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March 1, 2009

Energy Audit for Fridge?

Hello all! I have been plagued with a ever-rising electric bill, and I have been doing everything I can to conserve energy, but it has proved fruitless. I have unplugged everything, constantly turning off lights, replaced bulbs, etc. However, the electric bill is ridiculously high. I have an energy efficient GE fridge from 2006, but my boyfriend swears it's the culprit. I am thinking it might be apt to get someone to look into this, because these bills are too much for me to handle and I want to find the culprit. Any suggestions? Have any referrals? Thanks in advance.

Posted by ch_nyc at 6:39 PM | Comments (8)
Categories: Appliances

Comments

Unlikely. A new fridge uses about 50kwH per month, or $10 (unless it's a humongous sub-zero ...I'm kidding). It could be faulty; listen to it to see if it runs too much (about a 1/3 of the time is average.)

You could have a faulty meter. What is your bill? How large the space? When you say ever-rising, is it going up EVERY month? Are you using a space heater?

Posted by: cmu at March 1, 2009 7:15 PM

get "Kill a watt" monitor (something like this http://www.valleyseek.com/product.action?itemID=105151). It will show how many kw/hr your fridge consumed. Compare it with the rest of the electric bill.

Are you sure your b/friend does not grow weed in the closet? :)

Posted by: bobjohn at March 1, 2009 7:33 PM

it sounds like you are paying for other usage in your building...switch off all your breakers for a day and see if anyone complains

Posted by: eman1234 at March 1, 2009 8:28 PM

In addition to what Eman and cmu said, it's possible that your service also feeds outlets in other parts of your building. I've seen that more than once in old brownstones that have been subdivided into apartments. If that's the case, you won't necessarily discover or solve your problem by switching off your own breakers. The Killawatt usage monitor is available on Amazon, and a more expensive version (combined with surge protector) is available at Tekserve: http://www.tekserve.com/products/524/Surge_Protectors_UPS_Backup/-887

Posted by: vinca at March 1, 2009 10:03 PM

Well if you switch off the breakers and they are feeding outlets in another apartment then you will know when the electric guy shows up to "fix" their outlets ... something like that.

Posted by: werner at March 1, 2009 10:07 PM

Not if the breakers to those lines are in the other apartment or even in the basement, but run back to your meter. You'd have to cut service at the meter to cut service to the other apartment.

Posted by: vinca at March 1, 2009 10:17 PM

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. To answer some questions - I live in a big Co-Op complex in Clinton Hill, and my 1 bd apt is approx 800 sq ft.

There are clearly issues with my meter - I did have a parallel meter run and it was proven to run fast... however with that said, my bill is still going up every month and my KWH usage is too... way too much.

After pouring over my bills in the past two hours, I feel like there may be some bigger problems and I have to contact management.

The recommendation for the "Kill a Watt" is a great one, and I am going to make an investment, if only to quell the bf's suspicions and to cement the fact that it's a problem that is out of my hands - as far as my appliances and consumption.

Thanks again.

Posted by: ch_nyc at March 1, 2009 11:18 PM

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