Dose a full refrigerator use more enegry than a empty one?

Question

This has a similar feel to the "does the use of a power inverter while driving a car dramatically decrease gas mileage?” question. But the question at hand is: does a refrigerator use more energy when it’s full as compared to when it is empty. My thinking is that it does. If there is one water bottle in the fridge and one outside of it, the one in the fridge has used the cold air in the fridge to cool itself down, while the one outside has obviously not, but if you put the second one in the fridge that bottle will use the cold air in the fridge to cool itself down as well. Now the fridge has to supply twice as much cool air to cool both bottles than it would it there was only one. (I use the term “air” loosely)

I would love to hear what every one has to say... especially if I’m right… my girlfriend has taken the opposing side.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Initially it will to remove the heat from everything. After that it will use less energy. Those Items inside that are already cold will help the refrigerator maintain its cold state.

Answer 2

The full fridge will use less energy over time. By filling it, once everything is cooled down it will all help to keep the fridge cooler when the dor is opened and closed. If the fridge is empty and you open the door, there is more warm air that can enter the fridge and there is nothing cold inside to help cool the air that entered. The fridge has to work harder to cool the large amount of warm air entering an empty fridge. It's all about Heat Potential.

Answer 3

If you never open the door, there is no change. Whenever you open the door, the cool air dumps out and warm air replaces it and has to be cooled again. Now an empty fridge uses less energy when plugged in warm than a full one does because the specific heat of air is rather low as opposed to the water that is in a lot of food

Answer 4

You set what temp. the fridge is at and it stays constant- Meaning if the fridge has one bottle in it and it's set @ 20 degrees, than you put the warmer bottle in....The fridge doesn't know what you put it (it's not that smart) So It just stays @ 20 unless the bottle takes away the cool air than it just goes down, while the fridge is still exterting the same amout or energy

Another example- If you turned an air conditaner on to cool yourself and than 5000 people walk in- (you haven't touched the AC) So is it magically going to work three (or more) times harder? No same with the fridge

Answer 5

A fridge will run longer when items are recently placed in it...after everything is cooled then it runs less often. So a full fridge...after everything is cooled...runs as much as an empty fridge when the air is cooled. When power consumption is a concern, it hardly worth a concern. You will notice little consumption when inserting new items into the fridge to be cooled. My main concern would be with the amount of time the door is opened....allowing the cool air to escape.

Good luck on your Debate :)

Answer 6

The question is, over what time period are you measuring the refrigerator's energy use? You are correct in saying that the refrigerator requires energy to cool down warm objects (as in, objects which are warmer than the refrigerator's interior temperature). However, once those objects reach the same temperature as the refrigerator's interior, the full refrigerator doesn't use any more energy than an empty one.

(Unless someone has an argument to make about rotting foods generating heat energy?)

The refrigerator doesn't actually cool down objects directly ... its thermostat works to keep its temperature at a constant. When warm objects are put into a refrigerator, they release their heat (cooling down as a side-effect), and the refrigerator then requires energy to bring its interior temperature back down to the thermostat's setting.

These people that are telling you that the objects inside, once cool, will help to keep the refrigerator cool are wrong. The objects can't help to keep the refrigerator cool unless they are COLDER than the inside of the refrigerator. How will they get colder? In order to keep the refrigerator cool (ie, compensate for any heat getting into the refrigerator from outside), they would have to absorb some of that heat. They'll never get cooler than the inside of the refrigerator, so if they absorbed some of the heat that gets into the refrigerator, they would become warmer than the inside of the refrigerator, and the refrigerator would require energy to cool back down.

Answer 7

Yes it may use more energy if you're thinking about the full fridge course it has more object in compares to the empty one.
It will use more energy becks the air that circulate in the fridge ,and i talking about the "freon"is a gas that let the motor of the refrigerator
to cool it when become to a certain temperature. in the final the full one it use more energy like the other.

Answer 8

A full one uses less because if things are cold they are helping to keep the temp cold in the fridge or freezer. Once the inside is cooled, no work is needed until heat enters it. Heat comes from opening it, through the walls. The motor will kick in when it reaches a certain temp inside. If there are cold things inside it helps keep the temp colder. However, over time no matter what is inside, whether it is full or not, there is no difference since the motor will kick in when it reaches a certain temp. So on the short term yes....long term no.

Answer 9

Well if they have thermostats which I believe most refrigerators do, then yes, a full refrigerator uses more energy, simply because if you put something warm into a refrigerator, it's going to be giving off heat the same way an ice cube gives off cold air. Hope this helps!

Answer 10

No it does not. Infact a empty one uses more because it cold air has to move around more trying to find food to keep cool. If it is full then it doesn't have to look as far, there for do its job better.