Can anyone recommend an energy thrifty household fridge?

[Sojourner]

I could be wrong about to pin point your problem but from your "keyboard information", this is what I think.

You already said that freezer is very cold. So I think it working well. However, when you over fill the compartment...you are restricting the air flowing from and to the evaporator if all the shelves are reinstalled properly. Before a battery fan will work well...it needs at least 1 ½" clearance in the back and front with door close. If you don't have that clearance, it won't work well with any refrigerator. Cold air is heaver than warm air in order for thermo-siphon to work. Battery power fan will work better if you displace a food item for it.

Some small upper & lower twin door refrigerator come with evaporator installed inter upper back wall so that some cold air flow down and up in front of food behind the door. Single door model has "cage" type evaporator and cold air flow down from the outer side of the "cage". Inside of the "cage" is your freezer section.

You said that it for 6 to 9 peoples to accommodate....Sorry to suggest this but you need larger ones or lower your filling into compartment to improve cooling.

FWIW

Sojourn for Christ, Gerald

[jjrbus]

Jerry may be on to something, my new fridge clearly states in the directions, that none of the air circulating areas can be blocked!!

[belfert]

You cold always buy a Sub Zero A friend of mine has one in his Newell

If I could afford a Newell, I could afford a Sub Zero!  No Sub Zeros for this busnut.  I think that Frigidaire is looking like a good unit if I get something new.

[belfert]

The frisge is only 10% full right now and it is running 39 to 40 degrees after sitting overnight.

What I am going to do is fill it up about 75% with pop leaving room for air circulation in the rear.  I am also going to find a muffin fan and battery I can place in the rear.  I will then let it sit for 36 to 48 hours and check the temps after that.

Jerry is probably right that I simply need more fridge space.  I may just get a bigger one if it will fit and quit playing around with this one even if I do get it working.

[John Z]

A couple years ago i read about a Summit refridgerator that had two evaporators - one for the freezer and one for the fridge. It was pretty efficient to run. I saw this unit on a website, either for Summit or a distributor. Nice to have seperate control over the two units,,, could really keep the ice cream nice and hard. My memory says it was around 300.00 or so back then. Does anyone know what model this unit was? I think someone on the board had one of them at the time.

[JohnEd]

Brian,

You now seem to be saying that you need a refer that is so much bigger than your current one that you are resigned to taking out the front winshield and putting in a new one.  That sounds like a good decision if you are packing all the family you say.

I have read that "some" of the modern "frost free" refers cannot have that feature disabled.  I find it had to believe there is anything in this world that I cannot "break" if history teaches me anything.  Still, smart folks have said that but then, like Will Roger,  they never met me.  Or maybe you, also.  Aren't there defrost cycles that are programable and can be switched off?  It is the daily defrost that kills the efficiency and accounts for much of the energy consumed.  Now that size is out of the decision process I think efficiency is the prime concern but they aren't publishing any figures for a defrost refer that doesn't use that feature.

I don't think this solves your problem but maybe there s a shred of a "slant" that might help.

John

[JohnEd]

JohnZ's isuggestion of a Summit really interests me personally.  Any bad info on that brand?

thanks

John

[belfert]

I've started looking at Summit, but nothing stands out about them right off hand.  They do have a Engery Star manual defrost model that isn't much bigger than my current Haier.  I don't know if it has a circulating fan or not.  It may not work much better than what I have.

Their dual compressor models are really pricey and I don't see an advantage.  A typical single compressor fridge works fine at home.

I would be removing a side window, not the windshield.  Most of the side windows need resealing anyhow as they leaked when driving in the rain.

It is not yet a foregone conclusion to get a new fridge.  I would like to see if I can get mine working better by installing a circulating fan and not blocking the evaporator.  There are nine of us going on the next trip in two weeks.  We are just a group of friends with a common hobby.

[Dallas]

I've quit posting lately, due to an unfortunate incident with a member who is more interested in the spending of money than the quality of the expenditure.
But, I have a pair of pennies to put in here..
Our 30 year old 12 cu ft house fridge draws 3.9a ... when it's running.. it runs about 3 times per day, we have blue styrofoam on the sides of it and have had no problems running 2 different inverters to power it.
One was a Sima 2.5Kw and the other is a Coleman 1.7Kw.
My original inverter died from not having the fan and board cleaned often enough, the new inverter does a great job.
We run 2 desktop computers with flat screen monitors, the fridge and the HP 4 in 1 printer on the inverter at all times.
We also run an old Compaq Laptop for our GPS when we go down the road.

We have 2 group 31 Marine deepcycle batteries from Napa and they last using this inverter for about 30 hours when we aren't on shore power.
I have to also mention that we seldom if ever shut down the desktop computers.
Nothing has ever failed or slowed down because of the MSW inverter.

As much as I would like to replace my crappy Clampett system with a new high dollar inverter and a huge battery bank, I don't find that it's affordable right now.

[JackConrad]

Jack, do you have a model number for that Frigidaire?  Lowe's has a Frigidaire that size that is Energy Star for $500.  Do you have any problems because the coils are not exposed?  Craig Shephard says his fridge runs too many hours a day and he blames the non-exposed coils for part of it.

Our Frigidaire is model RT15HB3DW6.  The coils are under the refrigerator compartment with a fan that pulls cool air from near the floor in front of the refrigerator and blows it out the back near the floor. We have a grill above the refrigerator area to allow the hot air to escape as it rises.  I have a small axial fan that I have thought about adding to help push the hot air up, but have not done that yet.  Jack

[belfert]

We have 2 group 31 Marine deepcycle batteries from Napa and they last using this inverter for about 30 hours when we aren't on shore power.
I have to also mention that we seldom if ever shut down the desktop computers.
Nothing has ever failed or slowed down because of the MSW inverter.

I'm shocked you can get 30 hours from two group 31 batteries.  Good job!  I can't seem to get more than 18 to maybe 24 hours from my eight golf cart batteries and my fridge draws less than yours.  I do have a lot of 24 volt flourescent lights reused from the original bus that may be sucking down power.

I'm trying not to spend money here.  I would prefer to get my current fridge running better. 

I have found several times that trying to save money in the long run cost me more money.  I research to death just about everything I buy to sure I am getting the best value.

[JackConrad]

I'm shocked you can get 30 hours from two group 31 batteries.  Good job!  I can't seem to get more than 18 to maybe 24 hours from my eight golf cart batteries and my fridge draws less than yours.  I do have a lot of 24 volt flourescent lights reused from the original bus that may be sucking down power.

This sounds more like our batteery usage.  With 8 golf cart batteries, we can go 24 hours, but the batteries will be down to about 11.8-12 volts.  We have found that if we run the generator 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening, our batteries rarely go below 12.5 volts.  Jack

[belfert]

Okay, I found something interesting.

My 9.7 cubic foot manual defrost Haier is listed at 330 KW/year. The Frigidaire Energy Star 14.8 CF fridge (Same basic unit as Jack's) is listed at 355 KW/year and it is frost free!  I guess I got sucked in by the 1.2 amp draw listed on the Haier.  It must run longer than the Frigidiare.