On Sun, 5 Jul 2015 21:12:01 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 7:39:00 AM UTC-8, blueman wrote:
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?

all of the responses I've read make the assumption we have A/C. my house doesn't. I live in Oregon. the few weeks when it gets very hot the refrigerator feels like the range has been left on. simply venting this hot air out thru the roof or exterior wall doesn't seem too difficult.

JB is right, if you vent air out of the house, it will have to be
replaced by other air, warm air from outside the house. If you used
the same air, sucked in air from outside just to cool the coils, it
would not cool the coils as well, because it woudl be hotter than the
air iln the rest of your house** So you'd need more air, that is a
faster fan.

** (My house at least is much cooler than outside on the first floor.
Tnat's not always true on the seocnd floor)

You'd have to have the coils that are on the back of the fridge outside
the house instead.

I could add a bathroom vent fan if needed and have it turn on when the refr runs. all of this is a comfort issue, not $ savings.

When I had AC, I only used it 20 or 30 days a year, in Baltimore, but
even when I wasn't using it, I never noticed heat coming from the
fridge. Now that my AC is broken for the last 2 years or so, I still
don't noticed any heat. Admittedly, the coils are in the back and the
heat from them gradually spreads into the rest of the kitchen, but I
think what really makes the difference is that I don't open the fridge
door very much. If the door isn't opened, like for 8 hours every night,
I'll bet the thing hardly runs at all.

Again, there's only one of me, but otoh some people just open the door
and stare at the food for a while.