Are you considering purchasing a chest freezer to save money on your energy bills? To begin, you must first comprehend the energy requirement. We looked studied the average power usage of chest freezers for you so that you can save money on your energy costs.
On average, chest freezers use 200-400 watts. The amount of energy required is determined by the unit’s state, the ambient temperature, and the relative humidity of the surroundings. This corresponds to an annual cost of $53 or a monthly cost of $4 on your energy bill.
Keep in mind that the amount of energy consumed and the cost associated with it varies depending on the size of the unit and your usage habits. You will pay higher power usage costs if you buy a larger chest freezer. Continue reading to learn about the various power usage options based on these variables.
How much power does an older freezer consume?
Because older freezers have larger, less efficient compressors, they consume more energy than newer models. Operating a 1990s standup freezer can cost as much as $16 per month.
The ENERGY STAR program makes it simple to determine how much energy an older freezer consumes. Enter the type, size, and age of your freezer into their Flip Your Fridge or Freezer Calculator to see how much your older freezer costs to run.
According to the ENERGY STAR calculator, a 1998 22 cubic foot chest freezer uses 721 kWh of power each year, which costs roughly $7 per month. A 2021 GE 22 cubic foot ENERGY STAR certified chest freezer (GE model FCM22DL) uses less than half the energy of the older model: 346 kWh per year, or $3.50 per month.
If you have an outdated freezer that consumes a lot of electricity, consider replacing it with a new, energy-efficient model.
What is the energy consumption of a 20-year-old freezer?
Like refrigerators and washing machines, freezer efficiency has improved dramatically over the last few decades: modern models consume less than half the amount of electricity per year as models from the late 1990s…which may be the last time you bought one.
So, if you have an old, bulky freezer that you’d like to replace but don’t want to spend the money on a new one, consider this: a chest freezer that is 20 years old and is in the most common size range If you reside in a city with average power prices** like Philadelphia or Baltimore, acquiring a modern version of that size freezer (which uses just 361 kWh) can save you roughly $50 a year on your electricity bill.
Both cities also provide rebates: in Philadelphia, the local utility will pay you $35 to truck away your old freezer and appropriately recycle it, while Baltimore Gas & Electric will pay you $75 toward a new efficient freezer. Our appliance search function will tell you if a rebate program is available in your area, so you can factor in those extra savings when deciding which freezer to buy rebates are normally only available for EnergyStar certified models.
Furthermore, there is a significant difference between the two fundamental types of freezers: the chest freezers stated above consume significantly less electricity than upright versions with an outward-opening door. In our size range, the typical EnergyStar upright freezer uses 565 kWh per year, whereas the average chest freezer uses only 361 kWh. This is primarily due to the fact that upright varieties are more common “Trays, moveable shelves, and sometimes automatic defrost functions and icemakers are examples of “fancy” features that enhance the freezer’s overall energy demand.
Chest-type freezers are also substantially less expensive due to their relative simplicity of design: upright units with automatic defrost and ice makers cost well over $1000, whilst a plain chest-type freezer of the same volume costs less than $800. To compare costs, use our appliance search tool.
The judgment is that if you want the best, here is the place to go “To get the most bang for your money, invest in a new EnergyStar freezer (and see if you qualify for a rebate), and make sure it’s the chest variety. All you have to do now is choose which ice cream flavors to fill it with!
*According to the US Energy Information Agency, most installed freezers have sizes of 14-19 cubic feet, thus our samples compare devices in that size range. The historical freezer consumption comes from the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the electricity consumption estimates are based on currently available models.
Is it true that a chest freezer consumes a lot of electricity?
Throughout the day, modern standup freezers utilize between 28.2W and 74.09W on average.
When all freezer types are combined, the average amount of watts used by an upright freezer is higher than the average.
How many watts does a chest freezer use
This is significantly more than the average number of watts used by chest freezers, which is 22.95W.
As you can see, chest freezers use fewer watts than upright freezers, according to this survey of 354 freezers.
See the definition of a deep freezer above to be sure we’re on the same page.
How many watts does a deep freezer use
The table below shows how many watts deep freezers consume on a daily basis.
Deep freezers consume fewer watts than chest freezers, as you can see. This is because we’ve added enormous compact chest freezers to the mix, which are also classified as deep freezers.
Before we look at how many watts small freezers use, it’s a good idea to review the freezer definitions above to make sure we’re all on the same page.
How many watts does a compact freezer use
The average wattage used by a compact chest freezer is 22.43W, which is lower than the average wattage used by a compact upright freezer, which is 29.9W.
