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Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: regulator on October 23, 2015, 03:18:24 PM

Title: Should I swap the old freezer for new?
Post by: regulator on October 23, 2015, 03:18:24 PM
We have an upright freezer that came with the house.  It is at least 20 years old.  I do not own a kill-a-watt, but it does not take a rocket scientist to realize that it must be a power guzzler.  When I plug the particulars into the gubmint Energy Star calculator, it suggests that we would save something on the order of $100/year by upgrading.  It looks like I can get a new, vastly more efficient freezer of similar size for around $625 delivered.  If I assume 8 years of $100 energy savings and nothing past that I get an IRR of 6% and change.  Would you do it?
Title: Re: Should I swap the old freezer for new?
Post by: NextTime on October 23, 2015, 03:28:08 PM
tagging this as I also have an old freezer and am contemplating the same thing.
Title: Re: Should I swap the old freezer for new?
Post by: ketchup on October 23, 2015, 03:39:38 PM
I would probably start a non-urgent hunt for a ~5 year old similarly sized freezer on Craigslist for a few hundred and make the swap when a deal appears.  You'd probably get 80-90% of the energy savings for 30-40% the cash outlay, boosting your IRR to something more appealing.

EDIT: Additionally, you might be able to get the electric company to pay you a few bucks (~$50) and come haul away your old freezer.  Check for local promotions of that nature.
Title: Re: Should I swap the old freezer for new?
Post by: Jack on October 23, 2015, 03:43:41 PM
It looks like I can get a new, vastly more efficient freezer of similar size for around $625 delivered.  If I assume 8 years of $100 energy savings and nothing past that I get an IRR of 6% and change.  Would you do it?

First of all, are you sure you need that extra freezer at all? If not, recycling it and not buying a replacement would clearly be the most profitable option.

Second, are you sure you need a freezer of the same size and configuration? I hear that chest freezers are usually more efficient than upright ones, for example.

Third, where is this freezer located, and do you use it all the time? A freezer located in a basement that stays cool all the time will have a lower return on investment than one located in a garage in Florida, and one kept outside that's used only for storing the game from fall hunting season until spring and then shut off will have a lower return than one used for keeping beer cold during the summer.

Fourth, if you do actually need the freezer and if you do use it in the right circumstances to actually save $100 a year, then sure, 6% return with low risk (mainly, that electricity gets cheaper or that it breaks out of warranty) sounds reasonable unless you can get a better risk-adjusted return elsewhere. (In other words, assuming you have no high-interest debt, have already filled up all your tax-advantaged accounts, etc.)
Title: Re: Should I swap the old freezer for new?
Post by: regulator on October 23, 2015, 03:51:52 PM
Assume I need the freezer and not replacing it does not work for me.  It is used year round and is in the basement.  The space available will not accommodate a chest freezer, plus I hate rooting around in the damn chest freezers to find what I lost 6 months before.  The cost of a new freezer includes the rebate from selling the old one to the local utility.

I thought about the craigslist option, but since this thing would be 200 pounds or more and it would have to get down the stairs to the basement I cannot physically do that.  This is a thing that would have to be delivered.
Title: Re: Should I swap the old freezer for new?
Post by: mrsnamemustache on October 23, 2015, 04:06:19 PM
Check out this frugalwood post on this topic: http://www.frugalwoods.com/2015/09/04/why-buying-a-chest-freezer-is-saving-us-serious-money/

...though it sounds like you aren't interested in the chest freezer option. We swapped our old upright freezer for a chest freezer recently, and so far, so good.
Title: Re: Should I swap the old freezer for new?
Post by: regulator on October 23, 2015, 04:22:47 PM
Check out this frugalwood post on this topic: http://www.frugalwoods.com/2015/09/04/why-buying-a-chest-freezer-is-saving-us-serious-money/

...though it sounds like you aren't interested in the chest freezer option. We swapped our old upright freezer for a chest freezer recently, and so far, so good.

Like I said, it does not work for this application.  I also have a chest freezer for beer storage.
Title: Re: Should I swap the old freezer for new?
Post by: Another Reader on October 23, 2015, 04:47:10 PM
Purchasing a new freezer might not be such a good idea.  Almost all of them now are automatic defrost, which means periodically the freezer goes off and a little heater comes on to raise the temperature above freezing to melt the accumulated ice.  The result is a compromised holding period for the food in the freezer, as the surfaces of the stored items unfreeze and refreeze over many cycles.

I would pay more for a less efficient manual defrost freezer, including more in electricity costs, because the storage time is much longer.  These days, you can generally only find manual defrost in chest freezers.  Look for an older used manual defrost upright freezer and pay the penalty in the cost of the electricity, or risk losing the food you have stored.
Title: Re: Should I swap the old freezer for new?
Post by: tallen on October 23, 2015, 08:24:49 PM
I've read chest freezers are the most efficient, so I'd look for a newer one on craigslist.
Title: Re: Should I swap the old freezer for new?
Post by: Goldielocks on October 23, 2015, 10:18:30 PM
I swapped a small 24" x24," freezer for an upright.  Takes up same footprint, ( maybe less).  but the upright is only slightly more volume, 3x the cost, and uses double the energy.  The upright's shelves waste a lot of space and it warms up faster during an outage, and the door can be accidentally left ajar.

Look again at a chest freezer . one that is 30" x 24" is the same volume, and does not need any more room than your upright.