THANKS everyone for replying to my original post...the general consensus appears to be use it or lose it, so that's what I'll proceed with. And that's what I was hoping to hear, since I do like the idea of having some "cold ones" in there even when parked in the driveway for long periods. For my scientific curiosity I will eventually measure the power consumption using a kill-a-watt meter, but it can't be very much.
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