Should I turn my fridge / freezer off when apartment is not occupied ? - Page 5

Hi Pedro.  If you have a split service distribution board which has two RCDs it will be wired such that the lighting, alarms and things like freezers will not be lost if one RCD should trip.. This was the reason why split boards came about as well as the fact that it is safer.  So the household sockets are on one RCD and 'fixed' items on another.

 As I have indicated the last thing you need is your freezer thawing out if you are away.  In Spain you would be left in the dark and you would probably have to scrap  the freezer when you come back.  They have not got round to split boards yet.

For you information I am electrical and mechanical engineer and I have done countless installations using split boards.

If you look at the attached picture you will see the main switch on the left two RCDs and four breakers for each. So you wire them in such a way that you are not left in the dark should something trip your socket's RCD.

100 percent with you on this

Welcome to your new home. We bought ours just at lockdown 😬 so still learning . We turn our electric off , 

We learned our lesson not emptying the boiler and not turning water off as the boiler started leaking and caused a lot of damage

Good luck in your new home.

We used to leave everything on,  but arrived a few times with melted contents of fridge/freezer greeting us.   

One trip to a big supermarket will quickly stock up anything you need upon return.

Water leaks can cause a lot of damage.  Plus any leaks will raise your water bill.

So in my opinion switching off all is best.

Maria

No Problem.  We aim to please.

Yes it is turned off and in by its thermostat which keeps everything frozen turning it off at the supply allows it to defrost have you not noticed 

Yes you should, if property is empty for lengthy periods. Electricity isn’t cheap here in Spain. I always turn it off before going home to UK

I've been turning off my electricity for the past 10 years when I'm not there. My fridge freezer is 17 years old and still going strong.

One bit of advise is leave your Electric oven door open when you gome home. otherwise the elements can rust up and no air is circulating, which causes them to fail. That's what the guy who changed mine in October told me.

Hello all contributors, I have lived in Spain for 17 years so from my personal experience, may I confirm all the advice to switch off at the main supply & turn off water at the external stop-cock on the supply side of the water meter, if possible. We had the water main fracture under the front path when the house was occupied and it was not possible for a normal person to detect the leak. When we got a bill for 2000€ for our normal 3 month period, we had to get the plumbers to listen to the garden paths with their trained ears, then the leak was located. This was not covered by insurance.

Also, we have experienced a bag of rice infested by furniture woodworm which filled the room with crawling beetles. We also had a plastic box with a tight-fitting lid, half-full with Oxo cubes, infested with furniture woodworm and the beetles bored holes through the metal foil in order to reproduce. We have also opened a proprietary bag of compost with two cockroaches escaping and giving us the run-around on our balcony. A friend repositioned a ceiling light and failed to seal the old cable hole, with the result that he had cockroach visitors every night crawling down his dressing gown. I think that is enough to demonstrate that we need to be aware and be careful. Regards, Peter