How much electricity does my refrigerator use?

[Metspitzer]

Refrigerators are a big chunk of home energy use

In most homes the refrigerator is the second-largest user of electricity (13.7%), right after the air conditioner (16%). (Dept. of Energy) With most appliances you save energy by using them less, but you can't very well do that with your fridge. The main way to save money with your fridge is to use an efficient model. New fridges aren't just a little more efficient, they're incredibly more efficient. A 1986-era 18 c.f. fridge uses 1400 kWh a year, while a modern energy-efficient model uses only 350 kWh -- a whopping 75% reduction. At 15¢ kWh, trading in a pre-1986 fridge for a new efficient one would save about $158 a year in electricity costs. And some older fridges are even worse than the average. One reader estimates her savings to be $238 per year for trading in her 1979 fridge for a 2004 model.

One big caveat: All the figures on this page are with any ice maker turned OFF. When the icemaker is on then usage could be as much as double. (Consumer Reports) If you trade in an old fridge without an icemaker for an icemaker-equipped fridge, and you run the icemaker, you might not see any savings.

[gregz]

They also usually have door heater off. My 1977 fridge without ice maker and opened once a day, uses $120 a year, $.13kwh. My 1995? Fridge uses $65 a year. Ice maker broke, and I think door heater off. I can't turn off my1977 door heater, thinking of disconnecting it. I assume a modern unit should use less than $50 year, average top bottom door units.

Greg

[Home Guy]

Yes, we know that.

We knew that over a month ago, when this thread ended.

Why are you re-hashing it?

Check my posts on April 2 and April 10 when -> I first mentioned

[Metspitzer]

I did not see it. I will. Thanks

[Art Todesco]

Ya, I posted a question about a month ago seeking info on, if it might be worth replacing a 38 year old working freezer. Someone suggested that I use a Kill-A-Watt to check it out. I did that and found that the freezer used about $110 electricity ($0.11/KWH here) per year. Of course, in my case, it would take years for a new replacement freezer to pay for itself, so the old freezer continues to plod along and will, until it breaks.

[gfretwell]

I have a 2006 Whirlpool side by side with ice in the door, outside in my tiki bar by the pool in SW Florida. The Killawatt says it costs about $150 a year to run

[Jules Richardson]

Same sort of deal with our fridge (built in 1977) - it would take a long time for a replacement to pay for itself; much longer than I expect the lifespan of a modern one to be. I'm up in the frozen north, too; part of our domestic heating load is electric, so for quite a few months of the year any heat output from the running of the ancient fridge is still providing a useful service.

I'm not sure what I'll do when the old fridge does finally fail in some terminal way... I doubt it's possible to buy a modern fridge with a 35 year warranty :-)

cheers

Jules

[micky]

Absolutely. Although that means when the AC is on, that's more heat to remove. Of course I only use the AC 10 days a year, in baltimore (I used to call myself mm when I posted)

Another thing I like is that this one, from 1979, a Sears (whirlpool?) seems indestructible. A mouse got stuck in the fan and for weeks the fan at the bottom didn't blow. I thought that would make something burn out, but that was 10+ years ago. Other times people have left things in front of the front bottom air vents, for days at a time, and that doesn't seem to hurt it.

Plus of course, it's harvest gold, and no fridge I could replace it with in harvest gold would be much newer.

Probably not. And in Harvest Gold. But maybe if I google, I can find one.

[tangerine3]

My refrigerator dont use any electricity. I unplugged it a couple years ago. I dont cook at home. I only used the fridge for beverages. In the winter they stay cold on my back porch. In summer there is a spring on my property that keeps my cans cold. It's a little inconvenient to have to walk to the spring, but it saves money. I have considered buying one of those small apartment sized fridges that are about 2 or 3 cu ft. I dont know how much power they take when they are so small. I'd assume much less than a large fridge.

[Metspitzer]

We always bought beer at a stores that would let us fill our coolers with ice free.

[tangerine3]

Damn, that must go back to the 1950's.... Now a days there are no freebies. other than the phony ones where you got to text something on your cell (so they can collect personal data), and you never hear who wins (cuz no one does).....