User Ecomodded has been working on doing things to improve his refrigerator’s efficiency for the past month or two. Thankfully he has gone step by step measuring his energy reduction as he goes along.
The first thing he did was cover the back, sides, top, and area around the compressor with SolidBlack–MD Flooring Underlayment. It is actually a sound deadening floor underlayment. However, it has an R-value rating of R3.3 per inch. He stacked four layers of this material up and adhered them to the fridge with some spray adhesive.
The last layer was a blue vapor barrier which is a thin foam material.
With these modifications, Ecomodded noticed his freezer temperature dropped from 0F/-18C to -10F/-26C. To compensate he readjusted the temperature setting from about halfway to about 1/5th to get back to 0F/-18C.
The before and after testing was done without a kill-a-watt, so there are no kWh savings calculated. However, Ecomodded measured the compressor’s time on/off. Before the modifications, the compressor was running for 35 minutes every hour and a half. After the modifications, the compressor was running for 26 minutes every two hours. This is a 38% reduction in on time and translates to just that in energy savings.
Another added benefit of the sound deadening is that the compressor is much harder to hear now.
For more information on Ecomodded’s fridge, see his forum thread.
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