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A retired lineman in Bakersfield asked me one question about my fridge and I haven't stopped thinking about it
I was at a backyard BBQ in Bakersfield about two months ago and got stuck talking to this retired utility lineman named Ruben, who spent 30 years climbing poles in the Central Valley heat. Somehow we got on the topic of energy use and he asked me, plain as day, "Do you know how hot your fridge coils are right now?" I had no clue. He pulled out his phone, showed me a $22 plug-in meter he uses at home, and told me his whole place runs about 4,100 watts in the evening peak because he moved his big loads to morning. I went home, borrowed a meter from work, and found out my old garage fridge was pulling 180 watts just sitting there doing nothing useful. I unplugged it that week and my electric bill dropped $19 the next month. Ruben didn't lecture me once, he just asked questions until I got curious. Has anyone else had a random conversation like that actually change what you do at home?
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paul_webb4513d ago
Might want to double check that the $19 was all from the fridge, since one month of bills has a lot of noise in it (weather, AC use, etc). Not saying the fridge was free to run, just that a single month is a shaky before/after.
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