No-Frost Ref Vs Frost Type Fridge

Nowadays, most refrigerator buyers go for no-frost type. The convenience of having no need to manually defrost is the main reason why many buyers opt for no-frost refrigerators. Later, you will learn the difference between inverter and non-inverter refrigerators which you can read in the post Inverter Refrigerator Vs Conventional Fridge. In the meantime, let's focus on this topic.

A Story Of No-Frost Fridge

I created this article of comparison because lately I have learned about an old friend's first hand experience with their own no-frost fridge. He's diabetic and at that time he was confined in a hospital. Prior to his confinement, he's making some house improvement of their residence. Good thing that he's already in hospital suite with all his insulin and other stuffs when an electrical short circuit happened in the house that had broke down their power. As you know, insulin must keep refrigerated. Otherwise, it gets spoiled and couldn't be used. And it's expensive. Lack of electrical power in their home that lasted more than 5 hours had rotten and spoiled their food in the fridge at no time.

A frost-free refrigerator defrosts continuously by itself and during blackout, this is what happens: The inside of the fridge gets hot quickly because of lack of ice and frost inside the freezer that supposed to sustain the cool inside the fridge in a temporary power failure. Naturally, food get spoiled way too fast.

My Frost Type Refrigerator

Now let me share to you my experience with my own manual defrost model refrigerator. During my early time in my place, there were countless of times blackouts happened in our apartment building. The landlord kept on adding units vertically and horizontally and there were lots of works going on. Lack of electrical power lasted from 4 to 6 hours on average and at one point up to more than 12 hours. During those times of blackouts, neither did I experience a rotten food on my fridge or the ref itself gotten warm.

During power failure, I don't open the fridge to make sure the frost inside the freezer don't gets exposed to temperature of the entire room. My food remain cold for the entire duration of blackout because the frost and ice inside the freezer supply the necessary coolness as they melt down very slowly.

On this area of owning a right model of refrigerator, I believe manual defrost refrigerators are far better than frost-free models. But there's more to it than how your food last during power failure. It boils down to how much premium we give in getting some savings on electrical bills.

No-Frost Model Vs Manual Defrost Type Refrigerator

There are lots of debates which one consumes more electricity, frost-free ref or frost-type one?

Personally, I can't give you a precise answer to this question as I haven't owned a no-frost type of refrigerator. Based on the research I have made, many say that no-frost models consume more electricity. At any rate, your preference on buying your own unit depends on the weight you give to the actual reason of buying a refrigerator - convenience of keeping your food cool without "hassle" of manual defrosting OR keep your food frozen and cool while conserving electricity. Speaking of "conserving electricity", that is the reason I mentioned earlier that you get to learn the difference between inverter and traditional fridges in our separate article. It is in that department of conserving energy that our post on inverter and non-inverter fridges is a must-read. When we conserve power, we cut our bills, right? But, the amazing part is the ultimate convenience you get in using one of the two kinds in our comparison. You hit two birds in one stone - savings and convenience. Read the full article in this post: Inverter Refrigerator Vs Conventional Fridge.

Tips On Buying Manual-Defrost Refrigerator

Choose the model which is defrosted by a push of a button. Mine is like that model. So every time I manually defrost, I just push the button. After the unit has defrosted, the button pops up and restarts.

Don't wait until frost has built up before you defrost. Compressor works double time when frost inside freezer has thickens. If you allow that to happen often, you should expect your bill to increase. I defrost once a week and I think that's okay.

Make it a habit to use your refrigerator's temperature control knob. Set the temperature to "Warm" when your unit has little content and set it to normal if it's almost full. Maximum setting is cold.

Lastly, allow enough space for good air circulation. Don't fill your refrigerator to the brim.

Inverter Refrigerator Vs Conventional Fridge

Refrigerator consumes more electricity in an unpredictable way. That's because we can not determine how many times we open the door of our fridge, nor do we have any idea on how long the door is keep open each time we decide what to eat while staring inside of the ref. Inverter refrigerator must be the ultimate tweak to reverse that wasting of electricity.

