Are vintage appliances energy efficient?
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- Опубліковано 21 січ 2022
- I put my vintage fridge up against my modern fridge to see which one consumes more electricity.
Kill-a-watt (affiliate link) amzn.to/3tQC9sg
See the follow up video here:
• FOLLOW UP: Vintage Fri... - Навчання та стиль
I've tested a few dozen vintage fridges over the years that I've repaired. Pushing all the way back to the 1930's and they are Super Cheap to run most sub $1/month. I'm 100% sure all of these energy campaigns of the 2000's to throw away your old fridges was a money making scheme by appliance makers. There were a few years in the 70's with top freezer models that had a heating element that ran all the time to keep the freezer door from freezing shut. This 1 model I think is what they base they're high numbers off of.
guy on tiktok plugged in 7 fridges from the 1950s on the same circuit and it used less electricity than a newer fridge.
New ones are frost free. THe use electric to defrost the evaporator coil. The comparison is not fair.
The old fridge is one box with the freezer in the top of it. That makes it more efficient by design.
Even the less fashionable modern fridges with the freezer on top is more efficient than the french door models with the freezer on the bottom.
I like a refrigerator with non-flammable refrigerant. Unlike today's. I also like one to last forever. My 1946 Kelvinator chest freezer is still going strong with its original charge of Freon.
Old appliances lasted forever but it was decided that wasn't a good business model. So now we get to put up with refrigerators that last maybe 10 years (if you're very, very lucky).
Your right it doesn't mean alot but it certainly justifies keeping the old fridge for beer and pop. A new one just wouldn't be worth the cost. Good to know.
Very interesting! Recently got a 1952 Frigidaire and I've been wondering about this comparison. Definitely going to put it up to the test against a modern fridge of similar size. Would be pretty spectacular if the results are similar to yours. Perhaps they were on to something with those thick insulated walls.
Hey Dustin, Maybe you can make a video on the longevity and reliability of New vs old appliances.
Especially the new appliances made between 2011-2017. Stuff like fridges and washing machines and and TV .
Howdy stranger! I'm from SA and you Sir are a hero! I've been thinking about getting rid of my vintage fridge as I've believed it to be wasteful but after seeing your experiment it's been proved that actually the opposite was true... So I'll use solar energy for my vintage fridge and I'll be sitting pretty with my utility bills haha... No need for a bigger inverter either so thanks a bunch mate!!
I expect this old frige to be very energy consuming. But finally, it is 4 times less. Ok, modern one is larget and has door open frequently. But still, I expect modern to be more energy save. I was wrong. Thanks for test!
the now illegal refrigerants were a lot more efficient in pumping heat out of a space for a given amount of energy. a lot of these fridges used cardboard insulation which could get damp and deform overtime, which is why some people's models are very inefficient. Their strong latch and small internal volume however lend themselves to energy efficiency as well. Actually, the way you place contents in a fridge and withdrawl them affects energy efficiency a great deal as well. In my research lab we used these -112F freezers which all come with mini partitioned doors to lower the amount of air that is exchanged when opening the fridge. This same design is used in the medical world for refridgered meds like IV bags in hospitals. This is the same reason why all super efficient fridges are top loading, the amount of cold air that falls out is whats most important.
My 600 litre 40 year old fridge works like new and might run for another 40 years, but after testing uses 5kw a day, 7kw in summer. Ordered a new 420 litre inverter fridge that uses less than 1kw per day. My top tip get a new fridge with no bells and whistles. Fancy Samsung fridges make good eye candy and money for the sales person but they don't make reliable fridges.
Awesome video D! I love this type of information.
Great video. Thanks
would be cool to see one of these for other vintage appliances: e.g
microwave
toaster
fan
heater
vacum
radio
dehumidifier
washer
drier
AC
I don’t know that there can be much efficiency improvements for any of those. An 1100W microwave is going to consume 1100W, regardless of which decade it was manufactured in. Same for a toaster, or heater. The one thing that would be interesting is a traditional style vacuum compared to a newer vacuum technology (think Dyson) or even a regular fan compared to a Dyson fan.
The difference is noticeable between these two fridges because of physical size, amount of insulation, lack of auto-defrost, etc. Later this year, we’re taking a week long vacation, so I plan to retest my kitchen fridge when there will be no one opening and closing it for a solid week straight. That’ll be the true test of how much it actually runs/defrosts.
