CECED Magyarország Egyesülés

What does a refrigerator cost?

It is no longer enough to read the price tag of the refrigerator to properly answer this question. You purchase a refrigerator for the long term, so it is indispensable to check their energy consumption and find out what effect a new machine will have on your electricity bill.

Not many people are aware that refrigerators and freezers are responsible for 30% of the energy consumed by households. No wonder than this was the first household device the energy consumption of which was dealt with by the European Union, and for which the energy label was first introduced. The regulation requiring the attachment of en energy label showing energy consumption and other information prescribed by law to these devices was introduced in 1995 in the EU and in 1999 in Hungary. Originally, these categories ranged from A to G (A means best and G means worst energy efficiency), but due to the technological progress, devices with a category below C are no longer available, while category A also includes A+ and A++.

In addition to the category, the energy label provides information about the volume of the refrigeration and freezing area, the noise limits and other technical parameters of the device.

A device with higher category may be more expensive, but if you plan for the long term, the question arises of whether it may be worth choosing a device requiring less energy. The answer is clearly positive: yes, it is. Compared to an average class A device, a class B refrigerator will consume 30% more and a class C refrigerator will consume 65% more energy. As energy prices are constantly increasing and the average lifetime of a refrigerator is about 10-12 years, it is clearly worth buying a higher category device.
 

Refrigerators and environmental protection

You certainly have heard that an ’FCKW free’ refrigerator, the cooling agent and other parts of which contain no freon, is environment friendly. Why and when is this important?

In fact, when your refrigerator functions properly in your home, you, as a consumer, do not have to deal with this issue at all. But, it will become important when you plan to discard your old machine. In that case, it does make a difference whether the old device is put on the edge of a street or ditch, or is taken to a professional recycling plant. In the former case, if the discarded refrigerator is disassembled unprofessionally, the hazardous substances and gases in it will immediately escape into the air when the pipe system is damaged. And if this substance happens to be freon, and quite a lot of equipment containing freon are in use today, it will escape and damage the ozone layer, thereby largely contributing to global warming. Based on these two criteria, it has now been determined what treatment the different hazardous substances require when refrigerators are taken apart.

Until the early 1990’s, hazardous substances (e.g. CFCs, or chlorofluorocarbons, such as freon, or HCFC, or hydro chlorofluorocarbons) were used in refrigerators; we now know that such substances damage the ozone layer and largely contribute to global warming when used unprofessionally or allowed to escape when taken apart. Their use was prohibited in the EU in the mid-90’s.

By now, CFCs and HCFCs have been replaced by HFCs and HCs, that is, hydroflourocarbons and hydrocarbons. The former do not damage the ozone layer but have a significant impact on global warming, exceeding critical grade 15. On the other hand, HCs with global warming impact grade 3-4 provide an environmentally much safer solution.

According to current EU and Hungarian regulations, hazardous substances that damage the ozone layer and those with a global warming impact grade of 15 or above require professional treatment. Refrigerators now being sold can be regarded as environmentally friendly, while the majority of refrigerators in use in households contain hazardous substances that are now prohibited. In addition to energy efficiency, this is another good reason for considering the replacement of old refrigerators with modern environmentally-friendly ones as soon as possible. Should you decide to replace your refrigerator, please remember that dealers have been obliged to take away old appliances at no cost. In this way, you can make sure that your trusty old device will be taken apart in a professional and environmentally safe manner.

Hints and tricks: It costs you nothing...

... to find an appropriate place for your refrigerator: do not place it near a heat source – stove or radiator; try to find room for it in the coolest part of your apartment. Leave at least a palm-sized gap between the wall and the rear condenser coil of the refrigerator. Also, a gap should be left above the machine to let heat flow freely.

... to wait for hot food to cool down before putting it into the fridge. In this way, cooling requires less energy and vapor from the hot food does not lead to ice formation.

... to transfer food from the freezer to the fridge first. Melting food cools its environment, and so you can save energy.

... to maintain appropriate temperatures in the fridge. Do not overcool the device. A refrigerator thermometer is inexpensive and very useful. +5 Celsius in the refrigerator is generally appropriate for most food. Two degrees less than this will increase your electricity bill by about 5,000 forints a year.

... to make sure that the rear condenser coil of the refrigerator is well ventilated and clean. Wipe off dust at least twice a year.

