That is a *very* good question!

I would say the answer is that in the past, it has not mattered. Electric
rates have been low in the past and it would have been silly to bother.

But now the electric and energy rates are quite high, so time to think about
these things...

This is something I have thought about and would like to incorporate into my
kitchen design when I remodel it.

Basically it would be with the design of the house, not the refrigerator. I
would place the refrigerator on an outside wall. Perhaps build a
"compartment" for it sort of like a closet. Just the front doors showing
through. Then upper and lower vents on the outside wall so the cold outside
air could circulate around the refrigerator in the winter. And fine mesh
screen over these vents so bugs can't crawl in. Maybe be able to close these
vents if it gets too cold outside so the refrigerator portion will not go
below freezing.

I do have my freezer in the garage and it is quite cold out there in the
winter. It runs very little.

Note that if you have electric heating, it would be pointless to do this.
The heat from the refrigerator would help to heat the house. So in that case
no point in venting it to the outside.

And in the summer it would get tricky. I have not thought about this. But
you could be paying to cool the house. And there might be times when it is
very hot outside. Other times it would be cooler outside. Perhaps use the
cool inside air as an intake for the coils of the refrigerator, but vent the
warm output air to the outside? But if cooler outside at night than in the
house, switch to using outside air.

And use the cool inside air to surround the refrigerator if that is cooler
than outside.


"blueman" wrote in message
I have always wondered about this one...
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?