@@DustinRogersinMO you make some pretty good points there.
The other factors to consider maybe for another video is traditional appliances with mechanical rotary knobs vs ones with computer boards in them.
I have a theory that a lot of so-called smart or digital push button modern appliances might be sipping more power than there knob counterparts in many cases in spite of being energy* efficient or whatever. This is because those knob appliances are either open or close the circuit. Lets say for example an AC with rotary controles and one with the fancy remote and the push buttons, which one uses more power overall?
would make for an interesting video.
@@coolelectronics1759 some very good points. I’d assume the digital controls/displays consume more power than their mechanical counterparts, but I’d guess that over the course of a week, you’re probably only looking at a matter of milliAmps. I don’t know that you’d notice much of a cost increase.
And as far as A/C units - I’m picturing a window mounted unit - I don’t know that people replace those to achieve higher efficiency. I think they probably get replaced because the compressor failed or the refrigerant leaked out of the old one.
@@DustinRogersinMO gotcha.
I definitely want to get one of those monitoring probes like the one that you have in the video. I have a multimeter but it isn't the same I want something like the one you have where you can plug in an appliance into and have it give you the stats and monitor it in real time. I have so many cool experiments in mind for a tool like that.
Yeah most of it would be pretty similar.
These old fridges have very tight seal and are really well insulated. Which I am guessing is why they are so efficient.
That Hotpoint is nice take care of it and it will out live you and I both. Sorry to your kitchen fridge is near end of life.
Thank you very interesting and informative. I'm currently am looking for new fridge and with this information, I think our fridge size is to big. I will be looking for less cu in. Size does make a difference. Lol
Isnt the newer fridge about double the volume of the old one?
So, for the RF you can use vegetable glycerine? I believe I used the same blue gel for all of it the last time I used it 😬
I believe mine is a 40k your original and I have at least an inch on my abdomen. Will I still see results? Last time I used it last summer I didn’t, so I’m wondering if I was doing something wrong?
I think you commented on the wrong video
Nice. covers one of those things you wonder about. [edited:just saw the followup video]
Your electric bill figure has two charges. One for usage, one for delivery. You need to combine the costs.
You’ve seen my electric bill? Weird. But I assure you MY electric bill does NOT have two charges. I’ve talked to my electric company and the rate I pay per kWH is based on usage. No “delivery” charges from my company.
I was wondering whether my new fridge will save some energy cost. So I guess not. Just like electric cars, these "new products" will not save your money for operating. They just give you new features.
Also does not using electronics cause them to go bad ?
In my experience I have had several things that just stopped working even though they were not being used and stayed unplugged for extended periods of time. ( 6 Mo -11Mo)
Depends how they are stored if theres any damp that causes corrosion that can make short circurts, more so the more complex and small a circuit is, its also recomended to change capacitors if they are old so they dont go pop
This is not a refrigeration test at all. This is an electro motive force demonstration with hypothetical opinion regarding defrost heating.
A refrigeration test would collect BTU gain and loss and electrical energy consumption.
It would also demonstrate how the defrost heating increases the efficiency of cooling. In the end we saw that a compressor pump can be loaded variously.
Quite frankly we all want safe cold reliability not minimal function.
If one fridge is opened more than the others it's going to skew the results a bit
I’ll have a follow up video soon comparing the newer fridge not being opened for an entire week. Stay tuned.
@@DustinRogersinMO Exciting stuff. :)
The test is flawed from the get go. One has electric defrost the other does not, not to even mention the size, and use. Then added load of organics in the fridge small that it might be. Plus heater in freezer door gasket area to prevent condensation. The Frigidaire 7.5 cubic foot will out do any old fridge. It is semi frost free model and will use about 40.00 per year in electricity. Also the fact that insulation is better now and old units will have worn compressor parts making them less efficient. One other thing is open area. When you open the door the cold air rushes out. Some people put empty gallon water jugs in side to lessen the effect. Retired industrial refrigeration engineer here.
ineresting I guess but proves nothing.
Dude. All I wanted was the info on the chart at the end.
Like stfu
Or skip ahead…. 🤷 Maybe I’ll make a video demonstrating how to do it.