On Sep 14, 6:41*pm, mike wrote:
My refrigerator is 36 years old. *Still going strong, but
if you believe published efficiency numbers, it's costing
me a hundred bux a year more than it would for a *new one.
Payback calculations depend on your assumptions for the
time value of money and inflation in energy cost. *Just looking
at the cash flow, the break even point is 7 years or so.
Looks marginal, but let's save the planet. Off
I went to look at refrigerators.

While chatting with the guy at Sears, he "disclosed" that
the smaller compressors run much longer at higher pressure
and they only
last 6 to 7 years. *If true, that negates all the savings.

Is there any relevant data relating to service life of the
newer, high-efficiency home refrigerators?
mike


No it is not really true that the new ones are not lasting as
long, in fact I have seen some studies that say they may be lasting
longer.

It should also be said that sometimes the estimated savings
are ... a little generous. There have also been some changes on how
they compute them over the years and different brands are sometimes
difficult to compare as they are not using the same yard stick. That
said, chances are you will likely save money buying a new high
efficiency one over some time, maybe 5-10 years. They are big users
of electricity.

I was just researching this myself and was ready to buy a new one,
but I have put it off as we may be moving across country in the not
too distant future so I have put it off for now.