Domestic Fridge Energy Consumption.

**Justloadit** · 24-Jan-16, 04:36 PM

By adding the insulation as you have, you already made a substantial saving in the running costs.

Unfortunately, and I am included in this list till today, we have no idea what the heck the class efficiency table is even all about, and I would also have been fooled by the energy inefficient sticker on the front.

What I have noted is that some time back, I had a double door Indashit sorry meant an Indesit fridge, and eventually gave it away because my food was going off after a few days, and replaced it with a Hisense | (Side-by-Side) H730SS double door of the same size, and now often find that some of my stuff has ice in it, because it works so well. It has a display in which it displays the freezer temperature and the fridge temperature, when ever I look it sits at -18 and 6D centigrade respectfully. I have not measure the consumption, and can not remember what the efficiency rating was.

**AndyD** · 24-Jan-16, 09:48 PM

Well I'm done with the Whirlpool double door fridge, as you say the additional insulation over just 60% of it's cabinet area made a substantial difference in energy consumption even though its performance is still pathetic. I don't want to throw any more time after that one seeing as how it's not original spec.

I did however pop out this afternoon and purchase a brand spanking new Defy CF300 Eco chest freezer. Yes, you heard right, not just any old chest freezer, an Eco chest freezer. I decided on a chest freezer for several reasons, mainly because my existing chest freezer is very old and a little on the small side for our requirements. It was fine a few years ago but now my sons are both teenagers that consume food like 3HP waste disposal units and when I have a staple foods shopping session every couple of weeks I buy at least 16-20x 2 litre milks, 10-15 packs of chicken breasts and at least 12-15 loaves of bread and the small old freezer simply isn't cutting the mustard. I've noticed that even 2 or 3 days after it's been in there the milk isn't all frozen, if you fish around there's some bottles in the middle that are liquid or slushy. It's one saving grace is the food is never in there long enough to go vrot even if the internal temperature is regularly wandering into the HACCP danger zone.

According to the scientist on the shop floor it's state of the art because it's Eco and also boasts 'New Chill In Technology'. I quizzed him about this new technology but, bless him, he was somewhat vague and evasive when I asked for specifics. He pointed out it also has a sticker on it showing it's A Class energy efficient and interestingly enough the sticker doesn't show anything about A+, A++ or A+++ Class ratings so once again a casual observer might reasonably think A Class is the highest rating rather than in real life A Class actually being too inefficient to be legally sold in most 1st world countries.

Another reason I went for a freezer is its simplicity, it's a single evaporator, single cabinet, no defrost system or cycle and it's smaller in size than a double door fridge which will make adding insulation an easier task if I get that far with it but fingers crossed, it's armed with 'New Chill In Technology' so maybe it will perform above and beyond expectations and not require any insulating.

I've removed the packaging and it's already running in the laundry room with food in it.

Here's the specs;

260 Litre gross volume
254 Litre net volume
Multimode control panel
Mode selection;
Fridge (1ºC to 8ºC)
Chiller (-2ºC to 3ºC)
Freezer (-24ºC to -15ºC)

A Energy efficiency
Chill-in technology
Plastic partition as a separator and defrost drip tray
New handle design and integrated lock
Marble patterned durable top
Plastic basket
Metallic spring-loaded hinges
Roller wheels
Lighting
Aluminium interior
Height : 860 Width : 951 Depth : 725

According to Defy's website;

NEW Chill In Technology
The new Chill-In Technology™ is a superior cooling retention feature that keeps food frozen for at least 36 hours. It safeguards the food for longer in the case of interrupted power supply.

**AndyD** · 24-Jan-16, 10:18 PM

I've combed through the owners/user manual and there's a mention of ambient temperature limits, it says ' This chest freezer is designed to operate at an ambient temperature between +10 degrees C and +32 degrees C. If the ambient temperature is below or above this range, the temperature inside the chest freezer may vary.' 10-32C operating temp range means this appliance is Climate Class SN.

The common climate classes are;
N (Normal) Class = +16°C to +32°C ambient room temperature
SN (Sub Normal) Class = +10°C to +32°C ambient room temperature
ST (Sub Tropical) Class = +18°C to +38°C ambient room temperature
T (Tropical) Class = +18°C to +43°C ambient room temperature
You also get units that have a mixed climate class rating such as climate class SN/ST (here's an example of a Bosch fridge with an SN/ST climate class) which would mean it can operate in ambient temps between +10C and +38C for example. IMHO this would be a more appropriate climate class for South Africa.

Two things spring to mind, firstly why would they sell a freezer that's in an inappropriate climate class? Secondly it will be interesting to see how it fares in my laundry room which was over 40C again today.