Energy consumption big fridge vs small

[bamboozled]

Surely not the correct forum but: I'm in the process of buying a fridge. Right now I have a 5.2 something-or-others. One I am looking at is a 9.2 something-or-others, so a lot bigger. Will the size difference make a sizable augmentation in my electric bill? I can live with a smaller one just fine. Of course, when you have a big one there always seem to be things to fill it that you didn't know you needed but now can't seem to live without. I can indeed live without a larger electric bill, however. Any advice, folks?

Thanks, Bam

[lostinisaan]

Of course, when you have a big one there always seem to be things to fill it that you didn't know you needed but now can't seem to live without

​ Some have a small, some have a big one. That's normal, don't worry.

[CMKiwi]

An empty big fridge can consume a bit of power as the motor needs to run more to maintain the cool temp. However if you have a reasonably full fridge then once everything has been has cooled down then that temperature is better maintained by what is in the fridge.

It really comes down to what you will normally store in your fridge and if you need a bigger fridge. Do you cook at home or do you go out to eat most of the time?

There are perhaps too many variables to answer your question correctly.

If you have a small fridge and it is overloaded with food and drinks, this too can cause the motor to work harder/too hard which increases your power usage but not always cooling your food and drink down to the desired temp.

Only you can tell/decide if you need a bigger fridge. Technology has also changed over the years, modern fridges are more energy efficient.

Hope this is a starter of more info for you to digest....

[TheSiemReaper]

What's your current electric bill? It would be easier to tell what a "substantial increase" means if you shared that piece of information.

[cloudhopper]

An empty big fridge can consume a bit of power as the motor needs to run more to maintain the cool temp. However if you have a reasonably full fridge then once everything has been has cooled down then that temperature is better maintained by what is in the fridge.

It really comes down to what you will normally store in your fridge and if you need a bigger fridge. Do you cook at home or do you go out to eat most of the time?

There are perhaps too many variables to answer your question correctly.

If you have a small fridge and it is overloaded with food and drinks, this too can cause the motor to work harder/too hard which increases your power usage but not always cooling your food and drink down to the desired temp.

Only you can tell/decide if you need a bigger fridge. Technology has also changed over the years, modern fridges are more energy efficient.

Hope this is a starter of more info for you to digest....

Good summary. If kept reasonably full a bigger fridge should be more efficient than a smaller one, but the electricity use will be somewhat higher.

[searcher22]

Definitely worth upgrading. The slightly higher electric bill is more or less offset by gas savings (less shopping excursions). I upgraded to a bigger fridge with a bigger freezer and with inverter technology, and am very happy with it, will save me time and money in the long run. I don't know exactly how much more I'm paying for electricity but I don't lose any sleep over it.

[bamboozled]

Thanks everybody. My normal electric bill is very low, about 430 baht or so. And I love it like that. It's a no brainer. I don't have a lot of extra cash lying around so it is important to me to keep expenses down when I can. I don't use AC too much, just occasionally at night in the hot season. I keep reading about inverter tech, also applied to Air Con. Can someone tell me what it means? We do cook at home quite a bit but it is just the two of us. I can get a new 9.2 something-or-other Electrolux at half price for 7500. It's only about 2000 more than the smaller 5.2 something-or-other (is that cubic feet?). I was awed by it's beauty and the half price deal. So the question came up in my mind is it going to just be that extra 2000 baht initial splurge or am I going to be paying a lot more electric every month and cursing myself? I suppose it's not an AC where the "cold" just ebbs away quickly. It is retained.

Any input on the Electrolux brand? All I know is that they used to have vacuum's that cost an arm and a leg sold door to door.

[northernjohn]

Definitely worth upgrading. The slightly higher electric bill is more or less offset by gas savings (less shopping excursions). I upgraded to a bigger fridge with a bigger freezer and with inverter technology, and am very happy with it, will save me time and money in the long run. I don't know exactly how much more I'm paying for electricity but I don't lose any sleep over it.

Good points. I upgraded to a full size fridge (around 19cubic feet) with a big freezer compartment. It allows me to buy stuff and store that I would not have the room for in the smaller one.

