is it safe to turn off fridge freezer at night?

evomatt

I seem to use about 1Kw of electric between 11pm and 7am which im guessing is the fridge and freezer (3 of them) so with having solar would it be worth putting them on a timer to turn off after sundown and power back up after sunrise? or would it do some sort of damage over time.

Ms_Chocaholic

What about the contents?

evomatt

Im guessing for the time its off overnight and not opened the temp would stay about the same?

Dave_Fowler

evomatt wrote: »

Im guessing for the time its off overnight and not opened the temp would stay about the same?

You could set the temperature a good bit lower during the daytime so that any increase overnight would only cause the temperature to rise back to what is now 'normal'. However, be careful, you may find that if the solar power is insufficient during a particular day, the cost of 'supercooling' the freezer contents may outweigh the gains during a good PV day.

Dave F

nigelpm

evomatt wrote: »

I seem to use about 1Kw of electric between 11pm and 7am which im guessing is the fridge and freezer (3 of them) so with having solar would it be worth putting them on a timer to turn off after sundown and power back up after sunrise? or would it do some sort of damage over time.

There'll be other stuff for sure.

Boiler?
Appliances on stand by?
Burglar alarm?
Anything plugged into the sockets?


Given the extra electricity needed when you power back up the fridge/freezer and wear/tear that will put on the appliances I suspect you are not really gaining anything at all.

MoneyMate

You may have to decide between saving money and food poisoning ?
Also if the appliance has auto defrost who knows if it defrosts when you power back up in the Morning.

[Deleted User]

It's an irrelevant question, you should be using your appliances in the evening, that's the whole point of the feed in tariff.

If you allow your solar to export it's power it will reduce the load on the grid during the peak time when electricity is the most expensive to generate and most environmentally damaging. If you use appliances in the day you are undermining the attempts to reduce peak demand, and thus defeating the benefit of the solar system, along with Economy 7 and pumped storage systems as well.

The feed in tariff was devised as an incentive: it enables you to sell the daytime solar power for a higher price than it costs to buy it back again during the evening.

SunReader

Isn't the deal of the FIT that you get paid for what you generate, not necessarily what you export? i.e. get paid for what you generate,waste it all if you like, Has this changed ?

esuhl

evomatt wrote: »

Im guessing for the time its off overnight and not opened the temp would stay about the same?

Most energy used by a fridge/freezer is in keeping the contents cool. If the contents are already cool and the temperature doesn't change, then the thermostat won't activate the compressor so you won't be using any (much) electricity.

There's no way I'd risk food poisoning (or wasting the contents of a fridge/freezer by accidentally forgetting to turn it on in the morning).

I suppose you could increase the efficiency of the fridge/freezer by making sure there is a bit of a gap behind the appliance, to reduce the heat buildup by the radiator. Maybe put the fridge/freezer in the coolest room (kitchen? pantry? garage?), or in a draughty spot?

And maybe you could remove the light-bulb from the inside... so long as that doesn't mean you leave the door open for longer, as you stare blankly at the darkness within... Okay, I'm being silly now!

esuhl

According to Which?, "We’ve calculated annual energy costs of 98 fridge freezers and found they vary between £25 and £87 per year."
http://www.which.co.uk/home-and-garden/home-appliances/guides/fridge-freezer-energy-costs/

And the Energy Saving Trust say that a kWh of electricity costs an average of 13.52p.
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Energy-Saving-Trust/Our-calculations

So, if you're using 1kW from 11pm to 7am (i.e. 8kWh), that's £1.08 a night or £395 a year.

There's no way a fridge/freezer should be using that much energy! There must be something else drawing power.

thenudeone

SunReader wrote: »

Isn't the deal of the FIT that you get paid for what you generate, not necessarily what you export? i.e. get paid for what you generate,waste it all if you like, Has this changed ?

Off-topic now but a very quick response
1) the FIT is paid on everything generated, regardless of whether it's exported or used on-site.
2) The deemed export tariff assumes that you export 50% and you "sell" this back to the grid at c.3p/kwh; regardless of how much you actually export
3) If you can move some of your electricity usage (eg washing machines, etc.) into times when you are generating plenty of solar PV, you you won't have to buy in electricity at c.15p/kwh for those purposes. The income from 1) and 2) won't change regardless of how much you do this.