6 ms·

Anecdote, but I rescued a 1947 Kelvinator C-7-R (essentially a 1930's pre-war design) last year from the National Grid fridge scrapping scheme. It'd sat in an u

Anecdote, but I rescued a 1947 Kelvinator C-7-R (essentially a 1930's pre-war design) last year from the National Grid fridge scrapping scheme. It'd sat in an unheated garage since 1993, after being continually in use by the same family from 1948 to 1993. I plugged it in once I got home, and it cooled down to 38F within an hour. :) Functionally, it just needs a new door seal to go back into service. Unfortunately I turned it into another restoration project... the original glass drawers got smashed in the 70's, and replaced with pieces of wood paneling, the interior door panel is cracked, and most importantly, it needs all the wiring replaced. Something of note for post-war appliances like this; due to copper shortages, a lot of manufacturers switched to aluminum wire. This, combined with the natural rubber insulation, and the lack of grounding, it's basically waiting to electrocute me, then set my house on fire. A lot of other 40's and 50's appliances are probably the same in terms of aluminum wiring. Pretty much everything prior to the 70's is gonna be full of natural rubber insulation and no grounding (or double insulation), however.

war1025 6y ago
What is the energy use of such an old fridge compared to a new one?
- userbinator 6y ago
  Much better than you'd think --- I have a late 30s Frigidaire which consumes a bit less than 300kWh/year, which is actually on the low side compared to some of the newest ones today. GE's famous Monitor Tops from the same era (which sell for absurd $$$ in working condition today) are also very energy-efficient: http://web.archive.org/web/20121218033749/http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/choosing-energy-efficient-refrigerator http://web.archive.org/web/20121218033749/http://www.greenbu... The ones with the highest consumption are the late 60s to 80s thin-walled ones (which makes for more interior space, but obviously less insulation) and those with defrost heaters. It's both depressing and a bit amusing, both from the point of view of historical accuracy and saving working products from being scrapped, that a basic search on how much energy a fridge uses turns up misleading results like https://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/refrigerators.html https://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/refrigerators.html --- that one cuts off at 1976, and is essentially claiming 2200kWh/year for all models before that year, which is a gross generalisation and exaggeration. 2200kWh/year is equivalent to consuming 250W for 24/7. The compressor in my fridge has a rated power of less than 100W, and certainly doesn't run 24/7.
  - morsch 6y ago
    Here in Germany you have to try hard to buy a full sized freezer/fridge with more than 150 kWh/a. 75 kWh/a is not unusual. Maybe the benchmark is different.
  - war1025 6y ago
    The thing I think is really interesting about this is the implication that efficiency got much worse before starting to get better. I guess intuitively that makes sense since the first refrigerators were probably upgraded actual "ice boxes", where efficiency is obviously very important.
    - userbinator 6y ago
      Electrical costs were also quite high --- many places still had not been electrified yet. Combine that with The Great Depression and efficiency definitely became a concern and marketing point.

war1025 6y ago

What is the energy use of such an old fridge compared to a new one?

userbinator 6y ago
Much better than you'd think --- I have a late 30s Frigidaire which consumes a bit less than 300kWh/year, which is actually on the low side compared to some of the newest ones today. GE's famous Monitor Tops from the same era (which sell for absurd $$$ in working condition today) are also very energy-efficient: http://web.archive.org/web/20121218033749/http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/choosing-energy-efficient-refrigerator http://web.archive.org/web/20121218033749/http://www.greenbu... The ones with the highest consumption are the late 60s to 80s thin-walled ones (which makes for more interior space, but obviously less insulation) and those with defrost heaters. It's both depressing and a bit amusing, both from the point of view of historical accuracy and saving working products from being scrapped, that a basic search on how much energy a fridge uses turns up misleading results like https://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/refrigerators.html https://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/refrigerators.html --- that one cuts off at 1976, and is essentially claiming 2200kWh/year for all models before that year, which is a gross generalisation and exaggeration. 2200kWh/year is equivalent to consuming 250W for 24/7. The compressor in my fridge has a rated power of less than 100W, and certainly doesn't run 24/7.
- morsch 6y ago
  Here in Germany you have to try hard to buy a full sized freezer/fridge with more than 150 kWh/a. 75 kWh/a is not unusual. Maybe the benchmark is different.
- war1025 6y ago
  The thing I think is really interesting about this is the implication that efficiency got much worse before starting to get better. I guess intuitively that makes sense since the first refrigerators were probably upgraded actual "ice boxes", where efficiency is obviously very important.
  - userbinator 6y ago
    Electrical costs were also quite high --- many places still had not been electrified yet. Combine that with The Great Depression and efficiency definitely became a concern and marketing point.