is it safe to turn off fridge freezer at night?

tunnel

jack_pott wrote: »

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.

Please don't muddy the waters and confuse yourself, by using your appliances during the day when you're generating the most you're less likely to use huge amounts during the evening(peak demand) which will reduce peak demand, NOT the other way around

esuhl wrote: »

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

I suggest you re-read the OP, it clearly states 1kWh between 11pm and 7am, NOT 1kWh an hour between 11pm and 7am(£49.35)

HappyMJ

If you really want to save money then switch to an E7 meter. Your night time electricity will be cheap and as you don't use much (from the grid) during the day the increase on your daytime usage won't be that much.

Dave_Fowler

My new chest freezer (44"x24"x34"), bought in April this year has used 77.79kWh in the 3885 hours I have been monitoring it. That's 0.48 kWh per day. Previously the old one had been using 2.9kWh per day.

Dave F

Cardew

tunnel wrote: »

I suggest you re-read the OP, it clearly states 1kWh between 11pm and 7am, NOT 1kWh an hour between 11pm and 7am(£49.35)

This is the problem with people not using the correct terminology.

The OP doesn't clearly say '1kWh' he actually states:

I seem to use about 1Kw of electric between 11pm and 7am

Note - Kw and not kWh.

I would agree with your interpretation - i.e. that he uses 1kWh over the 8 hour period.

However taking his statement literally, the OP is stating the power drawn is 1kW for 8 hours which is 8kWh, and that is how esuhl has read the OP's statement.

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

tunnel

Damn you Cardew, I didn't spot that one, thanks for the correction.


Still, you've got to question the 1kw an hour, if you multiplied esuhl's working out by 3 to equate for a full 24hr period then the freezer would be costing well in excess of £1k a year to run. If it cost that much I wouldn't be turning it off at night, I'd be weighing it in for a nice shiny new one like Dave Fowlers that uses...not a lot

lstar337

If your fridge is really using that much energy overnight, throw it away and get a new one. An A++ rated fridge will make its cost back in less than a year.

[Deleted User]

tunnel wrote: »

Please don't muddy the waters and confuse yourself, by using your appliances during the day when you're generating the most you're less likely to use huge amounts during the evening(peak demand) which will reduce peak demand, NOT the other way around

I'm neither confused nor muddying the water. Appliances use the same amount of energy irrespective of what time of day you use them.

If you generate a unit at midday and export it then that's one unit less for the grid to supply at peak time. If you move your appliance from the evening to the day, then you have reduced the evening consumption and put the daytime consumption back where it would have been without the benefit of solar.

Reducing the variation between peak and off peak demand is key to improving the efficiency of the grid, and this behaviour is completely undermining those efforts.

lstar337

jack_pott wrote: »

Reducing the variation between peak and off peak demand is key to improving the efficiency of the grid, and this behaviour is completely undermining those efforts.

The welfare of the grid is not the concern of the individual, it is for National Grid Plc to care for. They are paid to monitor and protect it.

For the individual, making the most of their personal generation is important, and their right.

By your logic I was wrong to make the most of my E7 period by switching to doing my washing and tumble drying at night.

tunnel

jack_pott wrote: »

I'm neither confused nor muddying the water. Appliances use the same amount of energy irrespective of what time of day you use them.

If you generate a unit at midday and export it then that's one unit less for the grid to supply at peak time. If you move your appliance from the evening to the day, then you have reduced the evening consumption and put the daytime consumption back where it would have been without the benefit of solar.

Reducing the variation between peak and off peak demand is key to improving the efficiency of the grid, and this behaviour is completely undermining those efforts.

You still don't get it do you?

If you generate a unit at midday and use it then that's one unit less for the grid to supply at peak time, whether that peak is midday or evening.

By using that generated unit you're also reducing the variation between peak and off peak demand

And all the time saving a few quid in the process(and i don't just mean from the payment from the FiT)

evomatt

Im still new to this but my thinking was to have as much demand during the day when everyone is feeding into the grid with solar and reduce demand at night when its dark and no one is generating.