Renting a property + expensive fridge

whowants2brich

Hi all,

Firstly, apologies if this should be in the renting forum instead of here, I was torn between which one and ended up on the utilities forum...

Anyway, I rent a 2-bed flat with my OH, we've been here nearly a year now and are debating staying here another year. We were originally set to stay here for a max of 12 months, but as we're looking to stay a bit longer, we're trying to cut our costs somehow...

What I've noticed is that our fridge/freezer (all-in-one) uses 150W per hour, or 3.6kWh per day (1300kWh per year). I've seen around that it's possible to buy new units that cost ballpark figure £300 brand new, but which use approx 350 (or less) kwH per year. On these figures, at 9.5p per kWh of electricity, we'd save £85 per year if we encouraged our landlord to get a new fridge/freezer which was more energy efficient.

We currently use around 5kWh of electricity a day, in total, including the fridge/freezer, lights, computer, radio, etc... 3.5kWh on the fridge, 1.5kWh on EVERYTHING else...

What do you suggest? Any comments please?

Thanks,
whowants2brich

Premier_2

I've not looked at the details but let's assume they are correct (I've no reason to doubt they aren't)

Why would the landlord want to pay out £300 so you could save £85?

Perhaps you could try the usual 'save the planet' cry but this is a landlord. Most landlords I know are hardnosed business types where the only thing that counts is profit.

Perhaps you could tempt the landlord to pay £300 to ensure you stay? This depends on what the landlord thinks the current market situation is like locally. i.e. how easy it might be to find new tenants if you do leave. Around here, with mortgages hard to secure, its landlords heaven at present and rents are rising, but it may be different where you are.

If you do pursuade the landlord to fork out £300, I guess he will want some reassurance that you will at least stay another 12 months (i.e. tie you into a new 12 month minimum tenancy agreement). Do you really want that? Normally I would advise tenants to go onto a Statutory Periodic Tenancy once the minimum period is fulfilled - then you can leave when you want giving 1 months notice, but realising the landlord could also give you notice to quit when he wants. But a good landlord doesn't go around kicking out good tenants without a good reason.

In summary, I don't think you'll convince a landlord to shell out £300 unless you give him a good reason to...and at the moment I don't see an obvious one.

whowants2brich

Thanks for your comment.

I heard on the radio this morning that landlords as well as property sellers will need to have an energy efficiency pack and rating, before renting a property as well as selling it...

Would the fact that two thirds of our current electricity consumption is due to the fridge/freezer alone cause the rating to be a lot worse than it should be? If so, it may prove difficult for other tenants to move in, which could motivate the landlord into getting a new fridge/freezer, and reducing the energy rating so as to make the flat more appealing..?

Cardew

Are you sure that it uses that amount of electricity?

Unless it is faulty, I very much doubt that it does.

How are you measuring the consumption?

It might have a compressor rated at 150 Watts but the majority of the time it should not be running and it will be consuming nothing.

Let me guess?

You have either looked at the rating label on the back which states 150 Watts?

OR

You have one of those Power monitoring meters that shows overall consumption in the house. You switch on/off the appliance and the difference is 150 Watts?

neil9313

whowants2brich wrote: »

Thanks for your comment.

I heard on the radio this morning that landlords as well as property sellers will need to have an energy efficiency pack and rating, before renting a property as well as selling it...

Would the fact that two thirds of our current electricity consumption is due to the fridge/freezer alone cause the rating to be a lot worse than it should be? If so, it may prove difficult for other tenants to move in, which could motivate the landlord into getting a new fridge/freezer, and reducing the energy rating so as to make the flat more appealing..?[/quote


I dont believe it is two thirds of your current lecky consumation, you are having a giraffe :rolleyes:

Premier_2

whowants2brich wrote: »

Thanks for your comment.

I heard on the radio this morning that landlords as well as property sellers will need to have an energy efficiency pack and rating, before renting a property as well as selling it...

Would the fact that two thirds of our current electricity consumption is due to the fridge/freezer alone cause the rating to be a lot worse than it should be? If so, it may prove difficult for other tenants to move in, which could motivate the landlord into getting a new fridge/freezer, and reducing the energy rating so as to make the flat more appealing..?

I wouldn't be so sure!

I'll ignore the 2/3 claim for now as others have already mentioned it.

The energy packs are required for new lettings from October as I understand it. No idea how much they'll cost but I expect about £50 each - that will add another tenner to the rent based on a minimum 6 month contract.

Oh, you thought the landlord would be paying? Check out the tales of woe from Bradford & Bingley because landlords are in arrears with their buy-to-let mortgages; rent is already not covering mortgage.

If B&B are affected, you can be sure other banks are similarly affected. Shortly those banks will be repossessing BTL properties, kicking out tenants as they go, (any tenancy agreement is almost useless against a bank re-possessing a property) and reducing the availability of properties to rent.

