Some time ago I made an entry about our freezers and their running costs that seemed to spark quite a bit of interest. It came up on the chat forums as well and I must admit to some surprise at some posters who seem to be loaded down with an absolute certainty that an energy saving device can not work.
So, having finished testing and measuring, I’ve posted the results as a short series of articles in the frugal living section of the site. What is infuriating is that the excellent Savaplug is out of stock nearly everywhere although we did manage to get a couple off ebay.
Many years ago I sold a boiler controller that made dramatic reductions in heating costs with gas and oil powered boilers. Exactly how the controller worked was difficult to explain and, truth be told, I didn’t fully understand myself how it worked. What I did know was how to test its effectiveness and it really was effective.
The biggest cost (I think the gadget cost about £2.00 and took 5 minutes to fit) was actually selling it. If you visit 5 people and spend an hour with each, then the one that buys has to cover 5 hours work.
So I wonder how many low cost energy saving devices could be sitting in the idea box, killed by disbelief. The manufacturers of boilers have far more incentive to sell a new boiler rather than a cheap add on kit for old models.
The problem is that older machines often need servicing or repairing and they’ve usually been separated from their manuals. Forum member Gwiz came up with the idea of collecting old manuals and making them available to all. So we now have a section for them on the site. As people send old ones in, we’ll convert them to printable files and publish them. Got to be good!
We’ve got the Merry Tiller, Flymo DM Petrol Cultivator and Briggs and Stratton 80200 & 81299 manuals online now
Hi
The plug works when the thermostat on the appliance switches on the motor to pump the refridgerant around the system ,full power is drawn to allow the moter to start,However once the freezer as got over the initial surage ,it does not require full power,the Savaplug sences this and reduces the flow of electricity to match the requirements .therefore saves electric.
Thanks for the explanation bazial – it’s an incredible difference in cost on the older freezers.
I think people are just a bit sceptical because appliance manufacturers aren’t putting them on new machines, plus we hear claims made all the time for things that will save you money that almost certainly don’t work, like industrial magnets that will make massive savings on your fuel economy, like or putting your razor uunder a pyramid to keep it sharp, wooden knobs or oxygenated copper wires that cost £300 for your hi-fi system and such like.