# Leave Tt Plugged In



## ED_RN (Jun 25, 2006)

On my brother in laws recommendation I left the TT plugged in and the fridge on for a month. He is an RV mechanic and is pretty knowledgeable. His justification was is that the fridge will live longer. My electric bill went from about $45.00 a month to $100. Anyone else notice this much difference in their bill when they leave to fridge on. The TT is now unplugged. I will go back to doing what I usually do which is plug it in and turn on the fridge 2-3 days before we leave.


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## hautevue (Mar 8, 2009)

$55 of additional bill is pretty significant for a TT. At 11 cents/kilowatthour, that's about 454 kwh. That'a a ton of power in 30 days (about 15 kwh per day).

The reefer uses relatively little a/c or d/c power--it's not compressor operated like our household units. The heat (energy input) comes from electricity but it takes relatively little. Even if you force the reefer to use propane for cooling, the unit will still steal smidges of DC to ignite the propane, but that's trivial.

One area of the reefer you could look into--there is a heating strip in the front that reduces or prevents condensation. If that is "on", you will definitely use power--the converter will be making a lot of DC for that heater strip. Turn it off.

My first guess is that maybe your hot water heater was left on. That will consume power, but with no usage, once the water is hot, it doesn't take much power to keep it hot, and you're only heating about 6 gallons.

The CO and Propane detectors are always "On", so there is some drain there, but it usually takes months to run the batteries down when not hooked up to shore power.

If the water pump is left on, the unit will come on now and then to keep the lines pressurized, but, again, the pump load is not much power at all.

The power converter will use some power making DC to charge your batteries...

All in all, 15 kwh per day is a lot of unexplained power draw.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Actually that is about the right amount of increase. The fridge uses a 500 watt heater in the boiler of the fridge, along with the converter keeping the batteries up 15 kwh a day works out to a full day of operation.


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## mmblantz (Jul 1, 2007)

That's too steep for me. For the difference in the bill, we could by a new fridge every 2 years and mine has lasted 4+ leaving it unplugged ---Mike


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## dgilmore12 (Mar 31, 2008)

We just got a huge electric bill also, and I couldn't figure out why, but I think this answers the question. I had the Outback home for about 2 weeks with the fridge running.


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## TwoElkhounds (Mar 11, 2007)

mmblantz said:


> That's too steep for me. For the difference in the bill, we could by a new fridge every 2 years and mine has lasted 4+ leaving it unplugged ---Mike


I guess it would depend on how much camping you do and when the next trip is scheduled. If you do alot of camping, it is easier to just leave the trailer plugged in and not have to load and unload the fridge every week. This is why we leave our trailer plugged in all summer.

DAN


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

TwoElkhounds said:


> That's too steep for me. For the difference in the bill, we could by a new fridge every 2 years and mine has lasted 4+ leaving it unplugged ---Mike


I guess it would depend on how much camping you do and when the next trip is scheduled. If you do alot of camping, it is easier to just leave the trailer plugged in and not have to load and unload the fridge every week. This is why we leave our trailer plugged in all summer.

DAN
[/quote]

We found good solution to the load/unload issue with the frig. We have a refrig in the garage and all the stuff from the Outback goes in that refrig. That way it doesn't get confused with our normal stuff (mayo..mustard..beer...etc) in the refrig in the house. Works GREAT. Just make sure the stuff in the garage refrig is empty (all packed in Outback refrig) before you leave and we're good to go.


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## FinsUp (Jul 10, 2009)

That seems pretty high to me. We leave our trailer plugged in 24x7 at our seasonal site. We also have a small kitchen sized fridge in a shed. Our bill for last month was $38.


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## ED_RN (Jun 25, 2006)

FinsUp said:


> That seems pretty high to me. We leave our trailer plugged in 24x7 at our seasonal site. We also have a small kitchen sized fridge in a shed. Our bill for last month was $38.


Rates must be a lot higher here. Also have a DW who refuses to turn off the computer, external drive, 2 printers and the wireless ever. Additionally I have a DD who I'm convienced has made it her life's work to turning on everything possible in the house and make sure they stay that way. The heat strip in the fridge is off as well as everything else except the propane alarm. I agree if I put $50.00 a month the bank I'd have the cost of a new fridge fairly quickly.


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## kywoman (Feb 9, 2006)

Oregon_Camper said:


> That's too steep for me. For the difference in the bill, we could by a new fridge every 2 years and mine has lasted 4+ leaving it unplugged ---Mike


I guess it would depend on how much camping you do and when the next trip is scheduled. If you do alot of camping, it is easier to just leave the trailer plugged in and not have to load and unload the fridge every week. This is why we leave our trailer plugged in all summer.