As CMKiwi pointed out if you keep it full it will help hold the cost of running the motor down. We buy two cases of water a week and always put in enough water to keep it full. I have room for several different condiments that I would not be able to keep in a smaller fridge.

As for the cost of running it I can't say as I noticed any change. I am sure it was more but I use so much power with several other items that it was not noticeable. Currently on another thread looking to saving money on a new air con.

[TheSiemReaper]

Thanks everybody. My normal electric bill is very low, about 430 baht or so. And I love it like that. It's a no brainer. I don't have a lot of extra cash lying around so it is important to me to keep expenses down when I can. I don't use AC too much, just occasionally at night in the hot season. I keep reading about inverter tech, also applied to Air Con. Can someone tell me what it means? We do cook at home quite a bit but it is just the two of us. I can get a new 9.2 something-or-other Electrolux at half price for 7500. It's only about 2000 more than the smaller 5.2 something-or-other (is that cubic feet?). I was awed by it's beauty and the half price deal. So the question came up in my mind is it going to just be that extra 2000 baht initial splurge or am I going to be paying a lot more electric every month and cursing myself? I suppose it's not an AC where the "cold" just ebbs away quickly. It is retained.

Any input on the Electrolux brand? All I know is that they used to have vacuum's that cost an arm and a leg sold door to door.

When your electricity bill is that low... it's possible it might have a dramatic impact. I can't imagine ever getting my bill that low... even when I turned off the A/C for most of a month in Winter it was more than double that.... somewhat envious really.

[lopburi3]

Every appliance has an efficiency label on the front and although they may all say 5 if you read the entries it will show the expected cost and then you can compare - size by itself would not always mean bigger costs more. But if you do not use AC you will find it is nice to have that extra space to store varies items in an ant free cooler condition - from cookies to medications. From juice to salads. Slow banana ripping a bit. Keep the sugar bags pure. You can always find something to fill it up.

[seedy]

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[bamboozled]

Karlo, thanks, I did get your message. A lot of info to take in. My last rental had the medium size fridge. The new place is without thus I'm looking to buy one. I assumed I only need one of the smaller ones but then saw the big Electrolux for almost the same price and started dreaming. I suppose it won't effect a bill like an AC unit would… I also suppose moving it is not so fun, as compared to the 5.2 size. I mean if/when I must once again change rentals.

Never could figure out how to use that energy rating on the front. To be honest, never took the time to understand it, either.

[uptheos]

Thanks everybody. My normal electric bill is very low, about 430 baht or so. And I love it like that. It's a no brainer. I don't have a lot of extra cash lying around so it is important to me to keep expenses down when I can. I don't use AC too much, just occasionally at night in the hot season. I keep reading about inverter tech, also applied to Air Con. Can someone tell me what it means? We do cook at home quite a bit but it is just the two of us. I can get a new 9.2 something-or-other Electrolux at half price for 7500. It's only about 2000 more than the smaller 5.2 something-or-other (is that cubic feet?). I was awed by it's beauty and the half price deal. So the question came up in my mind is it going to just be that extra 2000 baht initial splurge or am I going to be paying a lot more electric every month and cursing myself? I suppose it's not an AC where the "cold" just ebbs away quickly. It is retained.

Any input on the Electrolux brand? All I know is that they used to have vacuum's that cost an arm and a leg sold door to door.

My normal electric bill is very low, about 430 baht or so. And I love it like that. It's a no brainer. I don't have a lot of extra cash lying around so it is important to me to keep expenses down when I can. I don't use AC too much, just occasionally at night in the hot season

​I find this hard to believe, if you use air con, even occasionally.

[bamboozled]

Well my last bill was 430 baht. You're right, though, I probably had not used the air con up to that point so it was not reflected on the bill. So let's consider that a non-AC electric bill. I can't recall my bills last hot season.

