Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com - View Single Post - Insulating the fridge yourself and cutting down energy consumption down to 50%

AllenK · 08-02-2012, 07:31 AM

One year ago i decided to give it a try and to insulate my 18 years old fridge instead of just buying a new more efficient one. I did measure baseline power consumption of the old fridge and as expected it was higher than that of new fridges. I did measure 247kWh per year. I found the best similar modern fridge takes 95kWh a year.
I bought styrofoam and glued most of it outside against the walls of course sparing the compressor and the cooling coils. Some of the styrofoam went inside for example at the bottom, against the back wall and next to the condenser. I had to tune the thermostat a bit cause it was not made for that now better insulation and temperature inside became too low.
After that i did measure again. And again. Power consumption was much lower now: 128kWh per year! The cost in material was 27 Euros which is made up already now after a year because of lower energy bill.

Instead of buying a new one i did save money, i did save the environment because my old fridge is not thrown away and it consumes as much as a modern fridge with energy label A++!

Now one year later i did check the whole fridge thouroughly. I found very pleasing results: energy consumption stayed as low as right after the insulation. There are no signs of condense water under the styrofoam. Temperature inside the fridge is as low as it should be.

For details of the check-up, for all the steps i took to insulate my old fridge and for pics have a look here:

Make your old fridge green by insulating it

I am happy about comments here or at my page. If anybody did something similar i would be interested in your experience.

Allen

08-02-2012, 07:31 AM	#1 (permalink)
AllenK EcoModding Lurker Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Berlin Posts: 17 Thanks: 1 Thanked 14 Times in 7 Posts	Insulating the fridge yourself and cutting down energy consumption down to 50% One year ago i decided to give it a try and to insulate my 18 years old fridge instead of just buying a new more efficient one. I did measure baseline power consumption of the old fridge and as expected it was higher than that of new fridges. I did measure 247kWh per year. I found the best similar modern fridge takes 95kWh a year. I bought styrofoam and glued most of it outside against the walls of course sparing the compressor and the cooling coils. Some of the styrofoam went inside for example at the bottom, against the back wall and next to the condenser. I had to tune the thermostat a bit cause it was not made for that now better insulation and temperature inside became too low. After that i did measure again. And again. Power consumption was much lower now: 128kWh per year! The cost in material was 27 Euros which is made up already now after a year because of lower energy bill. Instead of buying a new one i did save money, i did save the environment because my old fridge is not thrown away and it consumes as much as a modern fridge with energy label A++! Now one year later i did check the whole fridge thouroughly. I found very pleasing results: energy consumption stayed as low as right after the insulation. There are no signs of condense water under the styrofoam. Temperature inside the fridge is as low as it should be. For details of the check-up, for all the steps i took to insulate my old fridge and for pics have a look here: Make your old fridge green by insulating it I am happy about comments here or at my page. If anybody did something similar i would be interested in your experience. Allen Last edited by AllenK; 08-02-2012 at 02:44 PM..