With the current difficulty in securing new mortgages and the likelihood of falling property prices, the demand for rented properties will only increase in the short term.

Until the energy pack is needed, i.e. first new tenants after October, then I can't see a landlord coughing up £300 for a new f/freezer without good reason. Even if a new f/f was required (which I'm not convinced of), it would be better to offer a new one to new tenants as an incentive than to replace it earlier.

george1939

Cardew wrote: »

Are you sure that it uses that amount of electricity?

Unless it is faulty, I very much doubt that it does.

How are you measuring the consumption?

It might have a compressor rated at 150 Watts but the majority of the time it should not be running and it will be consuming nothing.

Let me guess?

You have either looked at the rating label on the back which states 150 Watts?

OR

You have one of those Power monitoring meters that shows overall consumption in the house. You switch on/off the appliance and the difference is 150 Watts?

I agree with all Cardew's comments

whowants2brich

Here's the deal. We both work during the day so everything is off, the only two things that stay plugged in and switched on are the two radio alarm clocks which both use stupidly small amounts of electricity. Everything else is switched off at the mains.

When we cook, use lighting or whatever, I keep an eye on the meter and notice that it moves by not very much. When we went on holiday, I took the reading before we left and again when we returned. The difference was about 3.5kWh per day - everything else was totally switched off.

Yes, the rating label says 150W for the fridge/freezer, but I have a feeling that as it's an all-in-one jobby, it probably does run 24/7 at 150W. If it stopped for longer than 5 minutes, the freezer would probably start to defrost and soak the kitchen, wouldn't it? I can understand if a fridge were to go on and off, to keep the temperature, but the freezer might have a bigger issue... wouldn't it?

Oh, and I agree with your comments on the landlord passing on all these costs, I know that they only bought this property early last year so have full exposure (probably). We're intrigued to see how things pan out, I don't think they have any other properties but we shall see...

PS If the fridge/freezer was rated 150W, how much do you think it should use in kWh per day?

Thanks for your advice/comments, I think I'll probably do well to not say anything, but I'm also intrigued as to how the one appliance can use so much electricity!

whowants2brich

Cardew

whowants2brich wrote: »

Yes, the rating label says 150W for the fridge/freezer, but I have a feeling that as it's an all-in-one jobby, it probably does run 24/7 at 150W. If it stopped for longer than 5 minutes, the freezer would probably start to defrost and soak the kitchen, wouldn't it? I can understand if a fridge were to go on and off, to keep the temperature, but the freezer might have a bigger issue... wouldn't it?

PS If the fridge/freezer was rated 150W, how much do you think it should use in kWh per day?

Thanks for your advice/comments, I think I'll probably do well to not say anything, but I'm also intrigued as to how the one appliance can use so much electricity!

whowants2brich

A freezer compressor should be only on short percentage of the day - approx 6 hours.

For a 150Watt compressor to use 3.5kWh a day it means the compressor is running continually.

A typical consumption should be <1kWh per day. If you look at this site(ignore the stupid prices for running costs) it lists the power consumption of over 100 fridge freezers. about 300kWh pa is average

http://www.sust-it.net/energy_saving.php?id=3

Older fridges(not A or A+) will use more - but not that much more.

For your fridge to use 3.5kWh per day - especially when you were away on holiday and not opening doors - means it is either faulty, something else is using the power, or something is wrong with your measuring.

You should be able to listen and hear the compressor running.

You need to get a power measuring meter(costing £6 to £15) that you plug in any appliance into and measure the cumulative power consumption.

whowants2brich

Hi all,

Quick update this morning - after having noticed that the flat used just over 1kWh of electricity while we slept, with obviously everything turned off...

I turned the temperature dial thing in the fridge down from 5 to 3, the compressor switched off (there's now no noise coming from the fridge), and the electricity meter virtually stopped spinning (the only thing left were the two clock radios and microwave clock on standby). I then turned the dial back up and the noise has NOT returned. I shall keep an eye/ear out and hopefully during the next few hours, the noise will return (the compressor will restart) - I've left the temperature dial on max - 6 - so hopefully it should start up sooner rather than later. I've also taken a note of the meter reading so that I can see exactly how much we use per hour/day.

Will let you know - thanks for at least highlighting that there may be something faulty with the fridge/freezer, making it work constantly. If it helps, I managed to dig out the booklet that came with the appliance, and it says average usage is 1.35kWh per day, and that it is rated 150W. I guess the unit has been doing overtime, for some reason, but I just hope that it kicks in and out as it should do... Otherwise it is faulty, and may need to be replaced!

espresso

whowants2brich wrote: »

...............Otherwise it is faulty, and may need to be replaced!

Maybe just the thermostat needs to be replaced.