Let’s look at how much electricity freezers use over extended periods of time in kilowatt-hours (kWh).
How much electricity does a freezer use (kWh)
On average, freezers use 365.2 kWh per year, 30.43 kWh per month, 1 kWh per day, and 0.042 kWh every hour.
Freezers use an average of 394 kWh per year, 32.83 kWh per month, 1.08 kWh per day, and 0.045 kWh per hour of power.
Freezers use between 137 and 649 kWh of electricity per year, 11.42 to 54.08 kWh per month, 0.38 to 1.78 kWh per day, and 0.016 to 0.074 kWh per hour.
The table above includes upright, chest, and compact freezers (and hence deep freezers).
How much electricity an upright freezer uses
On average, upright freezers use 445.5 kWh per year, 37.12 kWh per month, 1.22 kWh per day, and 0.051 kWh per hour.
The average amount of energy used by upright freezers is 394 kWh per year, 32.83 kWh per month, and 1.08 kWh per day.
Overall, upright freezers use between 247 and 649 kWh of electricity per year, 20.58 to 54.08 kWh per month, and 0.68 to 1.78 kWh each day.
The table below displays the annual, monthly, daily, and hourly electricity consumption of standup freezers.
Upright freezers require more watts than chest freezers, as we’ve already shown. Let’s look at how much the difference in kWh changes over time.
How much electricity a chest freezer uses
On average, chest freezers use 244 kWh of electricity per year, 20.33 kWh per month, 0.67 kWh per day, and 0.028 kWh per hour.
201 kWh, 16.75 kWh, 0.55 kWh, and 0.023 kWh are the most typical amounts of power consumed by chest freezers every year, month, day, and hour, respectively.
The table below shows how much power chest freezers use over different time periods.
Compact chest freezers have a different power consumption than regular chest freezers see below for more information on compact freezers. See the freezer definitions above for further information on how the freezers are classified.
As you can see, chest freezers consume significantly less electricity than upright freezers on average. And as time passes, the disparity grows more pronounced.
How much electricity a deep freezer uses
Deep freezers consume an average of 218.19 kWh per year, 18.18 kWh per month, 0.6 kWh per day, and 0.025 kWh per hour.
Overall, modern deep freezers consume between 172 and 346 kWh of electricity per year, 14.33 to 28.83 kWh per month, and 0.47 to 0.95 kWh each day.
Deep freezers use an average of 196 kWh each year, 16.33 kWh per month, 0.54 kWh per day, and 0.022 kWh every hour of power.
Deep freezers use a lot of electricity. The table below shows how much they use per year, month, day, and hour.
Because tiny chest freezers come into the deep freezer category, deep freezers utilize less electricity than regular sized chest freezers.
Next, since we’re on the subject of compact chest freezers, let’s have a look at the power consumption of compact chest freezers, as well as compact freezers in general.
How much electricity a compact freezer uses
Compact freezers use an average of 234.22 kWh of power each year. This equates to 19.52 kWh every month, 0.64 kWh per day, and 0.027 kWh each hour.
Compact freezers typically consume 240 kWh per year, 20 kWh per month, and 0.66 kWh per day of power.
The table below depicts how much electricity compact freezers consume over time.
The higher power consumption of upright compact freezers raises the average electricity consumption of compact freezers. Compact freezers, as a result, consume more electricity than chest and deep freezers.
When we compare the power usage of a compact chest and a compact upright over the course of a year, we can see that the difference is rather significant.
Compact chest freezers use an average of 196.49 kWh per year, 16.37 kWh per month, 0.54 kWh per day, and 0.022 kWh per hour.
Compact upright freezers use an average of 261.99 kWh per year, 21.83 kWh per month, 0.72 kWh per day, and 0.03 kWh per hour.
Compact upright freezers use more than 65 kWh of electricity per year on average than compact chest freezers.
According to this survey of 354 different refrigerators, compact chest freezers use the least amount of electricity on average.
But, before we get into which freezers consume the least amount of electricity, it’s important to put freezer power usage into context.
Do freezers use a lot of electricity
Freezers require a significant amount of electricity, however not as much as electrical guzzlers like showers, dryers, and heaters.
Let’s compare the average freezer power usage to the average consumption of other popular household appliances to get a sense of scale.
On average, freezers use 30.43 kWh of power each month. That’s the same as:
What does it cost to keep an antique deep freezer running?
A freezer costs $4.56 per month to operate, with an annual cost of $54.78 on average.
The most frequent freezer operating costs are $0.16 per day, $4.92 per month, and $59.10 per year.
