Fridge freezer costing £20 per day to run?

[Buttonsluna]

Hi there ,

We have just realised our standard size Liebherr fridge freezer is costing us over £7,000 a year to run . Obviously we’ve unplugged it and bought a new one (arriving today), but do you think I can get compensation from the company?

It took us a whole quarterly bill period to realise it‘s been using over 100 KWH per 24 hours. Our bills went up dramatically before that, but we put it down to both WFH.

Basically we now owe thousands of pounds we can’t afford (I feel sick and I’m having panic attack about how we’re going to pay).

As soon as we realised there was a problem when submitting our meter read, we bought a plug to check how much electricity each appliance is using. We were shocked that our Liebherr FF cost £23.50 over a 24 hour period!!!

We purchased it from John Lewis 10 years ago. Is there any recourse for compensation or do we have to suck it up? Is this just what happens when FF break down- is it normal? It seemed to be functioning ok, everything cold/ frozen and no frost or anything.

If you have any ideas please help. We acted as soon as we realised there is a problem so please don’t tell me I’m stupid for not noticing, I am busy working mum and struggle as it is to keep up with all life admin. Obviously I’m checking meter constantly now.

@BarbaraofSeville thanks, that’s all very useful. I will check out. I too have an entrenched fear of being told off for leaving the immersion on from my childhood!!

I just don't see how it can use that much without any visible problems on excess noise. And you can't judge from your actual meter if you are using the immersion at the same time. You'd need to switch everything electrical off to isolate it to the fridge freezer

Have you posted about this before? I remember someone a couple of months ago worrying about huge electricity bills that no-one could explain and there was an immersion heater and new wiring involved there too.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz we were told by 3 separate professionals (2 heating engineers) that letting the water cool down will cost more to heat it back up again. I know I know, sounds crazy to me too.

Nope not posted before

A comment online suggest it costs 90p per hour to keep the immersion on. If you keep it on for 24 hours a day that's nearly 22 quid a day.

Swapping to 1hr am and 2hrs PM would bring it down to 3quid a day.

Just for comparison, this is the least efficient FF on the ao.com website and it says it uses about £73 of electricity a year. You're saying yours is using that amount in about 3 days, so about 100 times as much.

ao.com/product/rsxs19blc-rangemaster-sxs-deluxe-american-fridge-freezer-black-79821-27.aspx

The fridge freezer is generally v quiet. At night you can hear the compressor kicking in for short periods, but still not very loud. It appears to be working perfectly. Seals are ok- they do have tears in them but the suction seal is working iyswim

Next door couldn't be stealing your electricity could they? That's level of energy usage would make me very suspicious that there could be a cannabis farm.

Thank you @BarbaraofSeville really appreciate your thoughts as need to get to bottom of it all.

It’s quite difficult as everyone we know is baffled and not very helpful. We have no money to pay a professional due to the electricity bill received on Friday

[quote Buttonsluna]@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz we were told by 3 separate professionals (2 heating engineers) that letting the water cool down will cost more to heat it back up again. I know I know, sounds crazy to me too.[/quote]
But if your immersion tank is insulated it won't lose heat so won't need heating from cold again.
I have a system with a water storage cylinder and the hot water is on for an hour or so twice a day. That gives plenty of water for our needs. I think of an immersion heater on all the time like a giant kettle switching on and off all day and night

What happens when you switch the immersion heater off?

We have one which is there as a backup incase the boiler is turned off, or broken. Are you 100% sure it needs to be on?

To use an immersion heater efficiently, aren't you supposed to try and time it to coincide with when you want the hot water for baths, washing up etc?

So have it on for a few hours a day, but just before bathtime or whenever, plus I would have thought it would be cheaper to boil the kettle if you need to wash up or similar.

Leaving it running 24/7 is like constantly boiling your kettle just in case you fancy a cup of tea, when most of the time you don't.

www.cse.org.uk/advice/energy-saving-tips/energy-mythbuster

I hear your struggles about life admin.
However with energy consumption you do need to prioritise it and go about it systematically. Sorry if I number these things. Just doing it for clarity. It's kind of you have to follow a process of elimination to cut consumption and costs.

1. take the point about ten year old applicance possibly being faulty or just not A rated energy savings on it.
2. When buying new check out Which reviews. Buy carefully. Take time over it (I know you haven't got much time but it will pay off)

Look for A rated appliance but be careful as system changed when we left EU one of the downsides of Brexit.

1. Don't know anything about immersion heaters but you could try to get independent advice on that one.

1. As far as your meter is concerned, you can raise complaint to get it checked with your supplier. Possible it is not working properly.

Document all comms with supplier. If you are not happy be prepared to go to ombudsman with that.
Easiest way to raise complaint is with Resolver see Martin Lewis website, it tracks it for you and tells you when you can go to the Energy Ombusdman.

Energy Ombudsman process not complicated but you have to do complaints channel first.

Other point about immersion heater. Would get a quote to replace.
There are grants going at the moment and various offers.
You may find that something more modern is worth doing not just for bills but to cut emissions.

Good luck

We ran tests this weekend on immersion on/ off and didn’t make a lot of difference to meter readings, but open to more suggestions on what to try. We don’t have the answers so happy to hear everyone’s thoughts!

Op I know your bills must be a shock but this doesn’t add up completely! The advice on the immersion and also the FF being that faulty. I think you need to make sure you investigate properly.

I'm in exactly the same position! No help sorry

We also did a blackout on Saturday night (everything) and the meter stopped. Jumping quickly up when we switched everything on again.

If it’s the rewiring, what would the recourse be? Obviously we’d contact the electrician, but would be good to know what our rights are.

We have just purchased a new (Bosch) FF we can’t really afford but didn’t want to lose all the frozen food in there as money is tight.

Did you turn things on one at a time though and then check it?

Immersion heaters cost a bomb to run and they're certainly not meant to be kept on all the time, whoever gave you that information is wrong.

@dementedpixie we didn’t- only did a full blackout when kids were in bed.

@JohnStonesMissus I know, can’t believe it either but there are other posts on mumsnet saying the same thing for immersion fitted more recently.

Tbh once we got the FF reading we thought ‘bingo!’ And stopped investigating