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| Thread ID: 83338 | 2007-09-28 01:41:00 | How to measure appliance power usage | MeOldMate (12871) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 595884 | 2007-09-28 01:41:00 | Hi there I'm thinking of buying a new fridge. I can find out at www.energyrating.gov.au what a new fridge will cost to run, but I don't know how much the old one costs, so I can't calculate the savings, and therefore the pay-back period. My current fridge is very old. I bought it second hand and I believe it originally belonged to Fred Flintstone, as I've seen it in the background while watching that program. Consumer magazine says that old fridges are much less efficient than new ones, but doesn't quantify it. Mine still cools okay, so I'm inclined to keep it till it breaks down. Is there a device that I can plug in between the fridge and wall socket to tell me how much power it's consuming? |
MeOldMate (12871) | ||
| 595885 | 2007-09-28 03:55:00 | Jaycar have such a device: www.jaycar.co.nz |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 595886 | 2007-09-28 04:14:00 | Thanks. That's exactly what I had in mind. I thought there must be such a thing somewhere. | MeOldMate (12871) | ||
| 595887 | 2007-09-28 04:48:00 | $48!! Just unplug it for a month. Note your power, plug it back in for a month - note the difference. | pctek (84) | ||
| 595888 | 2007-09-28 05:56:00 | Just unplug it for a month. Note your power, plug it back in for a month - note the difference. If their place is anything like ours that won't be a very reliable indicator. Our power bill fluctuates by $10-$15 each month over a season. :rolleyes: |
FoxyMX (5) | ||
| 595889 | 2007-09-28 06:14:00 | A better indication is how often it is running during the day, frequent and long periods of running indicates leaky seals, or a need to re-gas, if it is still able to create ice from water in the freezer compartment and the above conditions are not true then stick with it. Ice forming in places it shouldn't is also indicative of leaky door seals. |
zqwerty (97) | ||
| 595890 | 2007-09-28 06:44:00 | Thanks for all the comments - they have stimulated a lot of thought. I did a bit more surfing and found a site that shows indicative usages, including old and new fridges and it looks like financially it's not worth making the switch to new (I will post a link to that site if someone can tell me how to embed it with HTML - it's a very long link in the raw) I wouldn't like to live without a fridge for a month - I'd probably spend more than the $48 just getting takeaways - but it did spark an idea: I could turn everything ELSE off, take a meter reading, then another after a fixed time and I could probably extrapolate from that. The freezer makes ice easily (too much in fact!), the seals are a bit dodgy, but I think it costs over $100 to replace them. It stops humming for long periods, so I assume the 'cycle' is okay. I think the meter would still be worth it if you could go in with a few friends (i.e. "timeshare" it) because you could do all your appliances then recheck them periodically when you have "custody" of the device. |
MeOldMate (12871) | ||
| 595891 | 2007-09-28 06:52:00 | It's quite easy to replace the door seals yourself if you are the slightest bit handyman oriented. I've done it on 5 different fridges. You used to be able to order parts from F&P, not sure now since they are going to move to China. | zqwerty (97) | ||
| 595892 | 2007-09-29 05:07:00 | I wonder if youse guys are getting the newer designs in refrigerators there in Upsidedown Land or not . The old round shouldered boxes are all energy wasters . . and most anything built more than 5 years ago are still using old technology . . wasteful wasteful wasteful! The problem hasn't been so much in the insulation value, although they help somewhat . . it's the compressor and motors that have had a makeover . In the olden days, an electric motor ran quite hot . . heat from the hysteresis was wasting electricity . . . . so much so that about 1/2 of the consumed current went into the nether world as radiated heat from under the unit . Modern "green" motors have electronics that cut off the upper current in a certain time period to remove that cross-over time when the AC current is busy switching . That particular part of the electro flow was not really productive as far as turning an armature, so today we remove that part and lower the overall current pull . There are "green-plugs" available . . but I think they are only 120 volt units . . there might be a NZ equivalent, but of that I am not sure . I cannot fathom why to not upgrade to a newer, more efficient unit . . . it makes sense to get a payback after demurrage and use after about 2 years for the sake of an electrical bill . Just switching from an early 1990s unit to a 2007 unit is supposed to save about 30-40% in electricity alone . Any Flintstones units should show a much higher savings when they are retired . :nerd: |
SurferJoe46 (51) | ||
| 595893 | 2007-09-29 08:21:00 | I think I will have to do the testing of the actual consumption - I can't figure out the apparent wide variance between the figures at www.energyrating.gov.au and http: The former says a new fridge costs $70 - $90 a year to run; the latter says $157 (at the same per KW rate and for same size fridge) Neither organisation has any axe to grind, so it's all a bit puzzling. Consumer's list is a year old, but it's hard to believe efficiency could have doubled in that time. SurferJoe: You're right that there's no reason not to upgrade if the savings justify it. I want to see the figures first though - many "green" options are actually more expensive if you take all factors into account. |
MeOldMate (12871) | ||
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