The table below shows how much a freezer costs each hour, day, month, and year.
The type and efficiency of freezers have an impact on how much power they consume and, as a result, their operating expenses.
Check our Freezer Wattage Results for more information on freezer power consumption. Check read this post to make sure we’re all on the same page when it comes to freezer definitions (for example, what’s the difference between a chest freezer and a deep freezer?).
Let’s look at how much it costs to run the most energy efficient freezers on the market before we look at running costs by freezer type.
Cost to run the most energy efficient freezer
The most energy efficient freezer costs $4.33 per month to run. This equates to $0.14 per day, $0.006 per hour, and $51.90 annually.
This is a little less than the typical expense of keeping a freezer running. The GE FCM22DLWW, on the other hand, has a large 21.7 ft3 capacity.
This chest freezer is the most energy efficient freezer on the market, with the lowest power usage per cubic foot capacity.
Check it out (and get the most up-to-date prices) at Best Buy, Home Depot, or Lowe’s.
It’s worth mentioning that the smallest freezer that meets your demands and has the lowest power usage within that size range will usually be the most energy efficient model for you (if it’s ENERGY STAR certified). Source.
As previously stated, the type of freezer has an impact on operating costs. Because certain varieties are more energy efficient than others, this is the case.
Let’s look at the costs of running the most energy efficient freezer by type next.
Running costs of the most efficient freezers (by type)
The cost of running the most energy efficient chest, compact chest, deep, upright, and compact upright freezers is listed in the table below.
Freezers that use the least amount of electricity are also featured in these categories.
In a testing of 354 refrigerators, these freezers outperformed all other ENERGY STAR certified freezers.
But how do they stack up against the average annual operating costs of each freezer type?
Cost to run a chest freezer
A chest freezer costs $36.60 per year to operate. This equals $3.05 per month or $0.0042 per hour.
A modern chest freezer costs between $30.15 and $51.90 per year, $2.51 to $4.32 per month, and $0.08 to $0.14 per day to run.
The table below depicts the average, most common, highest, and lowest costs of operating a chest freezer over various time periods.
As previously stated, these expenditures are based on a $0.15 per kWh unit rate, which is the average in the United States.
Because “deep freezer” is a subjective phrase, make sure we’re on the same page by reading What Is A Deep Freezer.
How much does it cost to run a deep freezer
On average, it costs $32.73 per year, $2.73 per month, and $0.0038 per hour to run a deep freezer.
The most common deep freezer operating cost is lower than the national average for freezers.
Deep freezers typically cost $29.40 per year, $2.45 per month, $0.08 per day, and $0.0033 per hour to operate.
Overall, a deep freezer costs $25.80 to $51.90 per year, $2.15 to $4.32 per month, $0.07 to $0.14 per day, and $0.0030 to $0.0059 per hour.
Deep freezers have a lower operating cost than chest freezers. This is because huge compact chest freezers fall into this category, and because of their smaller size, they are less expensive to run.
Compact freezer running costs
On average, a compact freezer costs $35.13 per year, $0.096 per day, and $0.0041 per hour to run.
The table below illustrates the average, most common, highest, and lowest annual, monthly, daily, and hourly costs of running a compact freezer.
This is because compact freezers come in two varieties: compact chest and compact upright.
When we compare compact upright and compact chest freezers, we can see that the more power-hungry compact upright freezer type significantly raises the average.
The following are the operating expenses for compact upright and compact chest freezers:
- On average, compact upright freezers cost $39.30 per year to operate. This equals $3.27 every month, $1.11 per day, and $0.004 each hour.
- On average, compact chest freezers cost $29.47 per year to operate, which breaks down to $2.46 per month, $0.08 per day, and $0.003 per hour.
Compact upright freezers, with the exception of larger upright freezers, are more expensive to run.
Continue reading to view a table that ranks each freezer’s operating costs from lowest to highest.
How much does it cost to run an upright freezer
An upright freezer costs $66.83 per year, $5.57 per month, and $0.008 per hour to operate.
The most frequent operating costs for an upright freezer are $59.10 per year, $4.92 per month, $0.16 per day, and $0.007 per hour.
A modern upright freezer costs $37.05 to $97.35 per year, $3.09 to $8.11 per month, $0.10 to $0.27 per day, and $0.004 to $0.011 per hour to operate.
As a result, upright freezers and small upright freezers are the most expensive to operate.
Freezer running cost ranked by type
The average annual cost of operating various freezer types is shown in the table below, ranked from lowest to highest.
