One of the largest consumers of residential electricity is your refrigerator. A fridge works by removing heat from inside and pushing it outside. You’ll notice the neato grill on the back of your fridge that cools the condensed fluid before returning to the compressor to absorb more heat. The key point to recognize here is that the warmer your home is (or at least the warmer the air behind your fridge), the harder it is for the heat to dissipate.
Thus I am proposing a few changes for refrigerators that may make them a lot more officiant, thus putting the chill on your electric bill.
First things first, while I’m stating the obvious of what a fridge does, I might as well point out that hot air is less dense than cool air and rises. Every third grader knows this but some engineers do not. If they did, they would put the fridge motor and heat exchanger on the top of the fridge instead of underneath and out back. Putting all of the mechanics under the fridge does nothing but put heat back into the box.
Secondly, I would like to share a revelation with you that I had today. It strikes me as odd that in the summer time we have the A/C on but also use appliances that produce heat like space heaters. It’s a bit self defeating. Why is there no exhaust fan for refrigerators?
I propose placing refrigerators on exterior walls and sealing the heat exchanger in an enclosed compartment separate from the house that would have its own small ventilation system. This compartment would take the heat out of the kitchen in the summer, and increase the efficiency of the fridge in the winter.
Think of how easy your fridge would be working if it was pushing 10 degree air over the exchanger rather than 65 degree heat in the winter time. If we could place the back of the fridge in a semi insulated wall, we might not need to refrigerate at all. We could just let winter do its job.
I know you might be thinking, “Well, in the winter time, a little extra heat is nice.” I would remind you however, that a heater of any kind is going to be more effecient at producing heat than any applience that isn’t specifically perposed for the task. Yes you may get a little extra heat, but it comes at a premium and you would be better off making your fridge more effecient and turning up the thermostat.
