4 ms·
I'm not exactly a fridge nerd but I had no idea such fridges existed and I'm somewhat curious as to why it's more efficient than cycling. Perhaps it's the ease
by kintamanimatt 13y ago
I'm not exactly a fridge nerd but I had no idea such fridges existed and I'm somewhat curious as to why it's more efficient than cycling. Perhaps it's the ease of which to maintain a constant temperature, rather than a fluctuating one?
What fridge do you have out of interest?
- mturmon 13y agoI have an Electrolux. Here's a report about variable-power compressors: http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/includes/pdf/invertercompressors-improvingefficiency.pdf http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/includes/pdf/invertercom... I was introduced to refrigeration nerdery by talking with a friend who designs the cryocoolers for JWST (http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/cryocooler.html http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/cryocooler.html) who nodded sagely and said "more efficient that way" when I mentioned my new fridge did not cycle on/off. Now that's a fridge nerd!
- Amadou 13y agoThe problem with cycling is that powering up is the least efficient part of the cycle. So a fridge (or an air conditioner for that matter) that cycles frequently is spending more time running in its least efficient mode. I'm not a fridge nerd either, but my understanding is that adding thermal mass to the fridge will reduce the heating spikes from things like opening the door which will reduce the frequency at which it cycles up. So you can make your fridge more efficient if you have the space to put big jugs of water in the fridge and big blocks of solid ice in the freezer. You might only save a buck that way, but if the space isn't being used for anything else you have nothing to lose.