[meldrewreborn]

I've just done some sums (no not school homework for the grandkids!) and i reckon my now 18 month old freezer has saved me 1527 kWh of electricity, and at an average cost per kWh of 30p (range 33.46 down to 23.17) plus VAT @5% I've now covered the cost of the freezer and from hereon in I'm saving money.

Interestingly I've just diagnosed a similar situation for a friend (yes I do have a couple of them!) with their fridge freezer, which was going like the clappers trying to maintain temperature.

As I've written before appliances like fridges and freezer are plugged in 24/7 and once they start to lose coolant gas (most likely from the compressor) they just work longer and longer trying to maintain the correct temperature, and the longer they're working the greater your bills will be. Unless you spot the heat given off, or the fact that they seem to be operating all the time, there's no really obvious signs of a problem. But once discovered a new appliance brings with it a noticeable drop in energy consumption. This isn't something any smart meter can identify as far as I know.

But if you can monitor your electricity consumption at night when little should be working that can give a clue. -what is using all that power? Or buy a through plug meter which can measure the consumption of a single appliance - as I did, which confirmed by suspicions beyond doubt.

Its a definite exception to the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" maxim.

[JoeSoap]

@meldrewreborn

Good news 👍. I have two fridges and two freezers and the oldest larder fridge was over twenty years old when it packed up a couple of months ago. I was always a bit suspicious of it as it was so old but now I've replaced it I can see no meaningful fall in overnight consumption so it wasn't a bad old fridge after all.

On a more general note, Where I reduced my overall consumption of gas and electricity considerably as a result of the energy crisis, I can now see my consumption has crept up again over the last year. Leccy still pretty good at around 20% less than two years ago but gas only about 11% down. It goes to show that high prices reduce consumption in this house and when the prices ease we feel we can live more comfortably and sometimes choose convenience over cost saving. Clearly, some habits adopted during the energy crisis have remained and I'm still pleased with the reduced consumption compared to what it was historically.