Repaint instead of replace the old fridge

[California98Civic]

To save energy with my old fridge I have water bottles in it for cold mass and have the power on a timer so it shuts off a few hours at night. To save on replacing it, I just repainted it. It was white and rusted. I sanded and painted it in this home-made chalkboard paint. We can write on it in chalk and then erase with a slightly damp sponge.



My wife and daughter love it too. It's like having a new fridge.

[ecomodded]

Sweet , Have you been watching American restoration ?
J/K good job refreshing it , nice making it a chalk board at the same time !

[Patrick]

Have you checked the energy consumption of the fridge? Some of the older fridges are horribly inefficient and you might be better off getting a new, more efficient one to replace it. I'm not sure what the payback time would be.

[RedDevil]

We had 3 (!) old fridges at home, which were running continuously on warm days.
We replaced them with 2 larger, much more efficient new fridges.
Replacement cost was hefty, yet the energy bill went down drastically so we'll earn it back in a few years time.

You can decorate new fridges too, and the largest of ours is a true fridge magnet, err, magnet.

[ecomodded]

The fridge doesn't look that old to me , have you tested its wattage with a kw meter ?

[redneck]

.

Looks good...

And if it still works fine, all the better.

Nothing beats paid for...

>

[Cobb]

Yeah..... painting a fridge doesnt make it more efficient. Maybe add some extra insulation, change to a more efficient compressor, check it for leaks, clean the coils.

Ive heard people talking about adding water bottles to fridges/freezers, but you got to cool those down to get the return. Seems like the only advantage there is to cycle it on during lower off peak hours and off during peak.

[j12piprius]

New fridges are no better; in fact they are worse. The cold air goes out in the room as soon as you open the door. My old fridge was on constantly, and used an average of 100 watts. I replaced it with a 7 cubic foot chest fridge with a temperature switch a few years ago. Now it's very quiet, only runs 6 minutes an hour and uses an average of 8 watts.

Additional advantages are better insulation and being able to regulate the temperature. The old fridge would barely get below 40 degrees. I have the conversion set to go on at 38, off at 36, and it continues down to 33 before going back up. I like the convenience of everything being right there when I open the top. It is quick and easy to use, besides using much less energy.

[California98Civic]

Hahaha! I don't imagine that the paint insulates. By savings i just meant buying a new fridge and the timer and cold mass. I can't recall if this one had an energy star rating. I bought it new in 2006 from a wholesaler for cheap because the door was dented.

When i started the cold mass and timer set up, I tested using a kilawatt. Running on the timer with cold mass saved me significant energy: a 15% reduction measured through AB testing. But i now have more cold mass than during the test, shorter overnight off priods, and a slightly colder thermostat setting, so 15% is certainly optimistic.

[Xist]

One of our European friends had a thread about insulating his refrigerator, which looked like what many of us would have next to our recliners, not in our kitchens.

The consensus seemed to be that the insulation prevented heat from escaping.

However, I have been wondering about insulating an oven. Could you minimize the heat it releases into the kitchen and save energy?