Refrigerators: which ones are considered obsolete and how much does it cost to renew them with Now 30

Martin Grosz

08/18/2021 6:00 AM

• Clarín.com

• Services

Updated 08/18/2021 6:00 AM

Having an

old refrigerator

in the home is definitely not convenient, according to experts, and it is not just because of the noise or frost they generate.

The main reason is that these devices, already considered "obsolete",

use too much

electricity: several times more than the new ones.

And that generates

an extra

avoidable

cost

in

each

electricity

bill

.

The significant

technological backwardness

of

most

of the refrigerators that are

in use

 in the country is a long-standing problem: a study estimated that 2 out of 3 are obsolete, very inefficient.

But the issue has regained relevance in

recent days

.

It was like this because the

new official plan

 to encourage consumption, named Now 30, created an

opportunity to renew

these equipment in conditions that are much more advantageous than the usual ones: paying

fees of $ 1,800 or $ 2,000 a month

for the most basic models.

If before, a maximum of 18 payments were reached, the new financing already offered by appliance stores has

subsidized rates

(29% per year) and allows to already have an efficient refrigerator, paying it in

30

fixed

monthly

installments

until March 2024

.

Amounts that, in addition, will be covered in part with the electricity savings generated.

But

how to know

if the home refrigerator already deserves to be changed and how to choose one that is really efficient?

To what extent can this renewal positively impact the electricity bill?

And

how much quota is paid

for the equipment they began to offer with Now 30?

Next, all the answers and keys.

With the new Now 30 plan, you can buy a basic refrigerator paying fixed fees of $ 2,000 per month until 2024. Photo: Marcelo Carrol.

How much does the refrigerator weigh in the electrical cost of the home?

The problem with the refrigerator is not that it consumes a lot of electrical energy all at once, but

because of accumulation

.

It is plugged in and active 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and that is why in the sum it ends up being

very relevant

.

An investigation carried out at the University of San Martín (UNSAM) concluded that the refrigerator is the device that

uses the most electricity

 in a typical middle-class home in the AMBA.

As they found, refrigerators account for

22% of annual electricity consumption

, while air conditioners (in cold mode) -the next on the list- take another 17%, lighting 11% and heating 8%.

All the rest of the appliances have minor incidents.

Which refrigerators are obsolete and how much more do they consume than an efficient one?

According to

Salvador Gil

, director of the Energy Engineering degree at UNSAM, the

efficient

refrigerators 

that are sold today consume less than

330 kilowatt hours

(kWh)

per year

;

and the best, even less than 250 kWh.

Those found in typical AMBA homes, on the other hand, consume an

average of

830 kWh / year

, according to the research: that is,

double or triple

the ideal.

And many households still use

ultra inefficient

appliances with spending levels around

1,900 kWh / year

.

Efficient refrigerators use less than 300 kWh in a year.

And those that have the majority, close to triple.

Photo: Juan Manuel Foglia / Archive.

But how do you know how much your home refrigerator consumes per year?

The data may appear in the manual or on a label, but Gil proposes a

simpler rule

.

"If the refrigerator is

10 or 15 years old

, the most likely is that it consumes 800 kWh / year, 950 or even more. And then it is

convenient to change it

for the current ones, which use much less energy thanks to the enormous advances that have been in the recent years in the field of motors, compressors and thermal insulation ", adds the expert.

How to make sure you are buying an efficient refrigerator?

In Argentina each refrigerator must be sold with a mandatory label

that qualifies how well or badly it uses energy, assigning it a letter on a 

scale

that goes from

D

-for the most wasteful- to

A +++

-for the most economical ones that exist-.

Class

D

and class

C

refrigerators

, still present in millions of homes, can no longer be offered in shops: they were banned.

The

most inefficient in the gondola

 today are the

B's

.

Then, towards the highest efficiency, follow the 

A

,

A +

,

the

A ++

and the

A +++

.

"When renovating a refrigerator, it is essential to choose one that is

A or better

, which generally ensures a consumption of less than 330 or

300 kWh / year,

" explained Gil, from UNSAM. 

The Topten Argentina site, from the Fundación Vida Silvestre, can be of great help when buying a refrigerator because it identifies and compares the

most efficient models

available on the market.

The site shows those that are at least

class A +

and use less than

280 kWh / year

.

There they recommend, in turn, to target the

Inverter

and

No Frost equipment

.

