Can someone help me work out my fridge’s energy consumption

Norman_Castle

Rodders53 said:

Modern 160 litre fridges F-rated for energy would quote around 120 kWh per annum under a standardised test methodology.  That number may not be accurate in real life use, though.

I'd be interested to know if anyone has used a plug in monitor on a recently bought fridge and compared the makers information with their monitored readings.

droopsnoot

Norman_Castle said:

Rodders53 said:

Modern 160 litre fridges F-rated for energy would quote around 120 kWh per annum under a standardised test methodology.  That number may not be accurate in real life use, though.

I'd be interested to know if anyone has used a plug in monitor on a recently bought fridge and compared the makers information with their monitored readings.

I'm intending to do just that, I have an old fridge-freezer and a much newer one. The newer one is a little bigger than the older one. I don't need both of them now, so I intend to plug the meter in to each in turn for a few days, and see whether it's worth binning the old one and replacing it with a small freezer.

giraffe69

beckstar1975 said:

. I just don't understand how we use so much electrcity - all lights are led attached to smart plugs, don't use tumble dryer, rarely use oven as main oven is broken and top oven is a pain - I'm going to go through the bill and see if it's estimated that high as we had unusual use last year - we did buy oil filled radiators as thought would be cheaper to heat a room than the house - that was clearly wrong!

If your bill is estimated then submitting readings so it is up to date from now on might help. Presumably you don't have a smart meter or all of the estimation would be a thing of the past.

chris_n

Norman_Castle said:

Rodders53 said:

Modern 160 litre fridges F-rated for energy would quote around 120 kWh per annum under a standardised test methodology.  That number may not be accurate in real life use, though.

I'd be interested to know if anyone has used a plug in monitor on a recently bought fridge and compared the makers information with their monitored readings.

Lots of people on the energy forum have done just that and found usage inline or lower than manufacturer specs. I would be amazed if a 20 year old fridge is using anywhere near its rating, they are normally one of the first issues when people get a monitor. After that gaming PCs are the next biggest issue.

Mistral001

beckstar1975 said:

Thanks - that's really helpful - so even at full whack it's not contributing. I just don't understand how we use so much electrcity - all lights are led attached to smart plugs, don't use tumble dryer, rarely use oven as main oven is broken and top oven is a pain - I'm going to go through the bill and see if it's estimated that high as we had unusual use last year - we did buy oil filled radiators as thought would be cheaper to heat a room than the house - that was clearly wrong!

Am getting a few more smart plugs so I can turn whole gangs off and on - we run 2 monitors, 2 laptops and an old imac every day, turning those off at night would clearly help too

6k kWh per year is  £1200 per year @20p per kWh which is a lot if you are not using it for heating, but if you are using it for heating one room with an oil filled radiators, I would have thought is was about right or even on the low side. 

Computers can use quite a bit of electricity if you have several of them.  I have three BTW.   Also broadband hubs.  I reckon flat screen monitors, laptops and hubs use about 10W each as measured using a power meter.  Going by this, left on all day, your 2 laptops  and 2 monitors will use 4x24X0.01 = 0.96 kWh per day.  I am not sure if your imac is a desktop, but my Windows desktop computer uses about 55W.  It actually uses 14W when not switched on but plugged into the mains!  I do not use the desktop computer much but with flat screen monitor it would cost 24X.065 = 1.56 kWh per day if left on all day.

FreeBear

Mistral001 said: 6k kWh per year is  £1200 per year @20p per kWh which is a lot if you are not using it for heating,

Unless you were fortunate to get a decent fixed rate last year, electricity is a lot more than 20p per KWh. Currently ~28p, with the prospect of it going up to 52p next month (waiting to see how high it is going).

beckstar1975 said: Am getting a few more smart plugs so I can turn whole gangs off and on - we run 2 monitors, 2 laptops and an old imac every day, turning those off at night would clearly help too

Don't forget, your smart plugs/switches will also be consuming power even when the light/computer/TV has been turned off. I have a few WiFi smart switches here, and they each add 4.8-7.2Wh to my daily consumption (1.7-2.6KWh per year). In the grand scheme of things, insignificant, but if you are running a home automation system or Alexa/Siri on top, it all adds up.

beckstar1975

Thankfully we give monthly readings so not estimated. And the house is automated with Alexa, but means more things are turned off for longer than of family had to do it manually. 

I will put a smarter plug on the gang that runs a laptop, two monitors, 2 usb lamps and a charger. It’s tricky to reach the plug so we rarely turn them off

DRP

HumberFlyer said:

beckstar1975 said:

Thanks - that's really helpful - so even at full whack it's not contributing. I just don't understand how we use so much electrcity - all lights are led attached to smart plugs, don't use tumble dryer, rarely use oven as main oven is broken and top oven is a pain - I'm going to go through the bill and see if it's estimated that high as we had unusual use last year - we did buy oil filled radiators as thought would be cheaper to heat a room than the house - that was clearly wrong!

Am getting a few more smart plugs so I can turn whole gangs off and on - we run 2 monitors, 2 laptops and an old imac every day, turning those off at night would clearly help too

If you are going to purchase more smart plugs, I suggest you go for the power monitering ones.... cheap enough. Such as the Tapo 110 at less than a tenner each

that looked a good deal - less than a tenner on amazon, argos, currys - all out of stock now of course

Does anyone know of any decent alternatives to this model? (with energy monitoring)

macman

OP, you haven't actually told us your electricity consumption in kWh per year?
If you have gas CH but have been using oil filled rads instead, then your consumption will be way up, and so will your bills: electricity is about 350% more expensive.

Rodders53

DRP said:

Does anyone know of any decent alternatives to this model? (with energy monitoring)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Monitor-Required-Control-Schedule-Function/dp/B07QX6CF46 are the ones I have (four of).

EDIT:  Darn it - missed the out of stock bit !!!

Mine measured 1.22 Watts supplying another identical smart switch in standby (to give a comparison to FreeBear's measured numbers) and 1.89 / 2.16 W when supplying a Meross 4-way mains and usb outlet power strip (non-energy monitoring) in standby/all on (5x relays operating).
BUT even those numbers fluctuate as they send and receive data over wifi... so a long time (many hours) read would be needed to gauge an accurate number. 
(The single feeding a single has gone between 1.03 and 1.75 Watts between standby on.  Confused yet? I am )