On 10/20/2014 12:00 AM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
I wasn't suggesting that you measure the temperature of the back of
the refrigerator. Just the case temperatures, which means the sides,
front, and possibly the top. The coils in back will certainly heat up
the wall and the back of the case, but I don't think it's huge because
the room and room air make a rather large heat sink.

It's easy enough to estimate how much heat the fridge delivers to the
room. A fancy new energy efficient 18 cubic foot fridge uses about
500 kw-hr/year or an average of:
500 kw-hr/year * 1yr/365days = 1.4 kw-hr/day
Over 24 hrs, that's the equivalent of:
1400 watt-hrs/day / 24 hrs/day = 57 watts
That's about the same heat that would be delivered by a 60 watt light
bulb running all day in the same room. Like I mumbled... not much
heat. Older fridges are not that efficient, but even 3 to 5 times as
much heat would not make much of a difference in room temperature.

I just checked my bar size fridge with a thermocouple thermometer. The
front door is the same as ambient at 17C while the top and sides are
about 20C. So, for a decent fridge, you're correct and the sides are
warmer. However, I've seen refrigerators that were sweating condensed
water and felt seriously cold on the sides and door. Sears took it
back and replaced it with one that had more insulation, which worked
as expected. Since then, I've seen a few others that were cold to the
touch.



Eventually, the guys at church will use a couple more
of the flood lights that are as bright as a "real"
one. I'll try and take home one of the boxes. Will
let you know what brand and model and so on.
--
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Christopher A. Young
Learn about Jesus
www.lds.org
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