And they make available a comprehensive guide for buyers.

What efficient refrigerators can you buy with Now 30 and how much do you pay as a fee?

Clarín

found in large electrical appliance chains various

class A or higher equipment that could

 be acquired in

30 fixed installments

 with the new official plan.

Here are some examples, going from the lowest price to the highest:

-Cyclic Briket refrigerator with

290 liters

capacity and efficiency class

A +

.

Cash Price:

$ 36,999

.

With the official plan:

30 installments of $ 1,832

.

-Conqueror refrigerator with

237 liters

capacity and

A

efficiency

.

Cash Price:

$ 41,999

.

With the official plan:

30 installments of $ 1,962

.

-Cyclic Sigma refrigerator with

239 liters

capacity and

A

efficiency

.

Cash Price:

$ 41,999

.

With the official plan:

30 installments of $ 2,079

.

A basic refrigerator, possible to pay in 30 fixed installments of $ 2,079.

Image: Capture.

-Cyclical Marshall refrigerator with

326 liters

capacity and

A

efficiency

.

Cash price:

$ 49,999

.

With the official plan:

30 installments of $ 2,336

.

-Cyclical Columbia refrigerator with 

317 liters

of capacity and

A +

efficiency

.

Cash price:

$ 59,999

.

With the official plan:

30 installments of $ 2,791

.

-Cyclic Patrick refrigerator with

364 liters

capacity and

A

efficiency

.

Cash price:

$ 63,999

.

With the official plan:

30 installments of $ 3,169

.

-Cyclic glass refrigerator with

375 liters

capacity and

A

efficiency

.

Cash Price:

$ 64,999

.

With the official plan:

30 installments of $ 3,037

.

-Koh-I-Noor cyclical refrigerator with

413 liters

of capacity and

A +

efficiency

.

Cash Price:

$ 81,999

.

With the official plan:

30 installments of $ 4,060

.

A refrigerator of $ 50 thousand is in 30 installments of $ 2,336 with the official plan.

Image: Capture.

-Samsung no frost Inverter refrigerator with

308 liters

capacity and

A

efficiency

.

Cash Price:

$ 89,999

.

With the official plan:

30 installments of $ 4,456

.

-Samsung no frost Inverter refrigerator with

396 liters

of capacity and

A +

efficiency 

.

Cash price:

$ 132,999

.

With the official plan:

30 installments of $ 6,585

.

-GE Appliances no frost refrigerator with

424 liters

capacity and

A ++

efficiency

.

Cash price:

$ 132,999

.

With the official plan:

30 installments of $ 6,585

.

Besides price and efficiency, what else to consider when choosing a refrigerator?

In Topten Argentina they also recommend:

-

Choose a suitable size

.

The higher the volume, the more energy the refrigerator uses.

Thus, for households with 1 person they recommend equipment of less than 180 liters, for

2 people

those of

180 to 200 liters

, for 3 or 4 people those of 200 to 250 liters, and 25 liters more for each additional user.

-

Look at the climatic category

.

Each refrigerator is manufactured for places with certain ambient temperature ranges, outside of which it can use more energy than expected.

This is indicated on the efficiency label with these letters:

SN

(equipment for use in areas with 10 ° to 32 ° C),

N

(16 ° to 32 °),

ST

(18 ° to 38 °) or

T

(18 ° at 43 °).

Choosing a refrigerator that is the right size and designed to work in the region to be used is key.

Photo: Shutterstock.

And once you have bought the refrigerator, how do you make it use little energy?

During the 

use

of the appliance at home, the guidelines for saving are:

-

The location

.

It is best to place it in a ventilated environment, away from heat sources (such as ovens) and without direct exposure to the sun.

It must also be 

separated from the walls

by at least

20 cm

, to facilitate its ventilation.

-

Maintenance

.

Do not let

dust accumulate

on the rear and check every so often that

the door

seals

are good.

Inside, meanwhile, do not allow

ice to form

on the walls of the freezer: a layer of just 3 mm can increase consumption by

30%

.

-

Usage habits

.

If the door is opened a few times and for the minimum time necessary, there will not be so many losses of cold and the energy consumption will decrease.

It will also help

not to put hot food in

.

-

The thermostat

.

Do not cool food more than necessary: ​​for

each degree

that the regulator is lowered, the energy consumption of the refrigerator will increase by

5%

.

MG

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