “Danger Zone,” the temperature range between 40 and 140 °F, but they do not generally affect the taste, smell, or appearance of a food. In other words, one cannot tell that a pathogen is present.


This is part of a copy from the USDA food safety article ,make up your own mind. Propane on for me.

 

[weekender01]

This is part of a copy from he USDA food safety article ,make up your own mind. Propane on for me.[/QUOTE]



Exactly why ours is always on a well!

 

[pegmikef]

The only time ours is off is when it is being defrosted. Gas/electric, four years old and is still working like new.

 

[dgano1147]

We have a household refrigerator. Not a problem for us.

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[carl.swoyer]

My norcold went out at 4 1/2 years old.

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[Lynn1130]

We dry camp often during the summer months. The day temps here in June/July/August and September run from 95 to 115 and during the monsoon nights it may not make it below 90, sometimes 95. I pull the trailer in a day or two before we leave and hook to shore power. I am lucky if I can get the fridg temps into the 50s during the day but they will get into the 30s at night. We load the fridg early the morning we leave and then leave before outside temps get up there. If we traveled with the fridge off we would have a fridg full of bacteria when we got to camp.

One trip last summer we left early, got an hour out of town and blew a tire at about 8:30 AM. It was 100 by 9:30 when road service got there and I was stuffing frozen water bottles from the cooler into the fridge to bring the temps down as they were climbing into the mid 40s. They would have been in the 50/60s if I had the fridge off.

There are circumstances where traveling with the fridge off is not practical or safe for food that you will later want to consume. I prefer to die of old age not food poisoning. Oh, and there was the 2+ hour traffic jam in New Mexico that kept us on the road much longer than we had planned.