new fridge really *is* more energy efficient.

just an update... bought a shiny new GE fridge a couple months back. have had it plugged into a kill-a-watt just to see if it really lived up to the energy-saving hype. It's been running for about 400 hours since the last power outage, and average rate of energy consumption works out to about 636 kWh/year. energyguide says 458, but I've had the "energy saver" turned off because I was getting condensation on the door seals (it's pretty darn humid here, even with the AC and a dehumidifier in the basement.)

Old smaller fridge was over 1000 kWh/year according to the KAW so good deal. Now at that rate for the fridge to pay for itself it'll take... lessee...

hmm, this is kinda like cars, isn't it?

But it's quiet, keeps my beer cold, and makes the girlie happy, none of which the old fridge was doing towards the end...

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel
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If it's anything like my old GE it just might last long enough...

If a car lasts long enough it will pay for itself? I've been doing it wrong then. Mine always want me to keep paying.

Reply to
Ulysses

Reply to
gnu / linux

Sounds right. My Whirlpool side by side clocks in at 762kwh a year and it is outside in Florida. Not on the front porch, that is Georgia, it is in the tiki bar by the pool. An interesting thing is the light bulbs draw as much power as the compressor, another reason to keep the door closed. Having that door switch go bad would certainly spike your bill.

Reply to
gfretwell

Hi, Good to hear that. Hope it'll last long w/o problems. My fridge is running since '94 when we moved into this place we had custom built. Not a single problem(knock on the wood) yet. Mean while matching GE dishwasher needed a new pump ass'y, self-clean range/oven needed two new burner and temp control 'stat. MW was dead long ago, it is 2nd one(not GE this time, Panasonic one)

Reply to
Tony Hwang

I always thought that was silly to put a 40W light bulb in a fridge, but the shiny new one uses LEDs. Cool, in more ways than one :)

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

We had a GE side by side circa 1985 or so that I finally threw away because it rusted out ... but it was living out by the pool for 10 years after kitchen duty for about 10. The only real problem we ever had with it was the auger for the ice maker. It broke several times. GE replaced it once on warranty, I bought one, then I made the one that was in it when I junked it. (welded in extra support for the cross piece that breaks) It was still making ice and keeping the beer cold the day I unplugged it

Reply to
gfretwell

To make matters worse Whirlpool uses 2 40 watt bulbs per side.

Reply to
gfretwell

Nate Nagel wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news6.newsguy.com:

Don't know if it's still true or true with yours but a repairman one told me the energy saver is just a low wattage heater that runs around the door seal or the like. IIRC he said it was like 7-10 watts.

Making a BIG (and most likely incorrect) assumption that your difference is totally due to the energy saver being off you have a (636-458) =

178kW difference. 178k/365/24 comes out to about a 20w door heater. Seems like a lot. That's why I say most likely incorrect.

What the point? I dunno. Still got a much better frig especially if your in an area where electric rates are high.

Reply to
Red Green

My Kenmore met the label with a kaw when I kept temp not to low and opened and closed the door quickly, it was about 4.50 a month vs my old 15$ a month for my old frige

Reply to
ransley

Saving say 1100 - 636 =3D 464 less k.watts per year. At say 10 cents per kwhr. =3D $46.40 per year. That's something of the order of an eight to ten year simple payback. Of course as the OP said, the 'old' fridge wasn't doing the job and had to be replaced anyway.

By contrast in a climate like ours (Easternmost Canada), such previously wasted electric energy won't be available to heat the house during the ten months or so of the year heating is needed here! Same argument we use for not using CFLs! Heating needed in the evenings or at night when light tend to be on anyway.

In fact yesterday it was so humid here that we turned on the bathroom heat (actually six 40 watt incandescent light bulbs) above the bathroom vanity mirror) in order to warm up the room to combat the dampness. We do have a portable dehumidifier current on loan to a relative to more quickly dry out a plaster repair job in his bathroom!

Reply to
stan

If only! since we were shopping for a new fridge, and we own this house, SWMBO wanted what she wanted, which was a bottom freezer, french door model. To add insult to injury, we had to get a "counter depth" model (why do they make you pay more for a smaller fridge?) and still had to remove a cabinet anyway, so by the time the fridge has paid for its purchase price, the paint, plaster, copper tubing etc. and my labor, it'll be long gone.

But it does look nice. And it's quiet. Love the quiet. plus having built in water dispenser and ice maker means saving even more space because the Brita pitcher doesn't have to live in the fridge, and I don't keep my water bottles (for riding bike) frozen in the freezer anymore.

Sometimes you just gotta pay more to get what you want; like the fridge, or the rug in the living room (I'm proud of that one though, only paid $900 on Craigslist for a rug that I'm sure would appraise over $5K. sounds silly but I'm a barefoot kinda guy, and walking on a nice rug, especially one that looks nice too, is something that just makes you feel glad you paid the $$$.)

heh. I think we heat maybe 3 mos. out of the year if that.

House didn't have A/C when we moved in, it was OK for the first summer, but days like today I'm glad we have it. Heard it was supposed to get close to 100 degrees.

nate

Reply to
N8N

com:

that's what the booklet says, although it didn't specify wattage.

ISTR testing it on and off and with the fridge completely off (doors closed, compressor and fan both shut off) current draw was almost nil with the energy saver on (as it should be, all it's running at that point is the electronics for the controls and display) and about 1A with the energy saver off. So that's more like 120W but I don't believe that it has a 100% duty cycle.

Maybe if I check it again in the winter I'll find that it is actually even more efficient than the label says? who knows.

nate

Reply to
N8N

A snip

I like quiet. Our old fridge would drive me mad as I was listening to the TV in a room a mile away - well no, a few feet away but through two solid walls, not studding and plaster.

Your views and I welcome our freedom. I hate folk walking barefoot. When in someone else's house, I feel happy to remove my shoes but no more. It is strange that many cultures seem to have different makes on this.

Another snip

Reply to
Clot

But this is also August. In spring winter and fall you probably will do a little better as the room will be cooler so the fridge will suck up less room heat.

Another thing you can do is to place jugs of water in the fridge and the freezer if you have space. This displaces the cold air that falls out every time you open the door so the compressor doesn't have to work so hard.

Reply to
Roger Shoaf

I doubt that if your "did the math" you would find it hard to justify the water jugs on the basis of energy conservation.

One "fill" of air doen't actually represent much heat energy (or lack there of).

But when you do open the door, the cold air is almost immediately replaced by warm room air. That warm air starts to heat everything in the compartment: both your stored food AND your water jugs. The most "stuff" you have in the ice box, the most heat is transferred from the air to the "stuff."

Moreover, the more 'stuff' (including water jugs) you have, the longer it will take to store or retrieve the food and, thus, the more time it will take the compressor to restore the proper temperature.

If you live in a area where the power goes off often, it's often a good idea to keep some water jugs in the freezer. The drill starts when the fresh food compartment temp gets above 40F or so. That's when you take your frozen water jugs from the freezer and put them in the fresh food compartment. By that time, your freezer compartment is around freezing and, in fact, your frozen food should either be consumed or disposed of. Most frozen foods should be kept below 20F. At even 30F, because of dissolved solids, the food is starting to thaw.

Reply to
John Gilmer

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