Smitty Two wrote in
news
In article ,
Nate Nagel wrote:

just an update... bought a shiny new GE fridge a couple months back.
have had it plugged into a kill-a-watt just to see if it really lived
up to the energy-saving hype. It's been running for about 400 hours
since the last power outage, and average rate of energy consumption
works out to about 636 kWh/year. energyguide says 458, but I've had
the "energy saver" turned off because I was getting condensation on
the door seals (it's pretty darn humid here, even with the AC and a
dehumidifier in the basement.)

Old smaller fridge was over 1000 kWh/year according to the KAW so
good deal. Now at that rate for the fridge to pay for itself it'll
take... lessee...

hmm, this is kinda like cars, isn't it?

But it's quiet, keeps my beer cold, and makes the girlie happy, none
of which the old fridge was doing towards the end...

nate

"Energy saver switch?"

Step 1. Make the walls of a refrigerator too thin.

Advantage: increase capacity without increasing footprint.

Disadvantage: insufficient insulation to keep the warm room air out
and the cold air in.

Step 2. Notice that the disadvantage above has a most unpleasant
corollary: In humid conditions, the outside of the fridge sweats. It's
too cool, due to lack of insulation, so condensation forms.

Step 3. Engineering pow-wow leads to the installation of a heating
coil inside the outer wall of the fridge, to keep the outer wall warm
enough to prevent condensation.

Step 4. Choose to disregard that the heating coil compounds the
problem of insufficient insulation, in that it makes the fridge even
less energy efficient; in two ways. Uses power to run the heating
coil, and forces the fridge to run more to counteract the heat from
the coil.

Step 5. Supply a switch to turn the heating coil off, during periods
of low humidity.

Step 6. And this is really a tribute to marketing, here. Claim that
the under-insulated fridge, complete with heating coil, is an
energy-saving model.

Step 7. Label the switch "Energy Saver." In the OFF position, the
heater is on.


I don't know why they couldn't use some of the compressor's waste heat to
keep the door seals warm and dry.
Like a heat pipe,something sealed and passive,no maintenance.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net