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re: landlord won't replace refrigerator
8 jun 2005
savvy-discounts.com wrote:
>> >...a half full refrigerator is much less efficient than a full one.
>> would you have any evidence for this article of faith? :-)
>from the navy/marine corps
>http://www.pendleton.usmc.mil/base/facilities/energy%20page/your%20refrigerator.htm
>
>keep it full
>refrigerators operate most efficiently when they are full, but not
>overloaded. while it's true that frozen foods help to keep the air cool,
>over-packing food in either compartment can prevent cold air from
>circulating properly...
is this about energy efficiency or "food storage efficiency," eg lettuce
liftimes? why does it matter that frozen foods help keep the air cool? :-)
maybe someone agrees with you, and they happen to be in the navy, but have
you ever seen a serious study that says a full fridge uses less energy than
an empty one? how much less? googling reveals this claim on lots of sites
(eg bob vila's), but it is unsupported, and most of the sites that mention
it also recommend cleaning the coils below the fridge to save energy, even
tho (oddly enough) lbl researchers have debunked that myth.
http://students.emory.edu/ecoseac/greenbook/energy%20guide.htm says
>keep both the refrigerator and the freezer full. there's less air to fall
>out when you open the door and the food "stores" the cold so that the
>refrigerator motor runs less...
otoh, a full fridge has more surface to instantly condense water vapor from
room air with a 50 f dewpoint that continuously flows through the fridge
when the door is open, driven by temp diffs which increase with more cold
heat exchange surface with high conductance to cold thermal mass.
and while food storing cold makes the cycle time longer, that doesn't mean
the motor runs less. each start consumes about 1 btu, insignificant on this
scale. a massless fridge with a door switch that turns off the compressor
wouldn't use any energy when the door was open :-)
the maryland energy office site more carefully claims that a full fridge
"retains cool temperatures better... especially during power outages,"
but that has nothing to do with energy efficiency.
one site said keep a fridge 1/3 to 2/3 full, that an empty fridge
uses more energy. a frugalarian might turn off an empty fridge...
nick
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