Energy used by Fridge and freezer.

Clairabella

I've never taken much notice of my energy use until recently.  Having just been away for a few days I was amazed to see how much electricity was used when the house was unoccupied.  Electricity used was between 2.1kWh and 2.2kWh per day.. The only appliances left on were the fridge and the freezer. The fridge is A++ rated with a consumption of 116 per annum, the freezer A rated, consumption 288 per annum. The other things plugged in were the TV on standby, the router and two smart speakers. Does this sound a reasonable amount of energy used please?

cx6

no it doesn't sound reasonable. have a read of the thread 'background usage 8760 dsys a year although this will not include fridge freezer

Gerry1

Assuming your average daily consumption was 2.15kWh and the fridge and freezer consumption was exactly the average values, the extra background consumption is only 43W.

Are you sure that absolutely nothing else was left plugged in?  A surprising number of modern appliances can't be fully switched off, so unless you went round religiously switching everything off at the wall socket, the extra 43W is quite possible.

Doorbell, cordless phones, PIR floodlights, CH programmer, microwave, washing machine, cooker, tumble dryer, wall warts for radios, router, TV aerial amplifier...

k_man

What are the models of your TV and smart speakers?

And was the heating left on in the rooms where fridge and freezer are located, or could those rooms have warmed up a lot due to days of sunshine (so may have used a bit more than average usage.


But the difference of 43w, could be old smart TV, high power wireless router, and 2 old/large smart speaker.

Or as has been suggested, the other things you didn't think of.
E.g if it was cold, and heating was left on low all the time, a heating pump can use 50-100w (while running).

Clairabella

The TV is Panasonic TX-50DX700B, the speakers are Amazon Echo and Show 5.  The router is a BT home hub 6.  However, having read Gerry1's post I realise that I also had left connected a cordless phone, oven, microwave, outdoor PIR lights, CH programmer, Humax box, and smart plugs. I feel really stupid, I totally forgot all these things would also be using energy.

Gerry1

Clairabella said:

However, having read Gerry1's post I realise that I also had left connected a cordless phone, oven, microwave, outdoor PIR lights, CH programmer, Humax box, and smart plugs. I feel really stupid, I totally forgot all these things would also be using energy.

No need at all to feel stupid, it's easily overlooked, and it's not unreasonable to expect the off switch to switch the appliance off !

Glad you've sorted things out.

Your experience will also help others so it won't been in vain.

k_man

And you won't be the last to ask similar questions.

k_man

Forgot to add, someone will post shortly to suggest you turn everything off at the main plug, whenever you aren't using it.

I suggest you do a little detective work first, as while that suggestion will cut usage, there may be one of two items using the bulk of the power and extra off and on cycles (for potentially little gain) on the other items can introduce its own problems.