Keeping the fridge door open is inevitable for obvious reason. You may not know it but the aggregate of the number of times the refrigerator door is keep open accounts for almost 10 percent of the total electrical power the kitchen appliance uses. Inverter refrigerator might be the best solution in cutting energy consumption on keeping our food fresh. But there are other factors that we must consider before we replace our old fridge with the new one that runs in inverter compressor.

Traditional Refrigerator

In comparing inverter refrigerator to its conventional counterpart, we must first understand how the fridge, the one that we became accustomed to, works. The compressor is the heart to which a refrigerator relies for its normal operation. It is the factotum or laborer that grind 24/7 so that our refrigeration system function its work of cooling our food and keeping fruits and veggies from getting flaccid fast.

The compressor utilizes by a conventional ref is a single speed refrigeration machine. This means that it only operates at one speed. During a 24-hour period, traditional compressor cycles on and off. You may have already noticed it on your own traditional refrigerator unit when it gets quite and then the compressor runs again.

Since traditional compressor runs only in one speed, the freezing capacity is tailored to be equal to the maximum static cooling load and the makers put emphasize to the times during which the door must be open as well. This is to serve the purpose of having a fridge in the first place. By maximizing freezing capacity in the design, that freezing capacity becomes excessive during those times when the actual load of the refrigerator is not that heavy or when the freezing capacity needed is thin.

Inverter Refrigerator

Inverter refrigerator is called as such due to the compressor fitted to its body which is inverter. This type of compressor allows for varied speed and at low speed runs in longer cycles. Both traditional and inverter compressors cycle on and off. The difference - it takes longer in inverter type running at low speed.

A compressor that operates in varying speeds adapts to the usage condition of the consumer during the 24-hour period. During loading, for example, when the door is open a bit longer, the inverter compressor operates in high speed to compensate for the cold air that is rushing out and giving way for the warm air that's also coming in. At night, on the other hand, when there is no or little activity, inverter compressor runs in low speed. During this time that the ref is kept close and the temperature needed is on its minimum, the compressor shifts to low speed to supply just the right amount of coldness that would match what is required for that time being. That is where energy efficiency works into play. And it translates to saving of about 20 to 30 percent in electric bill.

Difference between Conventional and Inverter Fridges

Conventional refrigerator cycles on and off in a constant rate of cooling even if the temperature level goes down. Inverter refrigerator can operate in very low speed and longer rotational cycle just enough to maintain the cooling required.

Conventional refrigerator is not flexible to how it is being used at a certain time of the day while inverter refrigerator is adaptable to various usage conditions.

Inverter refrigerator utilizes energy power more efficiently while conventional one is a bit excessive in grinding electrical power.

Inverter refrigerator generates low noise on start-up compare to very noticeable sound of conventional refrigerator. When the single speed compressor restarts, it usually emits a bit loud sound because it is in high speed. The inverter compressor starts its cycles at low speed so you would hardly notice the transition in noise it produces.

Pros & Cons of Inverter Refrigerator

The highest energy efficiency rating (EER) I have seen for an inverter refrigerator is 372 which is quite good. But the savings in electric power usage one can get from using an inverter refrigerator would be the one on top of the advantages in owning inverter refrigerator.

The disadvantages of inverter refrigerator? For starters, it's the very slow cooling. Yes, this is the big downside of inverter fridges. They don't freeze immediately unlike conventional no-frost refrigerator. Apparently, it is caused by the slowed start-ups of inverter compressor. Another bad side of inverter refrigerator is that some of its manufacturers use R600 Freeon on some of the models they produce. This butane gas has some safety issues. Best advice is to avoid buying inverter refrigerator model which utilizes R600 Freon for their compressors. There's no cause for alarm, though, as I am sure these reputable fridge makers have complete safety measures in place. Nevertheless, there would also be no harm if we follow expert advice.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, it is the savings one gets from being a smart consumer that counts. Savings when add up could go a long way in providing for one's family or for one self. In the long run, performance wise, as long as the unit performs its duty of artificially cooling food and chilling drinks, there's hardly difference in convenience, notwithstanding the long wait before the fridge gets cool completely. The inverter refrigerator wins in this battle. Yeah! For me.

What about you? What's your preference? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.