{"id":4387,"date":"2020-05-29T21:21:05","date_gmt":"2020-05-30T01:21:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/?p=4387"},"modified":"2020-05-29T21:21:05","modified_gmt":"2020-05-30T01:21:05","slug":"taming-your-power-hungry-refrigerator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/2020\/05\/29\/taming-your-power-hungry-refrigerator\/","title":{"rendered":"Taming Your Power-Hungry Refrigerator"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Christopher Russell<\/a>, Energy Program Manager<\/span><\/p>\n

Refrigerators are indispensable household appliances and one of the largest electricity-consuming devices in the home.\u00a0 If your electricity bill makes you wince, you may find relief in the way you select and operate your refrigerator.<\/span><\/p>\n

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If you purchased a new refrigerator in the past four or five years, you are already ahead of the game. Refrigerators from 2014 perform the same job as refrigerators built in 1980, but they consume 60% less energy.\u00a0 Models available in 2020 are even more efficient. The savings come from built-in technology innovations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not ready to purchase a new refrigerator? You can still squeeze more efficiency out of the one you have. This involves reducing the workload on the motor.\u00a0 Whenever you hear your refrigerator \u201crunning,\u201d it\u2019s drawing power. So it pays to reduce the refrigerator\u2019s run-time. There are several ways to do that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Adjust the thermostat.<\/b>\u00a0 37\u00b0 is sufficient for the chiller portion, while freezers should be set to zero degrees.\u00a0 Colder settings will only cost more money to sustain. If you do not have a visible thermostat in your refrigerator, you can purchase a dial one from most home improvement stores for under $6 dollars.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Minimize open-door frequency and duration.<\/b> The longer or more often you open the refrigerator, you put more work on the motor.\u00a0 Develop a consistent pattern for placing items in the fridge, to reduce the time needed to \u201chunt\u201d for things.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Clean the coils.<\/b>\u00a0 Whenever you hear your refrigerator \u201crunning,\u201d that noise is the condenser motor pumping coolant through evaporator coils attached either to the back of the refrigerator or on a chassis underneath.\u00a0 Over time, the coils collect dust especially if the household has furry pets.\u00a0 Clean coils are more efficient and require less power.\u00a0 Also, dirty refrigerator coils can be a fire hazard.<\/span><\/p>\n

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**WARNING** <\/span>Maintenance of refrigerator coils is highly recommended.\u00a0 However, the task may be challenging, requiring some muscle and confidence in managing the refrigerator\u2019s power and (if ice or water dispensers are included) water supply lines. When in doubt, obtain the services of a licensed professional.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Refrigerator coil cleaning is a good 1-2 hour project. <\/span>Be sure to unplug the unit before cleaning it.<\/span><\/i> Both a vacuum and a stiff brush are ideal for this project.\u00a0 Check your owner\u2019s manual for more on this subject.\u00a0 You can also find YouTube videos. Coil-cleaning is relatively easy on the older models with exposed coils.\u00a0 On models manufactured about 15 years ago or earlier, refrigerator coils are readily accessible \u2013 if you can roll the fridge out from the wall or access the chassis underneath.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The task is harder on newer models, most of which are built with enclosed coils \u2013 with covers that are difficult if not impossible to remove.\u00a0 Note that these covers are not air-tight.\u00a0 They can still accumulate dust, lint and fur.\u00a0 Periodic cleaning is still recommended, but professional service may be preferable.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Avoid making a big mistake.<\/b>\u00a0 Having obtained a new, efficient refrigerator for the kitchen, some people move the old \u201cstill perfectly good\u201d fridge down to the basement, plug it in, and use it to store the occasional six pack of beer.\u00a0 In a basement location, a refrigerator\u2019s coils are collecting dust, spider webs, pet fur, and perhaps lint from the clothes dryer. The basement fridge may have to work even harder because of these conditions. That work is reflected on your electric bill.\u00a0 Think twice about keeping that basement fridge.\u00a0 The same goes for that mini-fridge as well. If you really need a basement fridge, clean the coils once per year. If you can live without them, consider unplugging them \u2013 or even having them removed.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Christopher Russell, Energy Program Manager Refrigerators are indispensable household appliances and one of the largest electricity-consuming devices in the home.\u00a0 If your electricity bill makes you wince, you may find relief in the way you select and operate your refrigerator. If you purchased a new refrigerator in the past  …Learn more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[25,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4387"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4391,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4387\/revisions\/4391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}