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Old 04-11-09, 08:45 AM   #21
Homeless
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You guys are right - the fridge will use the same amount of power whether turned upright or laying down. ( DUHHHH right ? )
The only benefit of a lay down setup being if you open your frige doors quite often.

The full sized fridge was driving me crazy with it's loud noise and constant heat. I also noticed that it has consumed over 3.5 kWh in just the last two days.
Therefore, I moved all the food back and have begun using the compact again.
Just out of boredom, I threw some blankets on the fridge.

Very encouraging.

The thing is around four feet from me, yet I did not even notice the compressor had turned on. It is so quiet that I thought that I was hearing my neighbors fridge through the wall.

( I kept the back side uncovered and the blankets are away from any heat source.)

Right away, I noticed that the fridge had taken around twenty minutes to cycle, versus the fifteen before. This is with me opening the door twice .

So - change of plan. I'm not going to convert this thing to a chest fridge, but rather just insulate the living crap out of it.
I'm also going to just take a thick piece of metal and bend it around the compressor to form a heat shield.

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Old 04-26-09, 05:05 PM   #22
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Just wanted to add that currently, the frig is showing .025 kWh per hour.

This is with no modifiactions to the frig. The temperature is set to the lowest ( warmest ) setting just above 'off ', yet the food stays fresh. The frozen items are not rock hard, but they are cold enough to be very rigid.
This is actually prefered over 'rock solid' because my small sanwich maker cooks the food quicker, using less energy.

.025 kWh is not bad, but it is a heck of a lot worse than what I am aiming for.
I have run it for the last 24 hours and the average is .025 kWh.

Earlier, I tested it with 1/4 thick styrofoam sheeting all around ( except where the hot compressor is.) I also left the top uncovered, thinking that since hot air escapes upwards, this would allow the heat from the frig to have a place to go.

I got the styrofoam from the trash compactor at work.

After running the frig for around three to four hours, I concluded that the extra insullation was doing almost nothing . I adhered the foam using tape, but I made sure that the foam was snug.

I gained maybe a minute or two of time between when the frig would turn on, but with the normal variations in shut on time, this may have had nothing at all to do with the extra insullation.

Any ideas what I might have been doing wrong ? Temperatures that day were rather cool. (55 - 60 ish ) Would I see more or less of an effect on a hot day ?

I found a really nice 5 Cu. ft. chest freezer for $ 165 at my job. Although I could save some energy by converting this to a chest frig, I have to consider the emissions produced in the production of the freezer.
I think that this would far outweigh the extra ( powerplant ) emissions from using my frig as it is.

Besides, when you convert a chest freezer to a frig, where do you store your frozen foods ??
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Old 04-26-09, 05:15 PM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Homeless View Post
Just out of boredom, I threw some blankets on the fridge.

Very encouraging.

The thing is around four feet from me, yet I did not even notice the compressor had turned on. It is so quiet that I thought that I was hearing my neighbors fridge through the wall.


Right away, I noticed that the fridge had taken around twenty minutes to cycle, versus the fifteen before. This is with me opening the door twice .

.
This is before I did a good controlled test. The unit actually turns on once every 24 minutes or so, and stays on around 7.5 minutes. This was without any blankets.
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Old 04-26-09, 05:22 PM   #24
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O.K., point 60 kWh for for 24 hours.

That amounts to what ... 219 KWh per year right ?

Not good enough.
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Old 04-26-09, 05:57 PM   #25
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Homeless View Post
O.K., point 60 kWh for for 24 hours.

That amounts to what ... 219 KWh per year right ?

Not good enough.
60 kWh/day is a lot. Isn't it 60 Wh/day ? If yes then it's very efficient, my newer fridge is at 380 Wh/day = 140 kWh/year.

219 kWh/year = 600 Wh/day = 0.025 Wh/h and is more efficient than my older fridge at 660 kWh/year.

My fridge has two small ventilators at the upper part. They switch off as soon as the door is opened. I rarely saw them already off when opening the door.

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Old 04-28-09, 03:02 PM   #26
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Whuups!
60 kWh should have read 60 Wh per day !

I am running another test of the frig. This time, I have at leat 1.5 " of foam on all sides of the frig - including the top, underside, and the front of the doors . I also threw a ( thin ) blanket over the top as well.
I am at three hours, and the reading is .07 Wh, but the compressor was still running at the three hour mark, so this skews the results. I'll have to wait longer.
At the two hour mark, my average was .025 per hour, which is really disappointing, because this would confirm that the extra insullation is indeed useless.
Time will tell.

Last edited by Homeless; 06-09-09 at 07:10 PM..
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Old 04-28-09, 03:06 PM   #27
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So if I did go with a chest freezer modification, how could I have both a frig and a freezer in the same unit ?
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Old 04-29-09, 08:22 PM   #28
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Well ... it looks as if insulating the outside of a frig like mine does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ! ( except make it look ugly )

This is surprising to me, since I have over 2.5" of foam taped to the sides of the thing ! ( it ranges from 1.5 " to over 3 " in some areas )

My average at 32 hours is still .025 Wh - so no change what-so-ever.

Last edited by Homeless; 06-09-09 at 07:11 PM..
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Old 05-02-09, 10:04 AM   #29
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I've had the Kill-a-Watt in place for the last three days. It looks as if the frig is actually now using MORE energy with the extra insullation. ( It jumped up 12 kWh per year - to over 231 kWh )

What am I doing wrong folks ? This seems to defy logic. It's like finding out that your car gets better gas mileage with four flat tires. It just doesn't make any sense !
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Old 05-02-09, 01:15 PM   #30
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Make sure you're not blocking any vents.

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