DAN
[/quote]

We found good solution to the load/unload issue with the frig. We have a refrig in the garage and all the stuff from the Outback goes in that refrig. That way it doesn't get confused with our normal stuff (mayo..mustard..beer...etc) in the refrig in the house. Works GREAT. Just make sure the stuff in the garage refrig is empty (all packed in Outback refrig) before you leave and we're good to go.
[/quote]

We do the same thing..it makes the loading and unloading much eaiser....
Stephanie


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## ED_RN (Jun 25, 2006)

kywoman said:


> That's too steep for me. For the difference in the bill, we could by a new fridge every 2 years and mine has lasted 4+ leaving it unplugged ---Mike


I guess it would depend on how much camping you do and when the next trip is scheduled. If you do alot of camping, it is easier to just leave the trailer plugged in and not have to load and unload the fridge every week. This is why we leave our trailer plugged in all summer.

DAN
[/quote]

We found good solution to the load/unload issue with the frig. We have a refrig in the garage and all the stuff from the Outback goes in that refrig. That way it doesn't get confused with our normal stuff (mayo..mustard..beer...etc) in the refrig in the house. Works GREAT. Just make sure the stuff in the garage refrig is empty (all packed in Outback refrig) before you leave and we're good to go.
[/quote]

We do the same thing..it makes the loading and unloading much eaiser....
Stephanie
[/quote]

If I don't ask someone else will. Why is there left over beer?


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## CTDOutback06 (Apr 16, 2007)

ED_RN said:


> That's too steep for me. For the difference in the bill, we could by a new fridge every 2 years and mine has lasted 4+ leaving it unplugged ---Mike


I guess it would depend on how much camping you do and when the next trip is scheduled. If you do alot of camping, it is easier to just leave the trailer plugged in and not have to load and unload the fridge every week. This is why we leave our trailer plugged in all summer.

DAN
[/quote]

We found good solution to the load/unload issue with the frig. We have a refrig in the garage and all the stuff from the Outback goes in that refrig. That way it doesn't get confused with our normal stuff (mayo..mustard..beer...etc) in the refrig in the house. Works GREAT. Just make sure the stuff in the garage refrig is empty (all packed in Outback refrig) before you leave and we're good to go.
[/quote]

We do the same thing..it makes the loading and unloading much eaiser....
Stephanie
[/quote]

If I don't ask someone else will. Why is there left over beer?
[/quote]

My thoughts EXACTLY!!!


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## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

11 cents a kilowatt







I would die to get electricity for that price. we are on a price tier where is starts ot at $.16 pkwh and by the end of the month we are at $.34 pkwh. I have not been under $200 a month in years and we have been as high as $600 on a bad month. Our bills use to be about $85 a month until California has a power shortage and that stupid Govenor we use to have made some stupid power deals and the crooks at PG&E made up a fake lose and quadrupled our rates.







My parents who live in Washington were upset when their bill went over $20 for a month, they get power at $.05 a kw. If I could unroot my DW and DS I would get the he!! out of here, but for now I'm stuck.



hautevue said:


> $55 of additional bill is pretty significant for a TT. At 11 cents/kilowatthour, that's about 454 kwh. That'a a ton of power in 30 days (about 15 kwh per day).
> 
> The reefer uses relatively little a/c or d/c power--it's not compressor operated like our household units. The heat (energy input) comes from electricity but it takes relatively little. Even if you force the reefer to use propane for cooling, the unit will still steal smidges of DC to ignite the propane, but that's trivial.
> 
> ...


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## Scottyfish (Mar 7, 2009)

The highest bill I have I ever seen in CA is a little over $200 for the month, and that is with A/C use. Sure we are in the Bay Area and the temps are cooler than the valley, but $600??? Ouch, did someone leave the computer or a light on for the entire month? Be careful with the Governator....


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## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

Scottyfish said:


> The highest bill I have I ever seen in CA is a little over $200 for the month, and that is with A/C use. Sure we are in the Bay Area and the temps are cooler than the valley, but $600??? Ouch, did someone leave the computer or a light on for the entire month? Be careful with the Governator....


Well some friends who have bigger houses have hit over $1200 for a month, it is just a huge rip off living here in Yuba City. The sitting Governator had nothing to do with this it was a governor before him who caused this. We have a monopoly here even though they are suppose to be illegal in the USA. The big cities pay much less than we do, we are a low income small city so they make us pay through the nose.


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## bama29fan (Jun 22, 2009)

We leave the fridge on and the a/c set at about 85F all the time during the summer. We havent had this camper that long but with the old one we had a heat strip in the a/c and would leave that on during the winter....that way i didnt have to winterize and could go camping at any time during the winter if we wanted.

I dont pay the bills but i havent heard DW raise hell so I'm guessing the difference hasnt been that noticable.


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## mountainlady56 (Feb 13, 2006)

I've always left my camper/RV plugged in, with the fridge on, and never had the bill be more than $10 more/month. That includes putting a small heater in there, in the winter, as well. I keep the fridge stocked with stuff, as I don't have a second fridge to keep things separately. 
I kept my 27RSDS and my 31RQS plugged into a 30 AMP plug, at home, for the 3 yrs. I had them.
I don't have a 30 AMP plug for the motorhome, yet, but am planning on getting one installed on the side of the house.
Darlene


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