John Grabowski wrote:
Refrigerators are one of the top energy consumers in homes.
In Northern climates, the outside temperature is colder than indoor
temperature at least 6 months of the year.

Why aren't they designed with "heat" exchangers to benefit from cool
if not frigid external air?

Even in warm climates (or summers) why isn't the same principle used
to vent the warm air from the compressor & coils outside rather than
loading the AC?

Presumably this could all be done by putting the evaporator coils
outside which would in turn decrease (or eliminate if cold enough)
the draw on the compressor during winter months.

Of course, installation might be a little more expensive, but with
all the focus on green-this and green-that why isn't this being done?


*You reminded me of something that I saw in several homes and
apartments in Sweden many, many years ago. In the kitchens they had
a dedicated cabinet that had a vent pipe to the outside. This made
the cabinet cold enough to keep things fresh, but not frozen. The
winters are cold, dark and long there so these cabinets could be used
for many months.

when i lived in sweden, we kept a lot of the fridge stuff outside, and all
of the freezer stuff.

especially the vodka bottles.