Kitchen Large Electric Appliances - Measuring Power drawn from Fridge

Hi,

I am considering getting a new fridge and I want to know how much power it would save me. Is there a way to measure how much power my current fridge is drawing?

Thanks,

sweetboy

Do a web search for Kill-A-Watt. It is a meter that plugs into your recepticle & then you plug the appliance into it to measure the wattage it is using. A couple websites listed it for under $30.00.

Like dave said, the Kill-A-Watt is the best and cheapest way to measure your existing energy usage.

But how are you going to calculate your potential energy savings without actually buying and using the new one in your household's normal routine? Energy Guide labels are great for comparison between two models you're thinking about purchasing, but means little compared to a measured reading.

Just as an aside, it slays me when people set out to buy a brand new fridge just for energy efficiency's sake then end up buying a side-by-side model with ice/water dispenser and the whole works. (Worst on the totem pole as far as energy usage, all else being equal)

I guess alot depends on the age of fridge he is replacing. We have an old GE in basement for beer, I mean soda, that is around 30 years old & going strong. I plan on replacing it this summer with a basic, no frills top mount freezer fridge. I figure it has to be better energy wise. My guess would be a top of the line side x side with the tv built into the door would use less energy than the old GE. Alot of the new fridges have the energy star rating on them. Thats the way to go.

The old or new fridge unit will have the Amp draw some where on the unit. That will tell you what is better .

The old or new fridge unit will have the Amp draw some where on the unit. That will tell you what is better .

Indeed, this will tell you which is better, if you left the door wide open all the time.

This is not generally what I would call normal behavior though.

Cool...thanks for the info on the kill-a-watt reader. I just ordered one!

sweetboy

Well..I got the kill-a-watt meter and I was measuring the power drawn from my computer. I had the computer on for an hour and checked the meter and it read .3 kWhr. Then I left the meter on for a week and the meter read 10 kWhr. So how is this meter working. Shouldn't it be averaging the power over time??

Thanks,

sweetboy

You can easily do this yourself. Hit the red KWH button and it will show you the exact time that it has been running. Divide KWH by hours and voila.

Note that this time readout is since you plugged the Kill-A-Watt in, NOT the device connected to it.

I may be impatient, but waiting a whole week to measure my computer would be out of the question. I usually just hit the Watt button and monitor the instantaneous usage. Especially while I flip various devices on and off, use the printer, give the machine something CPU intensive to chew on, etc. Instant feedback.