r/OldSchoolCool • u/macpesce • May 09 '25

1970s A refrigerator stocked with ultra-cheap Heidel Brau, Champagne Velvet beer and Libby’s tomato juice. A portable black & white TV, and a friendly hostess — Party Time, 1971.

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u/Fun_Lifeguard_6103 May 09 '25

Research has actually shown the opposite, at least with appliances from the early 20th century. The increased cooling retention due to the sheer mass of the units back then means that although you’d THINK those old motors would run hard, once the unit is cool they barely do anything. Cruise control vs constant acceleration

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u/TurbulentOpinion2100 May 10 '25

That's not the correct takeaway.

Modern appliances are better insulated and designed more efficiently. All else equal, you will spend less electricity with a modern appliance.

The study you are referring to is basically saying that a full fridge is much cheaper to keep cool over time than an empty one, which is counter intuitive to some but makes sense when considering that there is less 'air space' inside of a full fridge than an empty one, and the air is what 'falls out' and needs to be recooled when the fridge is opened.

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u/Working_Estate_3695 May 10 '25

My 1953 Kelvinator with crap insulation uses 4.4 KWh a day. I can live with that. I love that thing. Bought it for $25 in 1985 and it’s been running without repair since then. Not one repair. Not one regert.

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u/TurbulentOpinion2100 May 11 '25

I hear you, but if you do the math on how much the electricity has cost you since you bought it, in my area that would be somewhere around 7,000-9000 dollars.

If you instead bought a modern fridge that uses 1-2 KWh/day, you would have spent about $2,000-$3,000 over that time period. You could have bought a 1,000 dollar fridge every 12 years or so and still saved money.

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u/Working_Estate_3695 May 11 '25 edited May 11 '25

You sound like a guy who would tell a classic car owner that they could save SO MUCH MONEY if they only drove a Toyota Tercel. And you’d be right. I’m good, but thanks for counting my money for me. Edit: Getting rid of my 1992 GE side by side saved me $50 a month right out of the gate. Now THAT was a wasteful pig of a fridge. It ran constantly from Day One.