7 tips to help lower the cost of running your fridge freezer

Powering away 24/7, your fridge freezer puts in longer hours than any other appliance in your home. These seven simple tips will help lower the amount of energy it uses.

According to our research, the average freestanding fridge freezer costs £74 a year to run. An integrated model costs £72, and the average power-hungry American-style model will set you back £110, making this type of fridge freezer the third most expensive home appliance to run, after washer dryers and condensing tumble dryers.

Most of our tips require either very little effort, or a simple change in your own behaviour - so there's no reason not to give them a go. 

Visit our best fridge freezers page to see which models came top in our tough lab tests

1. Clean the condenser coils

Dust on the condenser coils can prevent your appliance from cooling properly, so you'll want to take time out to give them a clean – probably twice a year.

Follow these steps to get the job done quickly and safely:

• Carefully pull out the appliance and unplug it. Don't worry about your food warming up or thawing, as it should be a quick job.
• Locate the coils - they look like a metal grid running up the back of the appliance (similar to the image above). Alternatively, you'll find them at the bottom of the appliance (possibly behind a panel at the front or back).
• Gently vacuum the coils to take off as much dust as you can - if your vacuum has a brush attachment, you might want to use that.
• Use a separate brush to clear off any remaining dirt and dust from the coils, and vacuum again to clear up any mess.

Discover which fridge freezer brands are the most reliable

2. Check the door seals are working properly

Any damage to the seals around your appliance's doors will allow warm air to get inside, which will force your fridge or freezer to work harder to maintain the set temperature.

Check the seals for any tears, warping in the corners or even areas where the seals have hardened.

You can replace them yourself. Sometimes it's as easy as pulling out the old ones, but you might have to loosen some screws that keep them in place. New seals are available online for £30 to £100.

Find out more about simple fridge freezer repairs in our guide to common fridge freezer faults

3. Let leftovers cool down before refrigerating

You should always let leftovers cool to room temperature before putting them in the fridge. Otherwise, the warmth of your recently cooked food sends the temperature in your fridge skyrocketing, forcing it to work harder to cool down, and pushing up your energy bills.

Putting warm food in the fridge will also reduce the freshness of other food inside – which needs to be kept at a stable temperature.

Leave leftovers to cool down on the kitchen counter first, but take care not to leave them sitting out for more than a couple of hours.

Our food storage tips will help make your leftovers last longer

4. Defrost food in the fridge

If you're defrosting food, plan ahead and let it defrost slowly in the fridge. Not only is this the safest method of thawing your food, but it also helps to cool the inside of your fridge. This means the compressor will have less work to do, and the amount of energy required to keep your fridge chilled will be reduced.

What temperature should a freezer be? Read our guide to find out

5. Close the door quickly

When you're taking food out of the fridge, you want to do it as quickly as you can. It's no good using the fridge shelf as a plate so you can dip into a pot of houmous with the door wide open.

As part of our rigorous fridge testing, we open the door four times a day and add a room-temperature load of food, simulating leftovers being put away after a meal. We then measure how this impacts the cooling process and energy consumption across different zones.

Some manufacturers have introduced features that make it much easier to put this particular tip into practice. The LG GSX961NSAZ InstaView fridge freezer, for example, has a glass panel on the front that enables you to see inside the fridge without opening the door.

What temperature should a fridge be? Read our guide to find out

6. Defrost your freezer

If your freezer isn't frost-free, then you need to make sure you defrost it regularly to prevent a build-up of ice.

Not only will it take up precious space where your food should be, but the ice actually acts as an insulator. This means your freezer has to run longer and work harder to penetrate that block of ice and keep your food cold, and therefore it will cost you more in electricity to run.

Our guide on how to defrost your freezer will walk you through the process in seven simple steps

7. Choose or upgrade to an energy-efficient fridge

The energy efficiency of home appliances has come a long way in the past 10 years and – compared with the latest models – older cold appliances are real energy-guzzlers.

If you have an older model at home, it might be worth considering an upgrade, as it could be costing you a lot more to run than a newer one will.

Unless you’re after an integrated fridge freezer or American-style model, we recommend you look for a fridge freezer rated at least D or above.

When you're shopping around, do think about how much capacity you really need. Large multi-door and American-style fridge freezers can look the part, but if you're not going to keep yours fully stocked on a regular basis, you'll end up paying to chill empty space.