Re: Refrigerator monitor ideas?

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Dave Houston" <nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

> "Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> >My wattmeter tells me it draws 112 watts when running.
>
> It would be interesting to see what your Kill A Watt meter shows for 24
> hours in kWh mode. You could then calculate annual kWh and compare it to
the
> hypothetical figures bandied about by bureaucrats and ivory tower
academics.

I missed the moment to get an accurate 24 hour assessment but that's OK.  I
want to run the test again under more normal circumstances.  There's been a
lot more door opening than usual and I've been running a space heater down
there because it's so cold outside (16F).  Even so, Bill K. may be right.
This box *sucks* up the juice!  Fortunately, its location in the basement
means a lot of that electricity, as Dan noted, is heating the house, so the
payback equations are muddied.  When I switch to the floor drain in the
summer, it also acts as a dehumidifier, so the equations there are not
straightforward, either.

I've been doing some research and came across a site that had some
interesting information about power use:

*********************************************************************
http://www.homeenergy.org/archive/hem.dis.anl.gov/eehem/93/930114.html

Keep That Kitchen Cool

A recent study in Rochester, N.Y., revealed the most reliable way to reduce
an existing refrigerator's energy use. In the study, the kitchen temperature
was monitored every 30 minutes (along with the energy use) in 22 homes. The
results were surprisingly consistent: changes in kitchen temperatures
explained almost all of the changes in the refrigerators' energy use during
the eight-month monitoring period (see Figure 2).

Individual refrigerators were very sensitive to kitchen temperatures. Many
experienced a doubling in energy use when the temperature rose from 65deg.F
to 80deg.F. Refrigerators rarely achieved their labeled consumptions until
the kitchen temperature rose above 80deg.F (see Figure 3).  -- Alan Meier

*********************************************************************

--
Bobby G.