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| HOW CAN I SAVE ENERGY? |
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| REFRIGERATION |
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| Most old refrigerators, especially freezers are energy guzzlers. Modern refrigerators use about a tenth of electricity used by refrigerators built 20 years ago! |
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| You may not realise it, but refrigerators are among the top energy guzzlers at home! They consume over 30 – 50 % units of a normal household. |
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| Most domestic fridges are entirely under-utilised! They don’t contain more than… |
| (a) |
A few bottles of cold water |
| (b) |
Dry-fish – funnily enough, to prevent cat’s getting at it! |
| (c) |
Sugar and other goodies – to prevent ant infestation |
| (d) |
Leftovers of cooked food |
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| This often fills only 10% of the capacity!! |
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| The Quest for the Best Refrigerator |
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| Refrigerators use mechanical force to remove heat from food items. This heat is absorbed by a liquid known as a ‘refrigerant’. The refrigerant circulates in a closed loop. It absorbs heat and becomes a gas. A portion of the heat dissipates through a condenser coil. The rest is leaked out to the environment by mechanical forces generated by the compressor. Once heat is removed, the gas becomes a liquid and re-circulates through the network of piping inside the freezer and refrigerator. |
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| The cycle is repeated as long as the refrigerator remains on. |
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| Modern refrigerators, especially freezers use about 1/10 of electricity used by refrigerators built 20 years ago. |
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| If you have an old, old refrigerator, buy a new one. You’ll be saving both money and energy. |
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| Buy the right sized fridge to suite your needs. |
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IIS switching off the fridge at night an energy efficient practice?
Not advisable.
Read below and you would understand.
Automatic switching on and off of compressor is commonly achieved by two methods namely the open loop control and the close loop control.
The older refrigerators used a control system known as ‘open loop’, wherein the ‘on’ and ‘off’ durations are predetermined for each setting. These devices are termed as ‘open loop’ because the control system is not responsible for the temperature of the refrigerator and only perform the function of a glorified timer. Hence these models often follow the same operating pattern during night time and day time – whether the refrigerator gains heat by frequent opening of the door or not. Switching off such a refrigerator will definitely save energy. But it could lead to a slight rise in temperature inside the refrigerator, causing food to spoil. This effect is negligible for a refrigerator with good heat insulation around the body. Yet the heat gaining could become profound if the heat insulation is in poor condition. In essence, switching off an old refrigerator (with open loop control) could save a few units, but may also affect the quality of food stored inside a fridge, an unhealthy proposition for meat consumers. |
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| Closed Loop Control systems keep a close vigil on either the inside temperature or the temperature of hot gaseous refrigerant – both of which provide a good feedback of the prevailing situation inside a refrigerator. These devices use a temperature probe to measure the temperature inside the refrigerator and signals a micro controller circuit to ‘decide’ on whether (or when) to switch on the compressor. These refrigerators, tends to follow a more energy consuming cycle during day time – as the door is frequently opened resulting in longer duration of compressor-operation. During the night time, when the door is seldom opened, the controller will sense the stable temperature of the cold compartments. The compressor, in response to this situation would not operate for a long time. In other words, it would consume far less energy at night. |
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| How can you save energy when using refrigerators? |
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| Be mindful of your Actions |
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| (a) |
Mind the door |
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Open doors results in a drop of 10 – 200 C. |
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| (b) |
Tidy up |
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Store items in order. Defrosting items on the top shelf, cooked meals, fruits next, and vegetables in the bottommost drawer. A tidy refrigerator is always easy to search. |
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| (c) |
Use baskets |
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Store foods in baskets (preferably cane, to permit air flow). Vegetables, fruits…etc can be stored in baskets according to the need of the day. It’s easy to pick the right basket at the right time, rather than picking something from here and something from there. |
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| (d) |
Store liquids in enclosed spaces |
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Uncovered foods, especially liquids, release moisture into the refrigerator, making the compressor work harder. |
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| (e) |
Don’t store hot food |
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Cool them down to room temperature before storing. |
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| (f) |
Put back cold food soon after use |
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Cold food out of the refrigerator makes them gain heat. It’s hard work to cool them all over again. |
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| (g) |
Defrost inside |
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Move frozen food items from the freezer to the refrigerator. The food item will be automatically defrosted, ready for use in 10 – 12 hours. Less food in the freezer is less work for the compressor. |
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| (h) |
Check the beading |
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Ensure door seals are clean and closed properly. Rapid ice build indicates poor door sealing. |
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| (i) |
Ensure proper ventilation |
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Ensure proper ventilation around the coils at the back of the refrigerator. Refrigerators with no coils on the back need good ventilation around both sides and back. |
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| (j) |
Ensure proper location |
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Place refrigerators away from direct sunlight/ warm environments |
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| (k) |
Keep the coils clean |
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Dust build up on coils makes refrigerators work harder. |
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| (l) |
Right settings |
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If no items require deep freezing (e.g. ice cream, meats and fish), lower the settings to a bare minimum. Maintain settings at 40% level (between 2 and 3 in a 1-5 scale), when deep frozen items are stored. |
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| (m) |
Discard junk |
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Store only what really requires storing. A refrigerator is not the best place to store sweets and dry-fish!! |
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