American Style Fridge VS standard 12 year old fridge freezer-Energy Usage

Diego Murphy

I have a 12 year old standard size fridge freezer (circa 4.5 feet high X 2 feet wide). I'd love to get an american style fridge freezer but have heard they can be expensive to run.

Does anyone know if there would be a significant difference between running my 12 year old fridge, versus an american style one, given that my old fridge probably has an energy rating of F, but a new bigger one would have an A+ energy rating.

I understand that the American style will cost a bit more to run, but just wondering how much more approximately?

cranefly

Nearly all the new american style fridges have an A plus rating, not sure if i believe them or not, we are in the same boat as you, we have an indesit normal fridge freezer same size as yours, we have it 20 years now and still going perfectly, if it did give up i was thinking of getting an american style fridge.
I would think they would be a bit more expensive to run but not by much, one thing i am sure off is that anything bought today will not last 20 years, the amount of samsung american fridge freezers that have gone wrong in the past few years is a real eye opener, and then to try and get a fix from them is fairly hard, another thing you have to realize is they are not that much bigger than a normal fridge on the inside, usable space is small compared to their size on the outside, getting them into the kitchen can be a nightmare, although i think you can take the doors off on most of them. their is no denying if you have the space they do look good.
Its like going from a gas oven to an electric one, the one question you want to know the answer too is , are they heavy on electricity, and the answer you get back is fairly normal, " we find them ok " as the americans say " go figure ".

Markcheese

Can't tell you how much it costs to run your current fridge ( if there's a label/sticker at the back that has a power usage figure on it , you might be able to guess ....
As for the American fridge go to an electrical shop and check the labels should have a figure for annual use ...

The Red Ace

your current f/f has a compressor of approx. 130 watts, whereas an American type has a compressor of 375/450 watts depending on size plus two fan motors and a defrost element so roughly three times running costs

fleet

The Red Ace wrote: »

your current f/f has a compressor of approx. 130 watts, whereas an American type has a compressor of 375/450 watts depending on size plus two fan motors and a defrost element so roughly three times running costs

Eh. Not quite.

That's like saying if you have a Ferrari you'll spend more on petrol than your neightbour who has a Fiesta. That's not true if you only drive 5 km to work and he drives 50km.

The compressor will only run when needed. Basically the better a fridge is insulated then less time it will run.

Also, given basic geometry, the larger a cube the smaller it's surface are with respect to it's volume. Heat is absorbed through the surface. So bigger is better (to a point) in this regard.

The Red Ace

Any make of fridge/freezer will only run to its settings, freezer-18/23, fridge + 3 approx. so these are common, most of the better brands of 10/20 years ago had insulation just as good then as today and far better pipework and electrics and cut in cut out time virtually the same then as now. With cooling fans on American spec which draw in air for cooling also attracts dust which sticks to the condenser and acts like an electric blanket causing long overruns so very little saving here. Rarely have I met a customer who knew the condenser needs to be dust free. IMO I don't think R134a or R600 has made the running costs any cheaper than R12 did. Why not tell us what you think it costs to run an American spec instead of comparing an 1000cc Fiesta to 4/5 litre Ferrari

hexosan

Why not go with a full size fridge & a full size freezer side by side. There's way more room in both than an American fridge and it's only slightly wider + cheaper.

Markcheese

Plus if anything goes wrong (with one)
, it won't cost you as much to replace..