How To Calculate Refrigerator Power Consumption?

After Air Conditioners, a refrigerator is one of the main home appliances that consume the most amount of power in a household.

If you see your monthly electricity bill, Refrigerator Power Consumption contributes a big portion there.

So we should know how to calculate the Power Consumption For Refrigerators so that we buy the right product that aligns with our requirements and affordability.

Old generation refrigerators are not designed keeping power saving in the mind. But modern refrigerators are designed in such a way that it consumes the optimum amount of power based on the load.

It is always a good practice to calculate the power consumption of the desired refrigerator rather than depending on what manufacturers say. With that, you will be confident and won’t buy the wrong product.

Here are two articles that you should read before you buy a refrigerator where we spoke about different technologies used in refrigerators and how to reduce the power consumption of refrigerators.

How To Calculate Refrigerator Power Consumption?

There are two methods of calculating the power consumption for refrigerators.

If your refrigerator has the BEE Star rating label card ( All refrigerators have that), then you will see the annual power consumption data printed on that label card as shown below.

efrigerator Power Consumption
BEE Rating Label Card

You can simply multiply that value by the electricity unit rate and you will get an approximate power consumption of the refrigerator.

The main problem with this method is that manufacturers give the annual consumption values based on some assumptions like you will run the refrigerators for a certain period of time in a day and up to a certain temperature.

In the real world, that may not be always possible. That is why the BEE star label annual power consumption data is not always correct

The other method is by manually calculating the refrigerator’s power consumption using the rated power value mentioned in the spec sheet of the refrigerator.

If you have the Refrigerator Wattage data, then you can simply use the below energy consumption calculator to calculate the refrigerator’s power consumption.

Monthly Electricity Bill ( Due to the refrigerator)   = [{(Power Usage ( Watts) * Number of Hours the refrigerator will run )}/1000]* Electricity unit rate

For example, if the rated power is 180 Watts and you run the machine for 24 hours a day  then the monthly electricity bill due to the refrigerator will be

= {(180*24)/1000}*5 ( Assuming Rs 5 per unit of electricity)
= Rs 21.60 Per Day
=Rs 648 Per Month
=Rs 7776 Per Year

What Affects The Power Consumption Of Refrigerators?

The following are a few of the factors that contribute to the power consumption of refrigerators. Although this list is not exclusive as there could be many other factors that can contribute.

Size of the refrigerator

It is obvious that bigger size refrigerators will consume more power. A bigger size refrigerator means you will dump more items.

More items mean the refrigerator has to do more work and more work means more power consumption. Very simple logic.

That is why always buy a refrigerator based on your requirement.

The Temperature you set

Again a very simple logic. If you set the refrigerator temperature very low, the power consumption of the refrigerator will be more.

Usually, the fridge ( Fresh food section) temperature should be between 15-20 degrees centigrade and the freezer temperature should be between 0-5 degrees centigrade. Anything below that range should cost you more power consumption.

Installation location

Please don’t install a refrigerator next to an oven or anything that dissipates heat. The reason is simple. If other machines dissipate heat, the refrigerator will do more work for cooling and thus consume more power.

Personally, I recommend keeping the fridge in a place outside the kitchen.

The city where you live

Yes, the city also makes a difference. If you live in a city where the average outside temperature is very high, the refrigerator will do more work to keep your food under the desired temperature. That extra work will cost you extra power consumption.

So, if you reside in Delhi then you may need to pay more electricity bills for your refrigerator than if you live in Dehradun because Delhi is comparatively hotter than Dehradun.

Usage pattern

The more you open and close the refrigerator door, the more power it will consume. When you open the refrigerator door, hot air goes inside.

The refrigerator then does extra work to remove that heat and that’s why it consumes more power.

Age of the refrigerator

Age is also a factor in the power consumption of refrigerators. Every machine has a life. Over the period of time it can lose its efficiency.

Also, old refrigerators do not have advanced technologies for reducing the power consumption.

That is why, if the refrigerator is too old ( Over 10 years), it’s better to dump it and buy a new one. Many people will ask me “ Why not repair the old refrigerator?”.

The answer is that, if you don’t change your old refrigerator, then the recurring cost will be more than buying a new refrigerator.

Conclusion: Refrigerator Power Consumption

I hope this guide could give you enough insights into the factors that contribute to refrigerator power consumption and how to calculate the power consumption.

I always prefer our readers to do the manual calculation for the power consumption and then buy the refrigerator.

Don’t always believe what is written on the refrigerator because those data are based on ideal conditions and our kitchen does not follow ideal conditions. Right?

Do you still have any questions? Please write that in the comment section. I will be happy to respond to your queries.

Rajib
Rajib
Rajib Is The Founder And Head Of RiansClub. A NIT 2004 Graduate In Mechanical Engineering With Close To Two Decades Of Experience In Designing Large Appliances And Consumer Electronics Products.

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