Buying A New Fridge

[bukitpanjang]

well although this is an electronic... its quite kitchen related...

for those of you who make the decision on purchasing home electronics i got a few things to ask.

http://panasonic.com.sg/web/pid/5296

for example this fridge here by panasonic

Panasonic NR-C376MX Refrigerator with freezer 3 Green Ticks 301L 434kWh $104

where 434kWh is the Annual Energy Consumption

and $104 is the Estimated Energy Cost Annually.

this info is taken from

http://els.nea.gov.sg/mels/aircon.asp or NEA's website on the Green ticks thingie.

so does that mean in a year the fridge will consume about $104 worth of electricity? that's like $10 a month of electricity...

any guys here who have their own homes... can share the choices u made on ur fridge?

my point here is that for me and my parents, our electrical consumption in the home (we don't have air con) is about $80 - $100 per mth. and i feel that's a lot. sometimes we hit $140++

we stay in a 3 bedroom flat. its relatively small.

right now i'm assuming that my 7 year old fridge is contributing to the bulk of the electrical usage. so i'm looking for something to cut down on the electricity part.

anyone else has any recommendations?

[Baloo]

Fridges are something of a necessity... and once on, you won't be switching it off unless you are doing major cleaning.

Size of the fridge is something quite personal - depends on your cooking and storing habits and size of household.

I'd never thought of the energy consumption thing... just whether it is suitable size for my home's needs... too big, too small, etc.

HUGE fridges will of course consume more power, and small fridges .. less... if your fridge at home has been half empty all the time, you probably only need a much smaller sized fridge. if it's stuffed like a luggage bag on a shopping trip... you will need a bigger capacity fridge.

over stuffing the fridge will definitely cause an overload on the compressor of the fridge - working overtime to keep so much more things at refridgerator temperature than its maximum load... and power consumption will inviarably rise.

also, setting the thermostat in the freezer and fridge compartments is also important factor in power consumption.

so. all said, just get a new fridge of the appropriate size for your household needs, and go on from there... most japanese brand fridges are quite frugal in power consumption... and on the rise in quality and efficiency are the Korean brand fridges...

European and USA brands...well, they are bigger... everywhere haha..

Panasonic is a good brand...

Personally, my last two fridges were Korean made... i'd put my own thermometers in them to monitor the fridge/freezer temperatures to help set the best setting for the two compartments... never calculated the power consumption la...it's a variable with time (compressors get less efficient as they get older) and load (depends on how you load your fridge). I am quite happy with them... no frills, so less things to spoil... hate those icemakers and water dispensors... motors spoil easily, and all just gimmicks...

i also dun use those multiple door/compartment fridges although it's a good idea (less leakage due to frequent opening of the whole fridge door) - simply because i need a 500 litre fridge for my home... most multiple doors are less, and less versatile if you got lots of things to put... big main fridge means you can move the shelves about, or even temporarily remove them to put in odd sized stuff (like your firefighters' boots after a hot day out... hahahaha... just joking... just joking...)