Will it be okay to turn off my fridge for 12 hours? (items, best)

[ukrkoz]

Go ahead. Fridges hold cold quite well. Simply place either couple of bowls with ice inside regular chamber, or few large size frozen steaks or something large, solid and frozen - on the TOP shelf, as cods spreads down.
Two things you will need to do:
1. set it onto timer, as you WILL forget to turn it back on
2. be very conscientious about opening that door. Letting cold out and warm in every time.

But truly - what is that you going to save? $5 a month?

[tickyul]

Better idea is to put your hot-water heater on a timer..............nightime, when most do not need HW, the HWH is shut off.

[travelinhobo]

BAck in 2007 or 08, I called the electricity company and asked a guy (not a call rep) if it was still true that the fridge is the highest consumer of electricity in your house. He told me no it isn't. I don't remember, but I think he said the boiler is. I found that interesting. Anyone else want to comment?

[gypsychic]

In my house my central AC unit uses more than everything else in my house combined. In the months I use it my bill is anywhere from 2 to 3 times what it is when it is off. So by far, electric heat and AC costs the most. Using electric heat is even worse than the AC. Fridge is minimal, the idea of turning it off every day is really stupid. There are certainly better ways to save money than risk ruining your food to save $1 or $2 per month.

[Sonnenwende]

I have several hundred dollars of food in the freezer and wouldn't want to risk it over a dollar or two of electricity.

[ukrkoz]

I just had that idea for you. Why don't you install timer for your fridge and have it shut for night? Say, you (supposed to) stop eating at 8pm, so 8pm till 6 am? Or whatever you get up for work?

[packer43064]

Originally Posted by ukrkoz

I just had that idea for you. Why don't you install timer for your fridge and have it shut for night? Say, you (supposed to) stop eating at 8pm, so 8pm till 6 am? Or whatever you get up for work?

To save a couple of bucks a month if that. It is completely not worth it unless you have some 1960 model that used a lot of electricity. Now a days though, fridges use less than $100 a month and usually a lot less. To turn it off for 1/3 of a day it will save mere dollars (maybe a dollar actually), but when something spoils and you get sick that dollar isn't going to help. Lol you can try it op, but there are other ways to save without a chance of getting sick.

[Wurzig]

I should think that this on/off 'stuff' would not do the fridge any good......find other ways to save money---turn lights and TV off when leaving a room, turn the heater down when leaving the house, let the sunshine in and wear sweaters during the day and lower the heater, lowering the water heater was another good suggestion, line dry clothes when you can instead of using a dryer,

What if you turned it off for 12 hours and then suddenly, (through no fault of yours), lost electricity (complete power loss), for a day or so.....

Turning it off, to me, is not wise.

If you must turn it off, be sure to have rock-hard blue ice in both your freezer and fridge areas in order for back up......but still, not wise.

[duster1979]

Probably already been addressed, but here's the deal: Assuming it's a relatively new refrigerator and the seals are all doing their job, you could probably unplug it for 12 hours and do no harm.

But if it's set at the highest setting that will keep your food cold enough, and that temperature can be maintained for 12 hours while it's unplugged, it's not going to run for that 12 hours anyway. So unplugging it won't save you a dime.

[NJBest]

You can save money by unplugging your refrigerator. The savings start when your refrigerator returns to room temperature; which could take days. After this point, the longer you go, the more you save. You should not keep food in the refrigerator while doing this. 12 hours at a time will not save you much.