I run night clubs. is it better for the Environment to have the fridges on timers or constantly running?

Question

The Clubs are open 6 days a week. there are about 10 bottle fridges per club. They would switch off at about 4am and switch back on about 2pm to chill down for a 5pm opening. Is it better to have them warming up and chilling down or maintaining a constant temperature.

Answer 1

In my opinion maintaining a constant temperature is surely the best and most economic way of running these fridges. It must cost a fortune to get them to temperature originally and to turn them off and then on again is surely false economy?

Answer 2

Keep them running constantly but set the temp just that bit warmer. The fridges switch themselves on and off to maintain a constant temperature. But keep them full and keep the doors shut as much as possible to minimise loss of cold air. As the bottles are removed during the club opening hours replace them with empties, or empty plasic containers, anything to stop the cold air falling out each time you open the door. Perhaps you could arrange some printed plastic shelf/wall arrangement behind the bottles that can easily be moved forward as the bottles are removed. The printing can be anything linking to your club theme/bottle sales etc(advertising) A solid card/plastic shelf will reduce air flow when you open the door and if the fridge is on all day all bottles will have had time to chill anyway.

Answer 3

Due to the variation in brands models and styles, I would say I dont know which way to swing, plus I am aware cooling and warming of certain beverages will have an affect on their quality.

What I would suggest is that you do a trial at one club. By taking a meter read immediately as you switch off at 4am then again at 5pm after switching them on again at 2pm. And on a simmilar day at 4am leaving them on until taking a read at 5pm. Obviously try to keep factors the same as best as possible. I know most over night equipment use in food establishments is pretty constant.

I would suggest these other money and energy saving tips;

You could reduce your fridge usage on quiet mid week nites. For example if operations allow operate with only 3 or 4 fridges Sunday - Thursday. Then for the busy weekend increase to full capacity. (This could be a big money saver if operations allow)

Try to keep stock naturally cool. This will help when restocking fridges as the energy to cool them will be decreased.

Increase the fridge temperature slighty, increasing gradually to see if it has an affect on quality, you might beable to get it as high as 5 degrees celcius and will save alot of energy.

Try not to open and close the fridge door too often. This is very difficult for catering establishments.

Don't overstock your fridges, it's important for air to circulate.

If your fridge has coils, dust them regularly to remove dirt, which stops them working efficiently.

Energy Saver
http://howtosaveenergy.blogspot.com
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Answer 4

Leaving them running will reduce the power consumption in the long run because it takes less energy to maintain a temperature than it does to re cool them. Especially if they are energy saving appliances. If they aren't energy saving appliances make sure when you need to replace them you do so with appliances that are energy star certified.

Now you may want to consider the heat/cooling of the club differently. Get an electronic thermostat for the air conditioning system. You can raise the temperature slightly when the club in not in use so it doesn't have to re cool the place completely but isn't trying to maintain a cool temperature when no one is in the building.

Even small changes can make the biggest difference!

Answer 5

Leave them on. You will not be saving any power by having them on timers. As the people who know something about refrigeration have said it will cost you more to get the product back up to an optimum temperature after being shut down. I am sure the varying temps would have some adverse effect on the quality of your product too. The most efficient thing to do is keep them running and keep them full, it is easier to keep them cool if they stay full all the time.

Answer 6

depends on how insulated the fridges are & the abient temperature.
If they are well insulated, maybe coverd in a themal blanket (the blankets might double in a fire drill to stop hot sweaty people in skimpy clothes getting hypothermia) & left closed, then they might not warm up at all in a day, so the fridge thermostat won't turn it on anyway. especially if they are full. ie plenty of thermal mass.
consider turning room thermostats down (or up if using a/c) & fridge thermostats up (would people notice if wine was 5C rather than 3C or whatever?)

to monitor your energy use generally
http://www.green-shopping.co.uk/products/product_pages/products3.html#JJS-ETS

also can your chiilers be hooked into heat pumps/solar pannels for overall integrated heat management?
Tescos at Diss Norfolk have done something on this.

Have fun & hope your night clubs prosper with such forward thininkg.

Answer 7

timers are good if they last for 10 or more hours off. what you can do is to keep those fridges full , it is easyer to chill a bottle than the air a bottle takes up. and well closed ( tight door jams) to assure you max out on the savings

Answer 8

Excellent question from a business owner who cares about their environment as well as earning a living. I wish more people were like you.

Leaving the fridges running will use less energy and therefore be more environmentally friendly.

Answer 9

I would say leave them on. It will use more power to cool them down.

How about massive barrels of ice, stick the bottles in there each night and do away with the fridges :)

Answer 10

in case you have effective and adequate lagging and attic area is insulated with minimum 250mm insulation,double glazing to abode windows, save all room doors closed whilst no longer in use, then your place ought to be at or above 15 ranges so which you will time your heating. to examine the temp on your place, turn your thermostat off then slowly turn it on till you hear a click at this element examine what the interpreting is on your thermostat that provides you an illustration of the temp on your place, desire this helps