energy use

[Steve101uk]

Hi, reading about my thetford fridge it seems that I can expect it to use around 4kw of electric per day on constant use, or about half a kilo of gas. considering additional items such as tv charging etc I am thinking I should allow for around 5kw a day, or a kilo of gas if not on electric. does this sound about right or is it way out? many thanks Steve

 

[tonka]

Strangely i did some similar calculations recently when the subject of cooling the fridge a day before departure.

The Fridge will only comsume max power while cooling and then cut in and out once temperature reached, However for my maths i worked on power being required for 24hours. So i used this as an excerise on how much it costs to cool the fridge prior to a trip.

My fridge spec says 180w per hour EHU.. 180 x 24 hours = 4320 watts (4,3kw) @ 27p = £1.16

On gas it's around 500ml per 24 hours.. I uses a safefill bottle and gas is 74p a litre. so 50% = 37p

I now cool with the gas and dont bother plugging in.. Hope my maths is right but stand to be corrected if i've missed something.

 

[SpeedyDux]

Wow. 4KWh of electricity is my 24 hour average usage for my entire 3 bedroom house.

 

[tonka]

Wow. 4KWh of electricity is my 24 hour average usage for my entire 3 bedroom house.

It does seem so wrong but i just looked again and it says 3.2kwh per 24 hours in the manual.
As an absoption fridge in needs an heating element, so its like running a very small heater i guess.
Obviously once cooled that figure would go down a lot..

ps.. Wish my house was only 4kw.. Current use is just over 20 per day.

 

[The Wino]

Interesting as I've always just plugged in the ehu assuming that it was cheaper.

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[gpat]

Wow. 4KWh of electricity is my 24 hour average usage for my entire 3 bedroom house.

That depends on what devices you are using.

 

[Figaro]

Interesting as I've always just plugged in the ehu assuming that it was cheaper.

Electric is four times the price of gas on most tarrifs now so probably not

 

[Old Gibber]

Interesting as I've always just plugged in the ehu assuming that it was cheaper.

Only if its already included in the overnight cost.

 

[SpeedyDux]

That depends on what devices you are using.

It probably depends more on what devices I am not using. I don't have a dishwasher. Or an additional freezer. I seldom do ironing. I use a small George Foreman Grill or the microwave instead of using the electric oven. I have a gas hob. Lights are always off unless I am in that room. The router is switched off unless I am using the internet even though the ISP wants it left on 24/7.

 

[Pausim]

Hi, reading about my thetford fridge it seems that I can expect it to use around 4kw of electric per day on constant use, or about half a kilo of gas. considering additional items such as tv charging etc I am thinking I should allow for around 5kw a day, or a kilo of gas if not on electric. does this sound about right or is it way out? many thanks Steve

I use more than 1 litre of lpg per day (roughy 0.5kg) when off grid in warm weather. A bit more when it is really hot and a lot more if it is cold and we use the heating.

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[Raul]

Crikey, absorption fridges are really energy wasters. A domestic fridge eats about 300kwh per year, 0,8kwh a day. Absorption 7 times that. A litre of lpg its 7kwh of energy.
A dometic 12v compressor fridge eats about 0,4kwh per day.

 

[DavidCh]

Having moved from sailing boats to motorhomes it is my first experience with absorption fridges. I am stunned by how inefficient they are compared with the compressor fridges we had on the boat one similar in size to the thetford on our camper drew a 3A average over 24hours in a greek summer. 3A x 12 x 24 = `864w so call that a kilowatt compared with my thetford on the camper which on electric happily burns through three or four KW!

 

[cmcardle75]

Interesting as I've always just plugged in the ehu assuming that it was cheaper.

It's because an absorbtion fridge works using a heater. Gas heating is cheaper than electric heating (leaving aside heat pumps), as the per kWh cost is lower. Otherwise, no-one would use gas heating, as electric is more convenient.

 

[The Wino]

It's because an absorbtion fridge works using a heater. Gas heating is cheaper than electric heating (leaving aside heat pumps), as the per kWh cost is lower. Otherwise, no-one would use gas heating, as electric is more convenient.

The reason we use gas is we're often off grid. When I said use ehu I meant at home the night before travelling I might well now use gas although the difference isn't a game changer!

 

[cmcardle75]

The reason we use gas is we're often off grid. When I said use ehu I meant at home the night before travelling I might well now use gas although the difference isn't a game changer!

What I mean is that gas is cheaper than electric, so it should be too much of a surprise that pre-cooling on gas will be cheaper!