Friday 26 January 2018

Fancy freezers could be wasting energy – not cool!

American-style side-by-side fridge-freezers could cost you more than three times as much as a conventional standalone unit to run.

That's the findings from appliance advice website ToptenUK.org, which suggests this type of appliance is becoming increasingly common among the 19 million fridge-freezers in the UK.

It says this could be leading to significant hidden costs.

The group collected data on 70 side-by-side models and found their annual running costs worked out at around an average of £60.

This is nearly triple the cost of running the most efficient traditional-style freestanding options available market.

The main reason for the energy usage being so different is because the compressor in American-style units is positioned close to the freezer compartment - because it gets hot, the freezer has to work harder to stay cold.

Stewart Muir, Product Manager at the Energy Saving Trust, said: "American-style fridge-freezers have been growing in popularity but in some cases the cost of running these fridge-freezers can be significantly more than that of efficient, freestanding fridge freezers.

"In fact, the lifetime running cost of an A+ rated American-style fridge freezer can be as much as £350 more than a smaller A+++ rated freestanding unit – almost enough to buy a second fridge freezer."