Insulating the fridge yourself and cutting down energy consumption down to 50%

[elhigh]

Originally Posted by niky

After checking my "new" fridge and finding the sides cold to the touch, I'm thinking this is worth trying.

Certainly cheaper than the LED light bulb buying binge I've been on.

LED lamps are perfectly happy when cold (unlike compact fluorescents) and will do very well inside your refrigerator. It doesn't save much in terms of lighting efficiency, but it is MUCH better inside your fridge as a cool light that doesn't heat up your refrigerator. And you'll probably never ever ever have to replace it.

[AllenK]

Just an update: 3 years after insulating my fridge it is still running smoothly: low energy consumption, no condense water, keeping nicely cool! For details please visit Make your old fridge green by insulating it


Allen K

[bobdbilder]

Just to share something which may or may not work for different environments. The fridge is the only electrical equipment that we run 24hrs a day. We had just installed an off the shelf timer for Euros 2,50 and set them to switch off between 12 midnight and back on at 6 in the morning. The reason being when we are asleep, the fridge remains closed. There is a fair amount of insulation in our fridge as most made for tropical countries are. Therefore temperature can remain relatively low without the need to run the compressor. So instead of running 24hours a day, it does 18. The savings is not really 30% because compressors don't run so often during those periods anyway. But they still do. It was my wife's idea and she's a HAACP auditor

[j12piprius]

My 7 cubic foot Whirlpool chest fridge conversion averages only 8 watts ($.48 a month), compared to the old Frigidaire fridge that averaged 100 watts ($6. a month). The chest fridge runs less than 6 minutes an hour, with an average temperature of 36 degrees (33 to 38). The fridge conversion uses only 8% of the energy that was used by the fridge.

[lowglider]

Guys, since I see you are experienced in this stuff, what do you recommend for treating the fridge`s rubber seals?
For car door seals I usually just clean them up and then treat them with silicone oil, but I do it because I was told to do so and have no data to back it up. And in a fridge every micro hole where air can come in will produce a draft and thus reduce efficiency, so the more flexible the rubber seal, the better.

[Fat Charlie]

I used white duct tape to fix the cracks in my freezer's gasket.

[sid]

Many compressors only work in one orientation. I think a lot rely on gravity for proper flow out of the condenser coils.

[ME_Andy]

I took a look at your blog and I don't even see the extra insulation in your pics. Nice work.

I was coerced into buying a new fridge by a woman. Apparently "French doors" are more important than $1200 and energy efficiency.

[ME_Andy]

I did my fridge recently. Too bad I'll never know how much power it saved cause I definitely won't buy a Kill-a-Watt for this. Can't see anything from the front:



Bubble wrap, duct-taped on the side:



I'd be happy to drop the fridge power bill by 10%. I can say, that side definitely doesn't feel cold to the touch anymore. I'm sure the effect will compound, as well, due to less of a load on the AC.

[rumdog]

I've heard having a return air, or exhaust near back of fridge helps efficiency by circulating air over coils... Anyone tried this?