Refrigerators today have become a necessity, and have been so for over a decade. In fact, gone are the days when fridges were bulky, noisy machines that leaked water, and became frosty. Much like all the other electrical appliances, the refrigerator industry has had a major facelift over the past few years, and has emerged with products that not only cool your water and keep food fresh, but also come with touch screen displays, temperature controls, Wi-Fi connectivity, alarms and more.
However, there is a catch. As much as streaming music on your double door fridge sounds futuristic and uber cool, the age-old notion that fridges consume a lot of electricity is still widespread. And so is the debate, regarding which amongst double and single door fridges consumes more power. Here is all you need to know to reach a conclusion.
Basic Differences between a Single Door and a Double Door Refrigerator:
- Capacity: Single door refrigerators are mostly meant for the use of smaller families, and they usually have smaller capacities than double door models, which are meant to be used by larger households. The average capacity of a single door fridge is 150 to 250 litres, while that of a double door model is 235 to 495 litres. Naturally, it takes more power to cool the larger unit, and as a result, double door fridges draw more electricity.
- Frost-free cooling: Double door fridges offer frost-free cooling. In this process, the cool air is circulated throughout the body of the refrigerator using electric fans, and this generally consumes more power than the single door variants that do not offer frost-free cooling.
- Separate chamber for freezer: Most single door refrigerators have a separate freezer within the main compartment. This is particularly useful, as every time one opens the fridge door, the temperature inside goes up, and the fridge needs to be cooled again. Obviously, if the temperature inside the freezer increases, it needs to be brought down to a lower temperature, as compared to the main fridge compartment. This results in increased power consumption in double door fridges where the freezer doors are usually absent.
All these factors lend credence to the notion that a double door refrigerator consumes more power than a single door model. In fact, it has been established that double door fridges consume nearly 30 to 40% more power than single door fridges. The average power consumption of a refrigerator is 800 to 1200 watts. However, this figure is likely to change due to multiple factors, and some of them are listed below.
- Capacity: It is common knowledge that larger the fridge, more power is required to cool it, even if it uses simpler and cost-efficient cooling techniques.
- Age: Age is one of the key factors that affects the power consumption in fridges. A 5 year old fridge draws nearly 10% more power than a newer model.
- Cooling Temperature: Higher the cooling temperature set in fridges, more is the power consumed. Hence, it is advised to set the temperature at medium-cool level to reduce electricity bills by as much as 25%.
With all these parameters in place, it is quite evident that double door fridges consume more power than single door models. However, with the rising competition in the market, manufacturers strive to provide power-saving appliances that are likely to attract more customers. Hence, one can easily expect to take home a product from a leading company, say a Whirlpool fridge that consumes as little as 185 units of electricity a month for a double door model, with a 3 star rating, or 174 units a month for a single door model with the same star rating.
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