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Low energy fridge and or freezer

(71 posts) (19 voices)

Started 7 years ago by Phil A
Latest reply from petemoss

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petemoss
Member

We have a Fisher & Paykel E450LWW upright Fridge (all fridge. no freezer) and the power consumption is only 570 Wh/day.

We are looking to replace our chest freezer (1.2 kWh/day) with a Vestfrost SE 325 / SE325 (rated at 710 Wh/day), and also need to replace an upright freezer as it is using 1.83 kWh/day.

Had a look at the Electrolux ERM3701WE (rated at 740 W/day), and the Electrolux EFM3001WE (rated at 1 kWh/day), and they didn't seem that low energy, although some people in this thread have noted that they use less than the rated power consumption.

Posted Wednesday 9 Oct 2013 @ 6:44:09 am from IP #
petemoss
Member

Seems that Electrolux don't make chest freezers. see Freezers

I can see that products like Elcold, Gram and Vestfrost and very energy efficient. My only concern is availability of parts. Has anyone had any experiences with getting parts and/or service from these suppliers ?

Posted Friday 11 Oct 2013 @ 12:22:59 am from IP #
aussiesue
Member

Hi David John,
I read your post on this thread about a drawer fridge you designed and it sounds as though you built it too.
I have lived aboard a boat for 12 years where the 24 volt fridge (and entire electrical system) is powered solely by a small solar system. When designing the system 12 years ago, two of the keys to efficiency were 1)having a relatively small box and 2)plenty of insulation. Another key was being top opening.
Living with a top opening fridge is a bit of a pain though, and I thought your idea of drawers was brilliant.
As all boat fridges are hand built, I have no prejudices whatsoever about making my own for a house, but, being lazy, I would much prefer to copy someone else's good idea than re-invent the wheel.
Would you consider sharing some information about it with perhaps a photo or two?

Incidentally, for those interested, my fridge/freezer has 20 litre freezer (Danforth compressor, U shaped cold plate) with holes in the side of the cabinet which leak cold air into the 100 litre fridge. The fridge has a basket for the things that only need cooling. 5" of insulation all around and as mentioned before, top opening. Draws 1.8 amps at 24v and cyles 50% of the time at ambient temperatures (Tropics) of 31 - 34 degrees constantly. The company which designed the system - Moorebank Refrigeration in Sydney - at the time used to also convert "Tuckerbox" chest freezers to fridge freezers, using the "cold leaking through holes from the freezer to the fridge" technique.

Posted Monday 14 Oct 2013 @ 4:24:00 am from IP #
John Sheridan
Member

aussiesue, how much is the fridge, sounds interesting, I live in Liverpool and Work in Moorebank

Do you mean these guys ?

http://www.moorebankmarine.com.au/

Want to choose a fridge for my needs, do they have a website ?

Cheers.

Posted Wednesday 16 Oct 2013 @ 6:05:41 pm from IP #
petemoss
Member

The Government has a list of many brands of Refrigerators and Freezers, showing their energy consumption and other details. See Refrigerator/Freezer - AS/NZS 4474.2

Posted Thursday 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:47:28 am from IP #
John Sheridan
Member

They are not very energy efficient if they don't list 12 and 24 volt fridges now are they, power hungry @^&@&@^&ers :p

That's government for you.

Posted Thursday 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:23:30 pm from IP #
wlb
Member

We're going around in circles John. Voltage has nothing to do with efficiency. Off the shelf low voltage fridges are intended for caravans and camping. Size is generally more important to the manufacturer. Even if they have an efficient compressor the insulation is generally poor.
If you made a fridge compressor motor to run on 1,000 volts it would only need a poofteenth of an Amp but that doesn't mean it's efficient.

Posted Thursday 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:55:35 pm from IP #
petemoss
Member

Have just finished replacing our chest freezer and upright freezer, and recorded their power usage. The chest freezer was a Fisher & Paykel, model H280, storage volume 275 litres, with the following power monitor readings:

Watts max 895.6
Watts min 0.1
kWh/year 439.4
kWh/qtr 109.83
kWh 0.05012
KWh / Day 1.20288

and the replacement chest freezer is a Elcold, model 41XLE, storage volume 360 litres, with the following power monitor readings:

Watts max 888.6
Watts min 0.3
kWh/year 186.4
kWh/qtr 46.59
kWh 0.02127
KWh / Day 0.51048

The Upright Freezer was a Fisher & Paykel, model E388LWW, storage 389 litres, with the following power monitor readings:

Watts max 596.4
Watts min 0.4
kWh/year 669.3
kWh/qtr 167.3
kWh 0.07636
KWh / Day 1.83264

and the replacement upright freezer is a Gram, model ClassicLine Upright Freezer FS 5286-90, storage volume 285 litres, with the following power monitor readings:

Watts max 791.5
Watts min 0.8
kWh/year 345.1
kWh/qtr 86.26
kWh 0.03937
KWh / Day 0.94488

We went up in size with the chest freezer, and down in size with the upright freezer, as the chest freezer is much more efficient to run than the upright freezer. We purchased the freezers through Harmonic Energy, very pleased with their service and attention to detail. Both freezers were manufactured overseas.

Posted Wednesday 22 Jan 2014 @ 11:49:09 am from IP #
Phil A
Member

Hi Petemoss,
Am pleased to read you went for the elcold and gram products. I hope you are as happy with them as I am with mine.
Our 286 litre fridge and 130litre freezer total power for a 24 hr period is a just over 500 watt hrs, amazing, and the temp never varies more than a degree or so. I find the freezer particularly impressive with that thick insulation.
I also found the service from Bella at Harmonic energy impeccable.

Phil.

Posted Friday 24 Jan 2014 @ 8:50:14 am from IP #
Greg
Member

Maybe we will see this as a domestic product with a significant cut to power usage. One can but hope.
http://www.cooltech-applications.com/magnetic-refrigeration-system.html

Posted Thursday 16 Jun 2016 @ 8:21:37 am from IP #
petemoss
Member

We had to turn off the upright freezer, as it is draining the batteries too much at night. It is a Gram, model ClassicLine Upright Freezer FS 5286-90, storage volume 285 litres, with the following power monitor readings from jan 2014:

Watts max 791.5
Watts min 0.8
kWh/year 345.1
kWh/qtr 86.26
kWh 0.03937
KWh / Day 0.94488

It has been at least 1kW per day for the last few days, and this is winter, and very cold here, especially overnight. One problem with buying this type of freezer is basically forget about any support. Next time we will buy something more local (Aus or NZ).

There may be something wrong with it, consuming that much power overnight at this time of the year. But who fixes a Gram fridge ? At what cost ? We are looking at a generator, so that this autumn/winter period will mean we can have the TV on for a while. Plus I won't have to be walking around with a 'headlamp'. Ridiculous.

Posted Tuesday 5 Jun 2018 @ 1:22:49 am from IP #

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