When choosing such a useful and, one might even say, indispensable in the household appliance, like a refrigerator, most buyers primarily focus on the price.
But experts believe that the main parameter for any device that has been working around the clock for many years (in some cases, ten and fifteen years) is energy efficiency.
The power consumption of the refrigerator is the main parameter that directly affects energy efficiency. But do not forget that two units standing next to each other, having the same indicators for energy consumption, can differ in size by half. Consequently, the one that is larger will be energy efficient than small, exactly the same two times. Since the power of a refrigerator with large dimensions (and therefore with a large internal volume) will be used more efficiently.
Now that we have figured out the long term energy efficiency, we can move on to other technical aspects of the operation of the refrigerator. Let's try to find out which of its components are the largest consumers of energy.
Each household appliance uses a compressor to store refrigerated and frozen products (the refrigerator is officially called this), with which a special liquid is pumped along the cooling circuit - freon. Some models are equipped with not one, but several compressors, for more accurate and continuous temperature maintenance in individual chambers. The main power of the refrigerator is spent precisely on ensuring the operation of this unit. The compressor constantly communicates with the sensors located in the cooling chambers; if the temperature at the temperature sensor drops below a predetermined minimum, a signal is sent to the compressor to stop operation. And vice versa, when exceeding the maximum permissible values, the compressor turns on and starts to cool freon.
Since the heating of a working refrigerator mainly occurs under the influence of heat leakage through the walls, door and sealing gum, its size is directly related to heat generation. The larger the apparatus, the smaller the surface area per each liter of volume, therefore, the capacity of a refrigerator with large dimensions is spent more efficiently than with a small one.
In addition, it greatly affects how long the compressor works during the day, such an important thing as thermal insulation. The better it is, the longer there will be pauses between switching on. And if so, it means that a large capacity of the refrigerator is no longer needed. KW, which are burned when the unit with poor insulation is wasted, is spent economically on devices with good thermal insulation.
True, many manufacturers, taking a couple of steps to reduce the power consumption of their "cold generators", immediately add some new-fangled technology to them. And immediately all the energy efficiency of such a product is markedly reduced. For example, the “non-freezing” system or, as it is called in English, no frost. The essence of this system is that a special fan blows the evaporator, as a result, the pumped air is effectively dried, and frost forms outside the freezer. When the fan turns off, the ice adhering to the evaporator is melted and flows into the tray. Naturally, a significant capacity of the refrigerator with such a system will be spent on torsion of the fan, which will immediately be reflected in your accounts.
In conclusion, I want to say a few words about such a characteristic of refrigeration units as the climate class. Before the abnormal heat of 2010, few people knew that refrigerators generally have such a parameter. But when a huge number of these devices broke during the heat, they learned that it is necessary to be interested in the climate class of such equipment when buying almost all the inhabitants of the country.