... to check whether ice has built up in the refrigerator. Ice may reduce efficiency and increase power consumption.
2 cm thick ice in the freezer compartment can cost an additional 3,000 forints a year. Defrost the device regularly.

... to remove all items you need from the fridge at the same time, avoiding repeatedly opening the door. Each time when you open the door, hot air gets into the fridge, and needs to be cooled.

... to wipe water from food before freezing it. The water content of the food to be frozen should be minimized. Freezing 1 kg water requires many times the energy needed to freeze 1 kg of dry material.

... to label food properly to find things quickly in the freezer. This reduces the time when the door is open.

... to check whether the refrigerator door closes tight. If you close the door onto a piece of paper and this is held fast, without slipping, then the door is tight. Otherwise, it will be cheaper to replace the sealing strip.

... to store vegetables and fruits in the cellar, in a pit or in the larder – this requires no energy at all...

...these tips and hints can save you a lot of money in the kitchen!

About the history of refrigerators

	According to ancient written evidence, the need for cooling dates back to the early days of mankind. Ice and snow were used thousands of years ago to cool drink, food and even residential quarters. According to certain sources, the famous physician of ancient times, Hippocrates, considered drinking cool drinks harmful to health and advised against it. Alexander the Great obtained ice from Persia to cool wine.
	In addition to using snow and ice, the Egyptians allowed water to evaporate into dry air so as to cool it, as evidenced by wall paintings from about 2500 B.C.
	In the 4th century B.C., it was known in India that water could be cooled by adding salt. These were the early cooling technologies. In the mediaeval Italy and Spain, water was cooled with sal-ammoniac.
	Fahrenheit used a mixture of snow and sal-ammoniac to create the temperature, deemed the lowest possible at the time, which served as a basis for his temperature scale.

Egyptian technology was further developed by replacing water with liquids which evaporate at lower temperatures than water. These are now called cooling agents. In order to avoid loss, after evaporation, they were led to a compressor through a pipeline, and then liquefied again.

The first compressor refrigerator was patented by Jakob Perkins, U.S., in 1834. This device worked with ethyl ether. Ammonia, which was a big step forward, was first used by Ferdinand Carré in 1867.
 

However, the refrigerators of the time were enormous, and required permanent supervision when in operation, as they were turned on and off manually. A breakthrough was achieved by the invention of electric motors in the late 19th century; using an electric motor, a small motor-operated refrigerator that could be built into existing refrigerators was developed in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century.

The next step in development was the discovery of freon as cooling agent in the 1930’s. This hydrocarbon derivative is an odorless, non-toxic, non-combustible, non-explosive gas the use of which enabled the rapid spread of small refrigerators with a compressor, which were safer to use (before this, most cooling agents used were hazardous explosive substances).

However, by the end of the 20th century, the glory of the freon era was fading; it was found to heavily pollute the environment and damage the ozone layer. These days, technological solutions consistent with environmental objectives are preferred.

Important terms

Cooling – storage of food at a low temperature (+4 to –6 Celsius). Cooling slows down the activity of enzymes and the proliferation of microorganisms.

Freezing – storage of food at a very low temperature (-18 Celsius).

Quick freezing – freezing food in small quantities (max. 2 kg) to a temperature below –18 Celsius (in this way, the cell wall is not punctured by water crystals in the food).

No frost – a refrigerator with no vapor or ice formation on its wall, as they are prevented by an air circulation system. In this way, the machine needs no regular defrosting.

Warm-up time – the period of time which food in the freezer can survive without damage in the event of power cut. Hint: If you do not open the freezer door during the power cut and the freezer space is full of food, food may be stored undamaged for up to 2-4 days. If the freezer is half empty, this period is 1 day.

FCKW free – freon-free, which means that the heat insulation material of the refrigerator and the cooling agent contain no freon and are thus environmentally safe (this abbreviation comes from a strange combination of a German abbreviation and an English word, it would be CFC-free in English)
 

Temperature range classes – they indicate the temperature ranges in which the refrigerator operates safely.

SN +10 to + 32 degrees
N +16 to + 32 degrees
ST +18 to + 38 degrees
T +18 to + 43 degrees

* -6 degrees or lower, where food can be stored for about one week (this is the lowest quality which is practically no longer available on the market)
** -12 degrees or lower, where food can be stored for about 1 week or 2 weeks
*** -18 degrees or lower, suitable for freezing up to 1 kg food
**** -18 Celsius or lower, where food can be stored for several weeks, and suitable for freezing bigger quantities