[JaseTheBass]

Thanks everybody. My normal electric bill is very low, about 430 baht or so. And I love it like that. It's a no brainer. I don't have a lot of extra cash lying around so it is important to me to keep expenses down when I can. I don't use AC too much, just occasionally at night in the hot season. I keep reading about inverter tech, also applied to Air Con. Can someone tell me what it means? We do cook at home quite a bit but it is just the two of us. I can get a new 9.2 something-or-other Electrolux at half price for 7500. It's only about 2000 more than the smaller 5.2 something-or-other (is that cubic feet?). I was awed by it's beauty and the half price deal. So the question came up in my mind is it going to just be that extra 2000 baht initial splurge or am I going to be paying a lot more electric every month and cursing myself? I suppose it's not an AC where the "cold" just ebbs away quickly. It is retained.

Any input on the Electrolux brand? All I know is that they used to have vacuum's that cost an arm and a leg sold door to door.

Wow! I don’t think I've ever had a leccy bill that low. Mine was 4k this month

[ignis]

I am sure 1x big fridge would be cheaper to run then 5 or 6 small ones...... rather depends on the size you need...

As for electric cost no idea, for 10 years had a Side by side 21 q and a 21 g normal, last couple of years have a 18.6 q and a 23 q + a large deep freeze, of course they are a lot newer Inventors and so on but the electric bill is the same..

Myself don't see the point of driving 30 km to the nearest supermarket 2 or more times a week.

[briley]

I have in the past used a gizmo that monitored electricity usage of anything I plugged in.

My fridges (2) are both reasonably sized and cost about 350 Baht each for a month's electricity. My amazement is the water cooler (definitely a mini fridge) cost around 325 Baht a month to run, almost the same as a full size fridge.

So I would suggest that your big fridge will cost little more to run than a small one.

And the price you quote is good. I have bought both my fridges at "50% off" and not regretted it.

If I had the choice now I would have gone for one, double sized, fridge for saving on electricity. After all 350 Baht a month is around 4,000 Baht a year or 40,000 Baht over the lifetime of the fridge. Much more than the purchase price.

[MadMac]

I've measured ours once, it's a big Hitachi 2 door fridge. Consumes 2.37kWh which equals to about 10B in 24h.

[harrry]

Some smalll bare fridges are very inefficient so it may be better looking at a medium sized one. A seperate freezer compartment (2 door) is very useful.

[NancyL]

Many of the smaller fridges have just one door, so you're exposing everything to warm room air anytime you want to get something. Our new big fridge has three compartments. One door and two sliding shelves -- one for produce and one for the freezer. I just love it! So much easier to organize everything and open just the portion of the fridge that contains the items needed when I'm cooking, rather than exposing everything to the warm room air.

We also have a small under-counter fridge that we use for beverages -- water, sodas, beer, wine. When we lived in a multi-story place it was a handy upstairs fridge and we've continued to use it for beverages. It's good to have access to beverages during power failures. I don't want to open the big fridge and risk damaging the food, but you still want to have access to beer and wine in the dark, don't you?

[bamboozled]

Hmm so if I use 10B a day such as MadMac's fridge, I could augment my monthly elec. bill quite a bit. Ok, we're talking 10 bucks, it's not gonna kill me one way or another. I will say that when that bill arrives every month and it's so low…I get a rush of pleasure every time. I'm addicted to that rush and don't want it to go away. Still, the big fridge just looks so beautiful.

What would be the motivation for a 50% reduction in price? They call it a promotion, of course, but I'm looking for the strings. Just clearing old stock maybe? Or am I being fed a lemon in a spoonful of sugar?

[MadMac]

What would be the motivation for a 50% reduction in price? They call it a promotion, of course, but I'm looking for the strings. Just clearing old stock maybe? Or am I being fed a lemon in a spoonful of sugar?

It's usually clearing old stock. Like Samsung aircons, you get the old design pretty cheap, inside it's the same as new ones. I don't think there has been a major technological break through in cooling boxes in the last 20 years, so you will be fine with any model.

