Refrigerator buy-back program

[Percival P. Cassidy]

Our electric utility is offering to buy back old refrigerators (between

10 and 30 cu. ft.) for $30. I can see the logic of this (and of the subsidized CFLs), because it may postpone the need to build new power plants. BUT why do they insist that they must be in working order? (We have to have it plugged in and working when they come to pick it up.) Are they planning to refurbish them and sell them (at a profit, no doubt) to other poor suckers who will increase the load on some other utility?

Perce

[HeyBub]

Thirty dollars for a working refrigerator?

Is there any intelligent person, anywhere, who would participate?

You can easily get three times that - or more - on Craigslist.

[Ed Pawlowski]

The purpose is to save electricity, not to haul off you broken fridge to the dump.

You could have had that non-running unit taking up space (but now power) in the basement for years and figure you can cash in and not only get rid of it, but get paid $30.

[Ed Pawlowski]

They get many takers. People that are greenies are more interested in saving the planet than making a few extra bucks.

[Stormin Mormon]

Suppose they take away a broken refrig, which uses zero power. Put in one that does use power. What's the sense in that?

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

And they want it working because they are trying to reduce energy usage. It would be pretty dumb to waste money on one that blew up and was going to be replaced anyway.

[Stormin Mormon]

And, put in a new fridge, and increase your power use.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

[Bob]

The money most likely comes from some government subsidy -- look carefully at the taxes and surcharges on your utility bills.

I recently took advantage of such a program and had the old fridge ready to plug in. When the reclamation contractor showed up the first thing they did was to cut off the power cord (didn't even test it), then they broke the door seal so no one could suffocate inside, then as a final touch they took an axe (literally!) to the inside thermostat control so the box would be totally unusable.

[gregz]

The electric co came into my brothers house, put better insulation in, and replaced fridge. Free. He was on assistance at the time.

So save $30 , but what does it cost to have approved freon removal, and sticker applied to trash ?? Add that to $30 .

Greg

[Home Guy]

The utility companies are trying to round up and take out of service all those second refrigerators people have in their basement, garage, etc.

And has already been mentioned, if people have fridges that are not working, then they're not consuming power so they're just scrap metal.

Yes.

Many people have these second fridges that are horribly inefficient but running just the same. In the basement, or garage. Cooling maybe a case of soda or beer. The owners don't give it a thought, or have the means (transportation, muscle, etc) to dispose of them. And now you've got someone who will give you $30 bucks *AND* come and take it away for you?

Don't over-estimate the number of people willing to pay $30, let alone $100 for a stinky old fridge.

[LdB]

I had two old fridges picked up through a similar program in our area. They gave me $40 for each one. The utility contracted a trucking company to pick them up. It took a few months for truckers to get here from the time I called the utility. They had a number of pickups in the area. The guys grabbed the fridges and left a receipt, no questions asked. One fridge was outside on the back deck. I had just bought a new one to replace it. The other was sitting unplugged in the front sunroom. The truckers were likely being paid by the pickup, the more fridges they brought back, the more they got paid.

LdB

[Percival P. Cassidy]

They picked ours up today as promised, about two weeks from our call to the utility. I didn't notice the power plug being cut off, but I did see the seals being slashed so that the doors would no longer close tightly. I kept back the glass shelves to offer on FreeCycle in case somebody else can use them.

Perce

[Jon Danniken]

To keep people from trying to cash in a rusty shell of an old broken fridge for $30. Or putting an ice tray in a cardboard box and calling it a fridge.

The idea is to encourage you to replace your working fridge with an energy efficient one, and making sure that you only trade in a working unit helps ensure this (unless you could still take an old broken fridge and put dry ice and a fan in it, of course).

Jon

[krw]

You mean like "Cash for Clunkers"?

[micky]

I could bear to see my trusty fridge suffer such an ignominious death.

When mine finally stops working, I'm going to bronze it, like baby shoes.