Do refrigerators use more energy when they are full?

Question

Assuming all food items are the same temperature as the fridge when they are placed in the compartments.

Answer 1

if you load it up with warm product it will use a lot of energy to cool all the product down... once all the mass of the product is at temp.. if you remove a small amount of cool product (<10% of the mass) and replaced it with same amount of warm you still have to move the btu's to cool the mass down....but the existing cold mass of product will help dissapate the btu's throughout the refridge and bring the temp down more efficiantly.

Answer 2

if you don't open the door at all, it doesn't make any difference.

you lose energy (actually gain energy by allowing heat to enter) when you open the door.

when they're full you'll get less air circulation when the door is open, so i'll take less energy to restore the cold.

however, if you were to keep the door open a long time, then you'd warm up the stuff in the frig, and it would take more energy to cool it all back down again, than it would to just cool an empty frig.

the general rule is that it's cheaper if it's full.

however, from the above, there can be exceptions.

Answer 3

No, it is best to keep a refrigerator close to full, but not so full air can't flow. When the refrigerator is empty the temperature can dip dramatically when the door is open, having food in it allows it to retain the chill better.

Answer 4

No, actually they will use less energy.

Answer 5

Ok, here is the reality...the more food you have in the fridge, the more energy it takes to cool the food the first time you put the food in the fridge, you have to use more electricity to remove heat of the items you have in the fridge.  Once everything is cooled, the cost of maintaining the items is about the same as if it were empty, although, it does take slightly more to maintain the temperature of items rather than air......good luck.

Answer 6

No, refrigerators actually operate more efficiently when they are full because there is less air to escape each time you open the fridge. Food thaws slower than cold air escaping.