A deep freezer is the second most cost-effective form of freezer to operate, followed by larger chest freezers in third place.
Compact upright freezers are the fourth cheapest to operate and the second most expensive. Upright freezers, which are larger, are the most expensive to operate.
When compared to a compact chest freezer, an upright freezer costs twice as much to operate.
Cost to run by freezer brand
The average and lowest operating costs for freezers are listed in the table below per brand. The table is ordered from lowest to greatest annual average cost.
Avanti, on the other hand, makes the freezer with the lowest annual operating cost. You can find the model on Amazon or Walmart.
A different freezer type may be more suitable for your needs, so be sure to check out the “Running costs of the most efficient freezers (by type)” section above for links to the most energy efficient freezers by type.
Let’s put the costs of running a freezer into context now that we know how much it costs to run one.
Are freezers expensive to run
The average cost of running a freezer is $54.78 per year. Some may not perceive this to be costly. However, this is pricey when compared to the operating costs of other household equipment.
Is it true that older appliances consume more energy?
Refrigerators are one of the most energy-intensive items in your home. According to Home Energy Checklist, older refrigerators use more electricity than newer models. When a refrigerator breaks down, it will require more electricity as it tries to maintain a cool temperature despite a broken compressor, a worn motor, and leaking seals. Families that replace their old refrigerators save money on their energy bills right away.
What is the energy consumption of a compact chest freezer?
You can lower your energy expenditures for that same small chest freezer by less than half each month if you buy an Energy Star appliance made between 2001 and 2008. A chest freezer with a capacity of less than 16.5 cubic feet costs $53 per year, based on 404 kilowatt-hours used annually, or 34 kilowatt-hours per month. When you split $53 by 12, you get a monthly cost of just more than $4.
Is it true that upright freezers consume more energy than chest freezers?
A chest freezer, not to be outdone, is regarded as a refrigeration solution that maximizes storage space for all of your frozen treats. A chest freezer, as opposed to an upright freezer, stores more food throughout the width of the device rather than the height. You’ll need to consider headroom above the appliance because it has a lift-up door. While this means it will take up a lot of space in your home, this is offset by the fact that chest freezers can store objects that are bigger and more weirdly shaped. Chest freezers contain roughly 20% more usable space than upright freezers, according to Consumer Reports.
When comparing the energy consumption of upright and chest freezers, chest freezers consume less electricity than upright freezers, which is good news for the environment and your budget. This is due to the airtight cover at the top of chest freezers, which keeps the food within fresh. In the end, the airtight locking seal reduces the amount of energy needed to keep the container cool.
Chest freezers outlast upright freezers by around 5 years, according to product experts, which is likely due to their construction, as they do not overheat or leak. Upright freezers have a lifespan of 10 to 15 years, whereas chest freezers have a lifespan of 15 to 20 years.
How much does it cost to keep a deep freezer running on a monthly basis?
Friends of mine have been hesitant to purchase a freezer because they are concerned about the recurring expense of electricity to power the freezer.
After all, it must be plugged in at all times!
Furthermore, appliances that heat or cool are considered to consume the most energy.
So, how much electricity does a deep freezer consume?
This information is readily available on the tag and in the sales documents if you purchase a new freezer, making comparisons a breeze.
You should be familiar with your power bill in order to understand what it really implies for you.
Do you have any idea how much a kilowatt hour costs in your area?
I decided to conduct some research so that I could provide you with some concrete figures.
First, I spent less than $20 on a Kill A Watt meter so that I could measure how much power my deep freezer was using (I’m also hoping to utilize the meter in some future postings about energy conservation).
Here is what I found:
Every day, our 7 cubic foot chest freezer (which is kept in our garage) consumes 1.1 kilowatt hours of electricity. A kWh costs 15-18 cents during the winter, depending on the time of day. During the summer (four months), each kWh costs 30 cents during peak hours (3-8pm) and 23 cents during non-peak hours, for a total of around 25 cents.
The deep freezer costs roughly $7.50 per month to run in the summer.
It costs around $4.68 per month from October to May.
That works out to $67.44 each year, or $5.62 every month on average.
Keep in mind that while your freezer is full, it will run most efficiently.
It’s far easier to keep frozen objects cold than it is to keep empty air space cold.
Consider freezing bottles of water to take up some of the air space in your freezer so it doesn’t have to work as hard when you’re first filling it.
In addition, a chest freezer uses less electricity than an upright freezer.
When you open a chest freezer (cold air sinks), you lose less cold air than when you open an upright freezer (cold air spills out).