Quote:
Originally Posted by mike1000001
Do you mean room for improvement like if you were to replace your 2002 models with new ones?
The answer is no. The only way you are going to beat the energy efficiancy with what you have now is to get a model with a variable speed compressor and the savings there may be $1 a month at best. Plus you'll have to hand out at least $2500 or so for one of those refrigerators.
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It hadn't really occurred to me to ask that question but I did notice that the models made today that are similar to mine seem to be almost identical. My main question was:
The 2002 upright freezer with the condenser in the outside walls and the evaporator-shelves seems almost identical to the 1985 one it replaced other than the R12/R134a. Do you think it can be much more efficient than the old one? I guess the variables are insulation (old one appears to be foam as well), refrigerant, motor, and compressor.
Quote:
Originally Posted by drcampbell
Fridges did become energy hogs in the 1970s and 1980s, the defrost cycle being one of the bigger consumers. Customer satisfaction was considered much more important than energy conservation, so overkill was common.
One relatively simple thing you can do with older fridges to reduce the energy consumed by defrosting is to connect the defrost timer to the compressor instead of the line. Then, instead of defrosting, say, once every 24 hours of real time, it'll defrost once per 24 hours of compressor run time, saving a whole lot of energy in winter, spring and fall, in the summer in moderate climates, and in air-conditioned houses.
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I did some looking at defrost timers and they are listed by hours of run time/minutes of defrost time. The longest I think I saw was a 16/35 but more commonly they seem to use 10/21 these days but the fridge I took out was 6/21. Considering the very high duty cycle of the compressor (it was wired as you suggest) the thing ran a defrost cycle at least twice a day if not three times. Then the refrigeration has to catch up to remove the heat that the heater just dumped into it. The frost buildup was very low when this happened and I was toying with trying to change it but I didn't think that was the major energy wasting part, more likely just the refrigeration itself.
The new one has an Adaptive Control (Whirlpool) which apparently senses how long it took the defrost termination switch to open on the last cycle and times the next one accordingly. It seems to settle on about 24 hours of total time in my case and fills the drain pan about halfway, much more water and less often than the old one did.
If anybody has insider information on how the Whirlpool ADC works I would be curious to know that too. The Samurai appliance repair man site seems to think these fail a bit too often so my current thought is to replace it with a regular timer if it ever breaks.
Birken
