[RE-wrenches] Fridge recommendations?

Dave Palumbo dave at independentpowerllc.com
Wed Jan 9 15:01:37 PST 2013


Brian,

It's a small, older off grid home (I built it in 1985). And it often is so
snowy and cloudy here that we can go 20 days with little to show from our PV
array. This often lasts from November through March. At my site in Lamoille
County, Vermont, over 27 years the worst two months of winter has averaged
less than 1 Sun Hour/Day. This ain't Cali!!

The PV array is already a C/10 ratio to the battery bank. And I am upping
that to a C/7.5 ratio in the spring, as much as I dare to go with Full River
AGM's.

Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Brian
Teitelbaum
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2013 5:08 PM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Fridge recommendations?

Dave,

137Whrs/day is less than 3Ah/day on a 48V battery. Not really that large a
hit if the battery bank is not too small, even if you have 10 cloudy days in
a row.

Adding more PV will give you more charging power even on a cloudy day. Even
if you only get 20W out of a 250W module, which would be something like 100
Whrs over the course of a cloudy day (most of the insolation is from diffuse
light on a cloudy day, so you would see that 20W over more hours).  Adding a
250W module (if you can add just one) would be cheaper than getting a
SunFrost.

Brian Teitelbaum
AEE Solar

-----Original Message-----
From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Dave Palumbo
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2013 12:23 PM
To: Howie at CatamountSolar.com; 'RE-wrenches'
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Fridge recommendations?

Howie,

I usually agree to the Kenmore/Sears recommendation but the closest Sears is
coming in with is with 18 cu' units that are listed as using 385kWH/yr.
Higher than I'd like. This is for an off grid home and the extra 50 kWh/yr
translates to 137 Watt hours per day. For this particular home it will mean
an average of 2.5 hours per day of generator run time during our cloudy
snowy winter. This is for a small rental house on my property and I want to
keep the gen run time down as low as possible. Non-winter times will not be
a problem as the solar array will carry the RF as well as all the other
loads in the home.

Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Howie
Michaelson
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2013 3:01 PM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Fridge recommendations?

Dave,

I've always recommended Kenmore (Sears) which we have - they are reliable,
quiet, and a good price point typically (especially if you get it on sale
which them seem to have every other week).  If you look for the right model,
you should be able to get one that comes close to that usage, especially in
the smaller models.  Sears' website lists the kWh yearly usage last time I
looked.

Howie
--
Howie Michaelson
NABCEP Certified Solar PV InstallerT

Catamount Solar, LLC
Renewable Energy Systems Sales and Service VT Solar Electric & Hot Water
Incentive Partner http://www.CatamountSolar.com
802-272-0004


On Wed, January 9, 2013 2:44 pm, Dave Palumbo wrote:
> I'm having difficulty finding a RF in the 16 to 20 cu ft range that 
> uses less than 350kWh/yr. All of the GE units listed by Energy Star as
> 300 to 311kWh/yr are no longer being manufactured according to my 
> local appliance dealers.
>
>
>
> I see a Fridgidaire 18.2 cu ft that uses 335kWh/yr (reviews that I see 
> on this unit complained of loud clunky noises).
>
>
>
> Sun Frost units are too pricey for this application.
>
>
>
> Any recommendations?
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dave
>
>
>
> David Palumbo
>
> Independent Power LLC
>
> 462 Solar Way Drive
>
> Hyde Park, VT 05655
>
> www.independentpowerllc.com
>
> Vermont Solar Partner
>
> 25 Years Experience, (802) 888-7194
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> List sponsored by Home Power magazine
>
> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>
> Options & settings:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>
> List-Archive:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>
> List rules & etiquette:
> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>
> Check out participant bios:
> www.members.re-wrenches.org
>
>



_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Home Power magazine

List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org

Options & settings:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org

List-Archive:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org

List rules & etiquette:
www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm

Check out participant bios:
www.members.re-wrenches.org


_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Home Power magazine

List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org

Options & settings:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org

List-Archive:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org

List rules & etiquette:
www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm

Check out participant bios:
www.members.re-wrenches.org

_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Home Power magazine

List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org

Options & settings:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org

List-Archive:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org

List rules & etiquette:
www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm

Check out participant bios:
www.members.re-wrenches.org





More information about the RE-wrenches mailing list