How many times per day should my refrigerator cycle on and off?

If it just a refrigerator (no freezer) and I doubt that, they are designed to cycle 6 times an hour that's if you don't open it often and the ambient temperature is less than 80 degrees F.

If it has a freezer (not auto defrost) cycles will be similar to above, but about 4 cycles per hour.

A cycle is: when the interior temperature rises above the thermostat's setting, it will run for about 5 minutes until the thermostat is satisfied. It will stay Off until the interior temperature rises above it's set point.

If it has automatic defrost, it will operate pretty much all the time. That keeps the frost from building up.

There is a little more, but I hope that you get the idea.

The important thing is to keep the freezer as full as possible...put bottles of ice so as to have a storage effect.

If you live in a humid climate...be sure to check the drain pan very often! In some very humid climate zones, it is necessary to run the drain hose to the outside.

In the desert of southern California, i have an "inside" refrigerator, and a "garage" refrigerator, both about 25 cuft each, and both about 9 years old (bought in 2007). The freezers are set for about 5 degrees (F) and the refrigerator at 40. Three adults in the house, meaning the refrigerators are not opened constantly. I have a power monitor wirelessly connected to and recording the power company s smart meter. By interpreting the recorded graphs, the refrigerators each run about 30-35 minutes, then they re off for about 30 minutes.

There are far too many variables to answer this question. If the fridge is left without opening it may only cycle once every 45 minutes to an hour. It also depends on what temp you are running the inside and the ambient temp surrounding the fridge.

if it is reasonably full so as to keep proper temperatures and if the kids dont continueously go in and out of it and if you dont live in saudi arabia I would say once it settlesdown over night then it should stay silent most of the time untill its disturbed for a soda or something and then run maybe 5 or 10 minutes and shut back off and stay off quite a while now of course it will defrost every 6 or 8 hours so you will hear that pop once in a while other than that it shouldnt even hardly run

Is there a device to collect data on how many times it starts and stops?

Just curious, it seems my own Freezer is always on, but im not sure if its me being lucky walking past it or it really hasnt stopped.

it depends on how many times a day its opened and closed. every time cold air is let out of it (literally all the cold air comes out every time you open it), it will kick on to compensate.