4 ms·

My parents' ancient fridge consumes 2kWh a day. They refuse to buy a new one because it hasn't broken down yet.

pbhjpbhj 4y ago
What's the equivalent energy cost of a new fridge though? And it's not just that, there's the pollution of dumping the old one (how much refrigerant will be leaked? how much plastic sent to landfill?). And there's costs of the new one that aren't factored in, like transporting it halfway around the World. I wish government put money into guidance on these matters for domestic goods.
- jve 4y ago
  Mine is ~8 years old Samsung with i don't know which energy efficiency class: 1,1-1,3kWh/24h Vertical freezer with some 7 chests which is many more years older takes 0,6-1kWh/24h - probably depends when we open it and when not. Probably better to look at monthly (October) stats: 38,64kWh Fridge, 21,81kWh for freezer. Hmm, August 40/35; July 27/24. Dunno why it fluctuates so much. Ofcourse, October was heating season, but that doesn't seem to impact freezer for worse. Which is weird - it is 2 meters apart from heat source. But yeah, summer could hahve
haliskerbas 4y ago
Same, bought a kill-a-watt[1] device to show the $ directly and that helped. Good luck! 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_A_Watt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_A_Watt
vladvasiliu 4y ago
My new fridge consumes 1.1 kWh a day. I checked this while I was away on vacantion, so the door wasn't opened for 3 weeks. Depending on electricity prices, it's probably a better call to not change it.
- Slartie 4y ago
  That's pretty high though. I've measured my brand new chest fridge (which I operate as a cooler, thus only set to 5 degrees celsius) recently and it consumes 0.2kWh/d. My old vertical fridge/freezer combo which is over 10 years old consumes 0.72kWh/d (that one is operated normally). Both are opened multiple times per day.
- darkwater 4y ago
  Or to change it. In Europe at least 0.20-0.40€ per kWh is not that strange, so you can be wasting ~150€/year just by using a 2kWh/day fridge versus a 1kWh/day.
cinntaile 4y ago
That's really not that bad, that's 83W.
- Slartie 4y ago
  Which is the typical wattage of an average fridge compressor. This means the OP's parents' fridge is probably running 100% of the time and doesn't manage to transport the heat outside anymore faster than it is re-entering. Basically it's broken.
  - saalweachter 4y ago
    I'm actually curious ... a random 28 cu ft fridge off of Lowe's website claims it will use 700 kWh / year on its energy guide, or about 2kWh / day. A random 18 cu ft fridge claims it will use closer to 400 kWh / year, or around 1.1 kWh / day. The random commenter on this thread has an 8 cu ft fridge which uses around 0.5 kWh / day. Is the GP's parent's fridge "old" or is it "giant"?
    - danuker 4y ago
      It has a 73-liter (~2.58ft³) freezer and a 237-liter (~8.37ft³) fridge. Its factory rating when it was brand new was 237 kWh/year. Instead, it's around 683 actually (~1.87kWh/day)
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
gsich 4y ago
If you buy a new one, how long will it last?
- danuker 4y ago
  Warranty in the EU says it should last at least 2 years. But it typically lasts 10 before it needs repairs (neighbors replaced the compressor).
  - Slartie 4y ago
    > But it typically lasts 10 before it needs repairs (neighbors replaced the compressor). Typically it's way more than 10 for fridges and freezers. I just recently replaced a chest freezer that was 24 years old. It was still working, but started to consume excessive amounts of power because it apparently lost the ability to efficiently transport heat - it just managed to cool a very small area of the surface inside, even though constructively it should cool over almost all the surface area. As a result the compressor ran almost constantly to keep the insides cool. The OPs' parents freezer probably has the same problem.
chadcmulligan 4y ago
I had an old fridge, I thought I'd keep it in the garage and keep some beer in it for when people came over. Finally got rid of it recently - going by my electricity bill it was costing me nearly a $100 a quarter to keep a carton of beer cold :-D.

What's the equivalent energy cost of a new fridge though? And it's not just that, there's the pollution of dumping the old one (how much refrigerant will be leaked? how much plastic sent to landfill?). And there's costs of the new one that aren't factored in, like transporting it halfway around the World. I wish government put money into guidance on these matters for domestic goods.

jve 4y ago
Mine is ~8 years old Samsung with i don't know which energy efficiency class: 1,1-1,3kWh/24h Vertical freezer with some 7 chests which is many more years older takes 0,6-1kWh/24h - probably depends when we open it and when not. Probably better to look at monthly (October) stats: 38,64kWh Fridge, 21,81kWh for freezer. Hmm, August 40/35; July 27/24. Dunno why it fluctuates so much. Ofcourse, October was heating season, but that doesn't seem to impact freezer for worse. Which is weird - it is 2 meters apart from heat source. But yeah, summer could hahve

haliskerbas 4y ago

Same, bought a kill-a-watt[1] device to show the $ directly and that helped. Good luck! 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_A_Watt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_A_Watt

vladvasiliu 4y ago

My new fridge consumes 1.1 kWh a day. I checked this while I was away on vacantion, so the door wasn't opened for 3 weeks. Depending on electricity prices, it's probably a better call to not change it.

Slartie 4y ago
That's pretty high though. I've measured my brand new chest fridge (which I operate as a cooler, thus only set to 5 degrees celsius) recently and it consumes 0.2kWh/d. My old vertical fridge/freezer combo which is over 10 years old consumes 0.72kWh/d (that one is operated normally). Both are opened multiple times per day.
darkwater 4y ago
Or to change it. In Europe at least 0.20-0.40€ per kWh is not that strange, so you can be wasting ~150€/year just by using a 2kWh/day fridge versus a 1kWh/day.

cinntaile 4y ago

That's really not that bad, that's 83W.

Slartie 4y ago
Which is the typical wattage of an average fridge compressor. This means the OP's parents' fridge is probably running 100% of the time and doesn't manage to transport the heat outside anymore faster than it is re-entering. Basically it's broken.
- saalweachter 4y ago
  I'm actually curious ... a random 28 cu ft fridge off of Lowe's website claims it will use 700 kWh / year on its energy guide, or about 2kWh / day. A random 18 cu ft fridge claims it will use closer to 400 kWh / year, or around 1.1 kWh / day. The random commenter on this thread has an 8 cu ft fridge which uses around 0.5 kWh / day. Is the GP's parent's fridge "old" or is it "giant"?
  - danuker 4y ago
    It has a 73-liter (~2.58ft³) freezer and a 237-liter (~8.37ft³) fridge. Its factory rating when it was brand new was 237 kWh/year. Instead, it's around 683 actually (~1.87kWh/day)

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

gsich 4y ago

If you buy a new one, how long will it last?

danuker 4y ago
Warranty in the EU says it should last at least 2 years. But it typically lasts 10 before it needs repairs (neighbors replaced the compressor).
- Slartie 4y ago
  > But it typically lasts 10 before it needs repairs (neighbors replaced the compressor). Typically it's way more than 10 for fridges and freezers. I just recently replaced a chest freezer that was 24 years old. It was still working, but started to consume excessive amounts of power because it apparently lost the ability to efficiently transport heat - it just managed to cool a very small area of the surface inside, even though constructively it should cool over almost all the surface area. As a result the compressor ran almost constantly to keep the insides cool. The OPs' parents freezer probably has the same problem.

chadcmulligan 4y ago

I had an old fridge, I thought I'd keep it in the garage and keep some beer in it for when people came over. Finally got rid of it recently - going by my electricity bill it was costing me nearly a $100 a quarter to keep a carton of beer cold :-D.