What you should never do with the fridge if you want to save energy

 

Is it better to leave the door open when saving purchase? How is it better to keep food fresh? And the leftovers? We explain how to ensure that your refrigerator does not lose efficiency

The refrigerator is the appliance that consumes the most in the kitchen, a fairly understandable fact if one takes into account that it is the only one that works every day of the year. But part of this expense can be lower if we pay attention to the appropriate advice.

Now that the price of electricity has risen notably, these are especially interesting: according to data from the Iberian Electricity Market Operator (OMIE), this Wednesday it was again above €200 per megawatt hour, increasing compared to the year passed on the same dates 265.7%.

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If you want to avoid wasting energy with this appliance, you should start by paying attention to where you place it. The Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) explains it in a report , in which it recommends not installing it near heat sources such as radiators, ovens or electric stoves. "It would spend a greater amount of energy to maintain the proper temperature inside," they warn.

Along the same lines, from Balay they advise placing it in a place that does not receive direct sunlight, but rather "will make a greater effort to cool", say the manufacturers on their website.

Leaving space around the device, avoiding sticking it to other furniture, gadgets or walls, is also key. There must be enough space for air to circulate, so it is convenient to leave a few centimetres. "Here we tend to fit them within a niche, very tight, but in other European countries they place it in a more spacious area of ​​the kitchen," observes José Manuel Sanz, Launch Manager at Bosch Electrodomésticos, in a conversation with Comer.

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Once our refrigerator is well located, it is time to attend to its use, and the first thing is to level it properly: "Do not set the temperature selector to a value that is too low: having the interior of the refrigerator at 5º C is enough to preserve most of the food," says the OCU. From Balay, they also ensure that if the level is correct, you will help the door to close properly every time you open it, avoiding cold losses.

It is advisable to leave some separation between foods

Nor should you open the door every two by three. Sanz explains that cold air is lost and that translates into higher energy consumption. "Refrigerators have a fan that is responsible for equalizing the temperatures inside. Whenever we open the door, it stops. Cold air escapes very quickly, so it is better to close the door immediately so that you do not invest so much later effort to level the temperature again", says the expert. Therefore, it would be a mistake to leave it open while saving the purchase, it is better to close it.

Placing food in any way, another mistake

It is not worth keeping the snack bars or vegetables on the shelves of the fridge without any sense, since that could increase energy consumption and, in turn, make our electricity bill more expensive. But let's go in parts, starting with the moment of ordering the food fresh out of the shopping bag. "To facilitate the circulation of cold air inside, leave some separation between the food and, especially, with the back wall of the refrigerator, so that they are not completely stuck together," advises the Bosch Launch Manager.

At this point, you will have noticed that saving starts with the shopping list: if you bring too much food from the market, then it will be very difficult for you to store it following these tips, so your fridge will most likely have to invest more effort in cooling them . In addition, it is possible that you end up throwing away food that you have not had time to spend or that you have hidden so well between doors and shelves that you have not seen them.

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If there are many of you in your family unit, it is another matter, but instead of filling the refrigerator shelves with food, we advise you to buy a more spacious one.

You should let hot food or drinks cool down to room temperature.

Likewise, it is advisable to properly use the spaces in the refrigerator. "For example, remember to reserve the special 0-degree drawers (freezer) for the foods that need the coldest, such as fish or fresh meat," they point out from the OCU. In this way, you will also be clearer about what you have.

FIFO method

To store food, it is highly advisable to follow the maxim ' First in, First out' (FIFO), which translates as "the first thing that comes in is the first thing that comes out". To do this, you must pay attention to the expiration and best before dates, and place the foods that must be used before in front of the shelves, and the new ones behind.

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Also make sure to separate raw foods from cooked foods, use airtight containers and place meat and fish, and more perishable products in general, on the lower shelves, which are colder.

"The place where we place the food influences its conservation. For example, the drawers have different conservation conditions, the humidity is higher: this way the vegetables are better kept", reveals José Manuel Sanz.

As for leftovers that are still warm, never store them in your fridge. "You should let hot food or drinks cool down to room temperature," says the Bosch expert. If you do, you alter the temperature of the device and, as in the rest of the cases that we have counted, you will have to invest more energy in keeping the cold stable. And the same with the freezer.

Another idea that Sanz gives us is to "defrost food in the refrigerator, instead of doing it at room temperature or even in the microwave, to take advantage of thermal inertia." And what does that mean? That if we store frozen food in the fridge so that it thaws little by little, we will also help it stay cold. Likewise, we will save ourselves from using another appliance such as the microwave and, therefore, we will not waste more energy unnecessarily.

Defrosting food at room temperature can be harmful to health.  Getty

It should be said that leaving food to thaw on the counter is a very bad idea, because "the temperature of the part of the food that is in contact with the counter rises little by little and can perfectly reach 20-25 degrees, ideal conditions for proliferation of bacteria and all kinds of microorganisms”, nutritionist and food technologist Beatriz Robles explained to Comer in this report.

 Be careful with cleaning

The OCU also advises passing the dust behind the fridge. "Do not forget that the refrigerator 'breathes' here and it is important that the heat exchange with the environment is correct." This must be done especially with electrical appliances that are already a few years old, which have a kind of grid behind, which is known as a condenser.

"It is a component of the refrigeration circuit that, if we do not keep it clean, can affect efficiency," Sanz clarifies. For this reason, it is advisable to separate the refrigerator from the wall and clean the back well at least once a year. Although today it is more common for manufacturers to hide that capacitor.

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The connoisseur also recommends that we pay attention to the gaskets on the refrigerator door, which can lose elasticity over the years. "It is good to clean them once a year, otherwise they will stop sealing well before then. After 7-8 years, more or less, it may be interesting to change them to extend the life of the device," he adds.

Finally, remember that if you are going to spend a long time away from home, it may be convenient to empty the shelves of the refrigerator and unplug it to reduce energy consumption.

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The big brands of household appliances, likewise, advise that, if we plan to buy another refrigerator, we look at low-consumption models. You will see that a scale appears on the energy label that goes from class A (most efficient) to G (least efficient).