Is our EPA short-sighted WRT appliance requirements?

[brenndatomu]

Huh?

 

[stoveliker]

"Our old 1961 Frigidaire used about the same amount of power as the 2009 Whirlpool that replaced it"

So it is as energy hogging as old ones , but breaks down as quick as other modern ones (that use a lot less energy)?

 

[brenndatomu]

Tells you a lot about Frigidaire - such as not improving in energy usage as the others did, while now dying like the others do...

Frigidaire was the old one...the Whirlpool was the new one, that used same power as old one, and then died right away.

 

[stoveliker]

My bad. Frigidaire->Whirlpool

 

[brenndatomu]

I guess my thought was that the old Frigidaire was actually not that much of an energy hog...I would have just kept it if I knew what I knew about the Whirlpool a year later...only thing it needed was maybe a door gasket.

 

[stoveliker]

Yeah, I don't think so. The technology has improved a lot in energy efficiency (even if not keeping longevity necessarily the same) since the 60s. No way a good 60s fridge can match up to a good 2000s one.

 

[Eman85]

I've lived in this home for 30 years, the used refrigerator (2 yo) that came with the home lasted us almost 20 years, the replacement lasted 10. Every time we replaced the refrigerator the company we purchased from carried it away. The recycling should be placed on them, but for all I know they could have dropped it on the side of the road. Is there any regulations on that? Both of them had their freon still in them.
Next road over from me has a scrap metal yard, no signs of freon recovery when I've gone there. Passed by the other night, gates locked and a fire burning in a large barrel I assume was some method of cleaning something. I live in a rural area in a state that boasts about no regulations and freedom, EPA isn't very present.

 

[begreen]

Yeah, I don't think so. The technology has improved a lot in energy efficiency (even if not keeping longevity necessarily the same) since the 60s. No way a good 60s fridge can match up to a good 2000s one.

Compressor and control technology, but also changes in insulation and sealing. That made a big difference around the 1990s. The Energy Star rating system helped push development and successes.

 

[semipro]

I noticed on our latest fridge, an approximately 8-year-old Samsung, that the electric defrosting system that was troublesome on many older fridges, has been replaced with a defrosting system that uses heat from the high-side refrigerant line coming off the compressor.

 

[gthomas785]

Yeah, hot gas defrost does increase efficiency. Common in a lot of larger commercial refrigeration. However it requires adding a reversing valve which is another mechanical part with the potential to fail.