The Wasteful Fridge
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mark st1
Plastic Manc
- Location
- Leafy Berkshire
Cool.
- very good.I'm not sure what I'm most surprised at - the waste from the lec-guzzling freezer (does look to have cost you a pretty penny) or the fact that you've got all your kwh in a spreadsheet (I've never been that organised with the household bills).
biggs682
Itching to get back on my bike's
- Location
- Northamptonshire
oh dear no wonder you are so chilled
Night Train
Maker of Things
- Location
- Greater Manchester
Well, if you are working your freezer so hard that it chilled down to -40c then it will be using more energy then a freezer that only needs to chill down to -20c. Hardly surprising the freezer died as a result.
If it was a heating appliance, say a water heater heating water to 80c in stead of 40c, you wouldn't be surprised that it used more energy in the process.
If it was a heating appliance, say a water heater heating water to 80c in stead of 40c, you wouldn't be surprised that it used more energy in the process.
Night Train
Maker of Things
- Location
- Greater Manchester
[QUOTE 2559168, member: 9609"]I wasn't even remotely surprised it was using more electric, but was surprised it may have been accounting for a fifth of our electric use.[/quote]
It is a lot of electricity, granted, but a fridge is also a heater if you look at it from the back.
[QUOTE 2559168, member: 9609"]I wonder how much energy has been wasted though; in its cooling process it generated a fair amount of heat, for may be 11 months of the year that heat energy would have supplemented our central heating. And with a good percentage of electric coming from renewables (wind hydro and nuclear) may be my reduced carbon fuel burning could be argued to have been a good thing.[/quote]
It is low grade heat, a bit like ground source heating.
Back in 2002 I suggested, at The Centre for Alternative Technology, that maybe one day we should be recovering the heat from the back of the fridge to heat water alongside a solar hot water system. It would make the fridge a little more efficient by cooling the radiator at the back of the fridge while raising the water temp a little that goes in the solar set up.
The objection was that it would be better to add 100mm of insulation around the fridge to reduce the loss of 'coolth*'.
I still think it is worth an experiment to see how much heat comes out of the back of the fridge.
*Coolth is a Mike Thompson invented term to describe the opposite of warmth to make analogies easier to understand.
It is a lot of electricity, granted, but a fridge is also a heater if you look at it from the back.
[QUOTE 2559168, member: 9609"]I wonder how much energy has been wasted though; in its cooling process it generated a fair amount of heat, for may be 11 months of the year that heat energy would have supplemented our central heating. And with a good percentage of electric coming from renewables (wind hydro and nuclear) may be my reduced carbon fuel burning could be argued to have been a good thing.[/quote]
It is low grade heat, a bit like ground source heating.
Back in 2002 I suggested, at The Centre for Alternative Technology, that maybe one day we should be recovering the heat from the back of the fridge to heat water alongside a solar hot water system. It would make the fridge a little more efficient by cooling the radiator at the back of the fridge while raising the water temp a little that goes in the solar set up.
The objection was that it would be better to add 100mm of insulation around the fridge to reduce the loss of 'coolth*'.
I still think it is worth an experiment to see how much heat comes out of the back of the fridge.
*Coolth is a Mike Thompson invented term to describe the opposite of warmth to make analogies easier to understand.
Brandane
The Costa Clyde rain magnet.
Conversely; mine must be saving me a bob or two since the useless POS doesn't appear to be freezing things properly. And whenever I use some of those nice frozen(ish) king prawns, it saves me even more money because I end up with food poisoning and can't eat anything for a week 
.
It's only 3 years old and is supposed to self defrost, but doesn't, which is the cause of the problem (frost stops the cooling fan from working so I am told). It was bought from Comet, so the warranty is worthless. Manufacturer is not interested. It was supposedly repaired once, but 6 months later the problem recurred. One for the skip and a sore lesson, methinks.
.It's only 3 years old and is supposed to self defrost, but doesn't, which is the cause of the problem (frost stops the cooling fan from working so I am told). It was bought from Comet, so the warranty is worthless. Manufacturer is not interested. It was supposedly repaired once, but 6 months later the problem recurred. One for the skip and a sore lesson, methinks.
MontyVeda
a short-tempered ill-controlled small-minded troll
- Location
- Lancaster... the little city.
as i understand... frost free freezers use more energy than a normal freezer.
longers
Legendary Member
Someone at work was telling me last week that his freezer broke a few years ago and the only way he could get it going again meant it was working at about -40, so he bodged it so that it wasn't running constantly and tried to average it out at something a bit more sensible wrt to consumption.
Fnaar
Smutmaster General
- Location
- Thumberland
Here's my record of gas and lecky:
1) set up direct debit
2) forget about it
1) set up direct debit
2) forget about it
Night Train
Maker of Things
- Location
- Greater Manchester
I used to have a fridge with a faulty thermostat. I fitted a plug in timer with, 5 minute interval tabs, and set the tabs to loads of on/off positions so the fridge cycled on a timer to control the temperature. It had to be adjusted for summer and winter use but worked so well that it was like that for about 15 years.
Brandane
The Costa Clyde rain magnet.
Here's my record of gas and lecky:
1) set up direct debit
2) forget about it
I work at Fnaar's power supplier. Just stick him on the most extortionate rate we have; he won't notice and will continue to pay it forever and a day, no questions asked.
I am currently having my bank account emptied by NPower on a regular basis, but according to Uswitch.com, the others are equally as bad. It matters not a lot if I cut back on consumption, since their standing charges are now such a large proportion of the bill. Bar stewards; all of them!
summerdays
Cycling in the sun
- Location
- Bristol
Last weekend (30 deg temps) we discovered the milk in our fridge had actually curdled - put a thermometer in there and discovered it was in the teens in temperature! No wonder food had seemed to be going off a little quickly so most of the contents were binned as we were unsure how long the meat and cheese had been at those temperatures - the chicken certainly smelt very ripe!
We have managed to turn it up on full power but Mr Summerdays thinks it is permanently on to keep it cool enough so currently in the decision process for a new one!
(And just about to go and take this week's readings for my spreadsheet).
We have managed to turn it up on full power but Mr Summerdays thinks it is permanently on to keep it cool enough so currently in the decision process for a new one!
(And just about to go and take this week's readings for my spreadsheet).
Fnaar
Smutmaster General
- Location
- Thumberland
I do check supplier rates from time to time thoughI work at Fnaar's power supplier. Just stick him on the most extortionate rate we have; he won't notice and will continue to pay it forever and a day, no questions asked.
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