Could I have two mini-fridges, one always set on for perishables (packed tightly in zip-lock bags) and one on a timer (the ones you can set weekend days or week day days… or heck, probably make some computer program to turn it on and off) that is always off in the times I’m generally asleep and at work (until an hour before I generally get out of work)… I’d use this one for stuff like bottles of soda, water, beer, butter… I’m sure there are a few others (anyone?).
Also, a small freezer unit about the same size, about a third the size of those large freezer units you see in people’s basements, just for the basics.
Would this be more economical than just keeping stuff cold that doesn’t exactly need to be cold? (including all that space that is mostly empty anyway… Its not like I have to dig under other items to find what I’m looking for in there)
If it isn’t, are there any other alternative systems (or refrigerators) that are built to save every dime? (I’m not talking about putting jugs of water in the fridge to keep down the empty space, I’m talking MAJOR cut backs in cost, like whole new alternative thinking on how to keep that meat frozen and that soda cold (when it needs to be cold).
What about other machines and appliances in the home?
I already have those energy efficient bulbs in every socket in the house and I try to only heat or cool my bedroom depending on the season (again, I live alone, and I can stand a chilly kitchen in the winter).
I don’t have the answers you’re looking for, but if you’re suggesting having your fridge switched off when it’s not necessarily in use… this doesn’t work because your fridge will go mouldy. It’s a tightly sealed environment that has had bacteria floating around in it (food/moisture). I have a holiday home where the fridge is only used for perhaps six weeks a year - whenever i leave the villa and switch the fridge off, I give it a really good clean first and leave the door propped open to deter mould growth.
I’ll leave the matter of efficiency to better minds. My personal contribution, though, is to the idea of seasonal use of refrigerators/freezers. Back when finances were tight, I would store items outside in a cooler cold months, leaving my refrigerator turned off. This was in Pennsylvania; if you are in a more tropical clime it might not be a good idea. I do not miss those days.
You’d be better off with one fridge that was larger instead of using two units. Besides the moisture mold problem, they take a long time to cool food too. You won’t have cold food at anytime. To save energy get an efficient model, and keep the heat transfer coils clean and not blocked in. Air blocked in behind the fridge because there are cereal boxes and other stuff on top causes more energy to be used in cooling. Know what you want, get it, and close the door. The more the door is open the more power is needed to cool food. A person getting ice out of the freezer compartment all day, uses more power than someone using a door ice dispenser. Having the fridge in an area that naturally stays cooler will save energy too. Chest freezers lose less energy when opened because the cold air doesn’t flow out like it does on an upright model. Multiple compartments on a unit save energy because less cold air is lost when the doors open to smaller compartments.
One way they kept things cold before refrigerators was in a spring house, were a large rock mass was built into a building that kept spring water in it to a few feet deep. There are ways that work, just not something every person on the earth can use at once.
My grandmother still keeps some things in a root cellar - this is great for firm fruits, root vegetables, and things like soda and beer that will take less energy to fully cool when they are eventually refrigerated.
It’s off the basement, and used to be the house’s cistern before utility water was installed in the early 1950s. Go in there in the summertime, and it’s about sixty degrees - not bad for food storage at all.
Root cellars work great. A few feet underground the temperature is stable year round. Here it’s ~54F. Even an unused corner of a basement can be pretty cool.
I’ll also second everything **Harmonious Dischord ** said, and add that those mini-fridges tend to be very inefficient and poorly insulated.
As Harmonious Discord said, neither fridge will be cold.
A couple of years ago, we were trying to run two refrigerators on one 10-amp circuit. Someone had the bright idea of setting up lamp timers so only one fridge could draw power at any particular moment. They set them up as one hour on, one hour off. Sounded good in theory.
Net result was both fridges were only cool, and one of the fridges was replaced with a large cooler and ice.
I think this would have worked if the time period was closer to the duty cycle of the compressor. If the compressor runs for 5 minutes and then turns off, then a ten minute on/off cycle might work. An hour was way too long.
Probably not feasible with lamp timers though. Besides, the clocks on two different timers would get out of synch at some point and then overload your circuit.
I have one, and I love it, though it tends to get too humid for some foods. I keep all my canned pop down there, and once a week bring a week’s worth up to the refrigerator.
I have used a timer for a small room air conditioner that didn’t have a timer built in. I had it turn on one hour before I came home, and my bedroom was nice. I set the timer to go off about midnight. The rest of the house I only cooled on a weekend when I would be home and wanted to use the whole house. Usually I didn’t cool the whole house on the weekend either. I bought a room air conditioner with a timer and good temperature controls when the other one died.
You can turn off the water heater to save energy. I only turned it on a couple hours before showers. Once the water was hot, it stayed warm for about 2 days. You just had to use more from the hot tap as it cooled. obviously if you use hot water a lot this won’t work.
Attach electronics you hardly ever use to a switched power strip. Switch the strip off to save energy on those standby electronic devices.