[Naam]

Thanks everybody. My normal electric bill is very low, about 430 baht or so. And I love it like that. It's a no brainer. I don't have a lot of extra cash lying around so it is important to me to keep expenses down when I can. I don't use AC too much, just occasionally at night in the hot season. I keep reading about inverter tech, also applied to Air Con. Can someone tell me what it means? We do cook at home quite a bit but it is just the two of us. I can get a new 9.2 something-or-other Electrolux at half price for 7500. It's only about 2000 more than the smaller 5.2 something-or-other (is that cubic feet?). I was awed by it's beauty and the half price deal. So the question came up in my mind is it going to just be that extra 2000 baht initial splurge or am I going to be paying a lot more electric every month and cursing myself? I suppose it's not an AC where the "cold" just ebbs away quickly. It is retained.

Any input on the Electrolux brand? All I know is that they used to have vacuum's that cost an arm and a leg sold door to door.

My normal electric bill is very low, about 430 baht or so. And I love it like that. It's a no brainer. I don't have a lot of extra cash lying around so it is important to me to keep expenses down when I can. I don't use AC too much, just occasionally at night in the hot season

​I find this hard to believe, if you use air con, even occasionally.

they walk among us

[bamboozled]

Well I bought the fridge, it was from Tesco but what happened next left me a little perplexed. The salesman said that he would deliver it to the house and that we could pay at the house. That seemed kind of weird but I didn't really think much of it since I was happy to get the fridge. He brought it around to my home in about 30 minutes in what seemed to be his own pickup truck (no Tesco logo) which was great. He and another guy brought it in and set it up and I handed him the money. I kept waiting for the receipt but it was not forthcoming and when I asked he said that with a promotion price such as this there is no receipt. Huh? That seemed mighty strange and I asked well how will my warranty be valid. He claimed that he could stamp the warranty card with the Tesco stamp and date and that would validate the card and that he would do so and bring the warranty card around later that day. Once he left I started to wonder what the heck was going on. Was he selling the fridge himself, pocketing the money somehow and that's why there was no receipt? Honestly, I didn't really care if he was pocketing the money but I was and am worried that I have no receipt. I did go back to Tesco straightaway and ask around with the other salesman (well actually my wife asked around) and eventually our salesman returned and stamped the warranty card with the Tesco logo and date and said that he would mail in the other half to Electrolux.

How strange is this behavior? Will be warranty be valid? It's 11 years on the compressor...that's a long time. Of course, those receipts from Tesco fade and the writing disappears pretty quickly so maybe indeed the receipt is not necessary and just the warranty card. Any thoughts, folks?

Cheers, Bam.

[MadMac]

If you have the card you should be fine. They do all kind of weird subcontracting here, possibly he got a commission for that fridge. Normal. I'd be more worried if there is a Chinese Electrolux outlet here that eventually could service the fridge.

[NancyL]

A purchase this big we would pay with our credit card, issued by a U.S. financial institution, so if there is any problem soon after delivery, we can file a complaint with the U.S. credit card company and stand a chance of getting some relief. No such option with a Thai-issued credit card and certainly not with a purchase made with cash.

I agree, it's strange that you wouldn't pay in the store. I wonder what would have happened if you'd whipped out a credit card in the store and asked to use it for payment?

[bamboozled]

I had read that there is an Electrolux factory in Rayong. When looking at fridges a the man in HomePro said there was no factory in Thailand and pointed me to a Hitachi. Our man in Tesco said there was an Electrolux factory in Thailand. So who knows?

I don't like to pay with my credit card here for fear of it getting cloned and cleaned out or whatever it is they do. I will confess that it was the 6th day of moving my house when I bought the fridge. 6 days of non-stop lifting and packing and moving and this and that and my head was in the clouds and I was not on the top of my game with the payment. I was eager and excited to get the purchase over with as it had been a bit of an extended game poking around and comparing prices and models. The guy had apparently gotten these models at the Hang Dong store that very day...we had been there the previous night and they were sold out. I was curious if somehow he was able to pocket all the money for the fridge and register it as damaged or stolen at Tesco. Or perhaps he registered the price later with Tesco as something lower than what we paid and pocketed the difference. The whole thing made me a bit confused.

The fridge is nice and cold and I think I'll go have another slice of the sweet chilled watermelon now.

Thanks all for responding here, cheers.

[MadMac]

They are not all gangsters here, particularly not in established shopping malls. You got your warranty card for the chinese fridge brought to your place for free. What else could you possibly ask for?!