How efficient are your fridges?
In a commercial environment where there are multiple fridges and freezers in operation, these will account for a significant percentage of total energy costs. It’s important to be aware of fridge performance to ensure you are achieving maximum efficiencies as well as reducing your carbon footprint.
Energy usage will be impacted by many different factors including the size and age of the appliance, as well as its energy efficiency rating.
Today’s fridges are more energy efficient than ever when they are operating at maximum efficiency levels. However, working 24/7 they will rack up high levels of energy consumption, and achieving even small savings can amount to a significant figure over time. Optimising fridge settings will also play an important role here.
Safety and integrity
The cost of running your fridges and freezers is not the only consideration when evaluating the effectiveness of your cold storage facilities. Many commercial fridges are used to store vital and sensitive contents such as vaccines and other medicines, which need to be kept within strict temperature ranges to ensure their safety and efficacy.
If a fridge is less than efficient, and cycling by more than two degrees (the difference between the minimum and maximum temperature), not only is it using more energy and costing more money than necessary, it could also be endangering the integrity of its contents.
Many pharmaceutical fridges are only monitored twice daily to check their operating temperatures, and these checks often do not happen over weekends and holidays. This limited process may not highlight that the appliance temperature has varied significantly over a 24-hour period, potentially affecting the contents of the appliance.
So how can you tell if your fridge is working correctly?
When you are already verifying fridge temperatures regularly, listen and check for unusual noises and noise levels. Most fridges operate quietly and just hum gently when the compressor kicks in; if you’re getting lots of noise from your fridge, it could be a sign that all is not well.
Make a point of checking the door seals. If they are loose or damaged, then chilled air will escape and your fridge will need to work harder to maintain preset temperature levels. For this reason, monitoring devices that work by passing a wire through the door seals could also impact upon seal performance over time. Check for condensation build-up too; some condensation is normal but if it is excessive, there may be a fault with the cooling system.
Boosting fridge efficiency
Keep the door closed
One obvious thing is not to leave the door open for too long – close it promptly when you remove an item. If you are loading new contents, organise your contents first which will speed up the process.
Stock it correctly
Don’t overload a fridge, as this can mean air flow is restricted, which will impact upon operational efficiency. Equally, running a nearly empty fridge is also more costly, using more energy to keep cool without the thermal mass provided by the contents; consider combining the contents of fridges to keep them at an optimum level.
Set the temperature
Set your fridges at the correct temperature and make sure you have regular maintenance procedures to look at settings, door seals and even clean the coils at the back of the appliance.
How can you guard against fridge malfunctions?
For complete peace of mind, the RemoteM fridge monitoring system provides effective and affordable automated fridge monitoring and temperature recording, 24/7. It also alerts users when fridge temperatures go outside an agreed preset operating range. Users have access to a dashboard where they can easily check the performance of their fridges, with readings plotted on a regular basis across each 24-hour period.
For more information on how automated fridge monitoring could help you keep your fridges and contents safe and secure, read our how it works page.