Monica Hewitt is an accomplished chef with an extensive background in setting up kitchens around the world. From selecting kitchenware and kitchen utensils to menu planning, Monica has been responsible for establishing complete restaurants from the ground up. As the Kitchen and Cooking Expert at Homesthetics, Monica is in charge of reviewing and curating all cooking and kitchen-related content on the platform. In her free time, Monica is a good sport, enjoying critiquing our homemade meals around the clock and telling us what could have been improved in sandwiches.
Your food won't deteriorate at 37 degrees Fahrenheit in the fridge and 0 degrees Fahrenheit in the freezer without costing you extra money.
Place a thermometer in a glass of water and examine the reading the next day to determine the refrigerator's air temperature.
Place a thermometer between two frozen goods in your freezer to check the temperature, and then recheck it eight hours later.
A small increase in the temperature settings of your appliance, as you would with your air conditioner, can result in significant reductions in your utility bill.
Regularly defrosting your manual or partially automatic fridge is especially important if you don't have air conditioning and live in a warm, humid region.
Did you know a refrigerator uses between 14 and 20 percent more power when an automatic ice maker is present? That's insane!
If your existing refrigerator has this function, you might want to disable it and switch back to using ice cube trays. Visit this page to see the best mini freezers.
3. Deactivate the Anti-sweat Heater
In addition to cooling your food, refrigerators provide an anti-sweat feature that heats the space surrounding the door seal to prevent moisture.
A valve that allows you to switch between an energy-saver mode and a mode that reduces outside moisture is frequently seen in refrigerators made after 1993.
What's the difference? When your refrigerator is set to the outer moisture-reducing mode, a heater will turn on to keep condensation from forming on the outside of the appliance.
When it is set to the energy-saving mode, it won't—saving you between 5 and 10 percent of electricity. How to choose a refrigerator is explained here.
Note
New refrigerators may offer automated moisture control, which reduces external condensation without needing a heater. A newer refrigerator is more energy-efficient than an older model.
Cereal boxes and other clutter should not be placed on your refrigerator because they may block heat from escaping and make the compressor work harder.
Your refrigerator's gasket must be changed or replaced if you can easily remove it to prevent the chill from escaping.
Even though your appliance's efficiency and smooth operation depend on its vital plastic coating, it can occasionally be missed.
As the doors are repeatedly opened and shut over time, gaskets frequently deteriorate and lose some suction.
While a fridge can run effectively for many years, a gasket is more likely to deteriorate or tear after just a few years of operation.
Place a dollar bill between the fridge door and the door seal to test the seal. Do this several times along the door edge.
It's time to change your seals, which keep the temperature stay cool and reduce energy use if the dollar bill moves easily.
6. Clean the Condenser Coils
For the compressor to operate at its best, keep the refrigerator coils clean several times a year. Make it a monthly duty if you have fuzzy pets in your home.
It becomes challenging to continue running as efficiently as they were intended if it's on the back or bottom of your appliance starts to grow dirty.
If you don't clean the coils, dirt, and dust can build up, which forces the fridge to work harder and can cause damage to the unit.
The increased energy consumption caused by them operating twice as hard as they should cause issues for your appliance.
Invest in a cheap bristle brush to remove accumulated debris over the years to ensure your well-cleansed coils. Vacuum or carefully brush the coils.
You might need to clean the coils more often if you have pets or an extra dusty house.
7. Relocate Your Refrigerator Far From Any Heat Sources
Do not put your refrigerator next to a heat vent, an oven, or direct sunlight. Additionally, please keep it away from windows.
The extra heat will make it run more frequently, raising your electric bill and shortening the lifespan of your refrigerator.
The compressor works harder to maintain your meal at the perfect temperature when it is close to heat sources.
This not only makes your fridge work harder, but it also quickly consumes electricity and could shorten the fridge's lifespan.
8. Keep Your Fridge Organized
For all the foods you usually purchase, try to designate different locations so everyone in your household knows where to look for things.
Think about making a freezer inventory sheet that you can put on the door to minimize the time the freezer door open.
Reduce the number of items on your refrigerator's top shelf, particularly large bread products, food boxes, or serving dishes.
Your most frequently used things should be stored in this prominent refrigerator space. The quicker the door closes, the simpler they are to grasp.
Open beverage and food items in the refrigerator cause the interior moisture levels to rise, causing the compressor to perform more difficulty.
You may avoid food contamination by teaching your family to cover everything before it goes in.
10. Keep the Fridge Stocked
Maintaining the room temperature in a full refrigerator requires less effort. Just make sure that your refrigerator isn't too crowded and that it restricts the air flow within.
11. Make Room for Good Air Circulation
Refrigerators need room to have good air circulation. Place the back of your refrigerator at least two inches from the wall to allow heat to escape from the condenser coils.
Your refrigerator will need to run more frequently due to trapped heat.
12. Maintain the Doors Locked to Prevent Cold Air From Escaping
It doesn't matter what kind of refrigerator you have; this is the easiest and least expensive approach to reducing energy usage.
Standing in front of an open refrigerator will cost you a lot of money.
Your appliance needs more energy to reach its desired temperature when the cold air leaves, increasing the power cost. If possible, decide before opening the freezer or refrigerator doors.
Making choices before opening your fridge will help you reduce how frequently you do so each day, which will help you with energy savings in your house.
Why Is It Important to Have Good Refrigerator Efficiency?
Because they use power-intensive home appliances, families remain one of modern society's biggest sources of dangerous greenhouse gases.
Because of this, it may be ideal to utilize modern innovation to lower carbon footprint emissions by adopting energy-efficient instruments.
Being a homeowner, you need more energy-efficient appliances to improve your lifestyle, save energy and money, and protect the environment.
As a result, using other efficient appliances will reduce your power costs while preserving the environment from dangerous gases like carbon dioxide.
These tools could benefit you, your nation, and the entire world.
Tip
If you're shopping for a new fridge or other appliances, reading the EnergyGuide label will help you compare the energy efficiency of each model.
Increasing Refrigerator Efficiency FAQs
The most frequent inquiries about how to make your old refrigerator more effective are listed below:
Are Refrigerators More Efficient When Full?
It’s great that you want to maintain your fridge running smoothly, but it doesn’t matter how much food you keep inside. Even a fully stocked refrigerator uses power.
What Makes a Refrigerator Have Good Energy Efficiency?
High-performance components comprised in an Energy Star fridge include:
High-efficiency compressors that use less energy and produce less heat
Enhanced insulation that keeps food cool
Temperature and defrost systems that make the refrigerator run more smoothly
Because practically every household has at least one fridge that operates continuously, a fridge is often the top power consumer in many families.
Even though you may have to keep your refrigerator and freezer running constantly, you can still reduce the power it uses.
Also, it is undoubtedly one of the best things you can do to combat climate change, given the rising average number of houses that emit pollution and other hazardous chemicals.
It might be an easy method to protect Mother Earth for future generations.
