Is cold crashing a big strain on my fridge?

I've got a sanyo fridge that I use for fermenting. I've got an APA bubbling right now and was wondering if I should/shouldn't just crank the temp down to like 35-40 a day or two before bottling. I was thinking maybe its a strain on the compressor, but maybe I'm just confusing that with short-cycling or something.

 

I doubt its much of a strain since it's meant to get that cold anyways. If, OTOH, you bypassed the built-in thermostat and cycled the compressor even more than the coldest setting does, that might be considered some real strain.

 

I think I set the cycling for like 10 mins. I don't know what a stock fridge is set for.

 

cold crashing is done at 32-33 and no it will not hurt it

 

The cycling is based on pressure inside the freon lines. When the pressure gets too low (warm), compressor shuts off, when it gets too high it kicks back on (cooling again). As long as the fridge is working properly you'll be fine.