Operating Costs: Side-by-Side Refrigerator
First up in a series is this 26 c.f. (cubic foot) side-by-side refrigerator made by Frigidaire. The manufacture's EnergyStar card says that this model should use about 727 kWh per year (using temperature settings from the factory, which weren't changed in our test). Actual usage? Around 876 per year. Hmm. I'm assuming this discrepancy is based on either unrealistic usage in the manufacturer's tests (like never opening the door), or it may be the fact that our test was run during the summer, and we're not accounting for seasonal changes in needed power. When winter rolls around we'll readdress this and see if that's the case.
For now, let's talk about the results of the Kill-A-Watt energy analysis test performed on this product.
How much does it cost to operate?
| Product type: 26c.f. Refrigerator Model: FRS26RLECS2 Analysis test elapsed time: 7 days Average continuous watts: 100 # kWh per day: 2.4 |
What can we do with this information? A couple things:
- Consider energy usage when shopping for a fridge. Look at the EnergyStar rating and estimated cost per year, and choose an EnergyStar model with relatively low consumption. For example, most of today's mid-priced 26c.f. side-by-side refrigerators use between 618 and 727 kWhs per year.
- Use a fridge thermometer to ensure you're not over-cooling your fridge or freezer and wasting extra energy.
Some more tips about fridges from the EnergyStar web site:
In most households, the refrigerator is the single biggest energy consuming kitchen appliance. Replacing a refrigerator bought in 1990 with a new ENERGY STAR qualified model would save enough energy to light the average household for more than four and a half months.
You may also be interested to know that you can reduce the amount of energy your refrigerator or freezer uses, whether with a standard or an ENERGY STAR qualified model:
Comment by ahchooey — September 28, 2006 @ 6:27 pm