New Refrigerators

I believe everyone should throw out their old refrigerators and replace with the new cleaner and safer fridges. These new fridges don't even come close to polluting the OZONE like older fridges. It is our duty to help our environment so we should let the OZONE heal. I know other things polloute but by buying new fridges we can help our environment. We need no more ultra-violet rays of light giving us cancer!

thanks for putting up with my opinion

 

Good idea in theory. But you have to consider, if everyone threw out all their old refrigeration units at once, the sudden influx of the coolant would create an overflow on the recycling market, and a lot would be screwed up in the process (spillage and whatnot)

 

So, you're suggesting that instead of there being a slow leak of chemicals, that we just release them all at once? Or do you believe that every person will recycle their old fridge?

 

how can you recycle an old fridge?

 

Good thread...also though what about the cost? I know it is easy for people to say 'it doesnt cost much more to be eco-friendly' but what if a family is living on the breadline and they have had their fridge for many years and they cannot afford a new one? Do you think the government should intervene in the same way they are planning to ensure that everyone in the UK has digital TV by 2012?

 

i think there are programs around here where the hydro company or maybe it's the govt will buy back old fridges, just to get them out of pple's homes and off the power grid. old-style fridges are massive energy suckers.

 

Here in Canada to dispose of an old fridge you are SUPPOSED to have the coolant removed by a qualified technician and the stuff is SUPPOSED to be disposed of properly.

What happens in reality is quite another matter...

 

some people can't afford a new fridge...

 

Would you really need one in Canada?

 

We got a tax rebate from the government for buying our environmentally friendly new fridge, here in Ontario, Canada.

 

Plastics and metals can be recycled. My parents took an old fridge and stove to the junkyard where the junk yard will sell it to recycling companies.

 

That is very true, you can though get new refrigerators at a resonable price nowdays though. Another tip, if you do buy a new fridge and you care about conserving on electricity. Get one that you have to defrost yourseld. Fridges with auto defrost use more electricity.:sunglasse

 

I would love to have a new fridge but I am like the above poster>>I have no cash.
I am, however, suprised to hear that new fridges need defrosting. I thought it was only the (very) old metal mini freezers that had that problem.

so, well, ok, but Cakes? why did you bold the word "hear"?

hey i figured that I'd throw in a mention of some new new refridgerators. Ones that use sound waves. The tech has been around a while but no one ever felt like actually putting cash into making one. Then, last year or so, Ben & Jerry did. You can see some penguins talk about it at their website ~ www.benjerry.com.

and btw, they said that ALL fridges use gasses that can harm the atmosphere (except theirs). New fridges use HFCs (instead of CFCs) and new fridges don't harm ozone, you're right, but they could contribute to global warming. You'll know whether a particular fridge does so by noticing whether it needs to be recharged. And about the harm from old fridges>>>I had one for Many years (still do) and never had to recharge it.

I do think that occasionally old cars leak their air conditioning coolants<<it's illegal to recharge cars with the old coolents in the U.S. now; the law changed a few years ago.

 

also, new fridges don't seem to last more than a few years. they're junk. perhaps there are some exceptions, but i've seen lots of very old fridges that still run well and lots fo newer ones that just quit after a couple years. so the damage might even out, considering that you'll be replacing your new fridge (thus throwing it into the earth--landfill) more often.

 

unplug it, and...

* use it as a virtually airtight cupboard
* put lighting and co2 in it and use it to grow pot
* take the door off and but it on it's back, and use it as a pet bath.
* make art out of it


I suppose the possibilities are endless.

 

or bury it some on its back fill with kithen scraps and add worms ohh youd have to put drain holes. here ive got 2 dead ones couldent figure what to do with them cant find any one to reclaim the refrigerant! but the transfer station {our trash gets trucked somewere else} says as long as the line is cut they will take them! so mutch for tn. enviromental laws! soo they are still siting in my yard! i saw an article in an old mother earth news built his own can achive subzero temps uses ammonia and water and any heat source so actualy i figure you could use hay bales old radiadors and sutch and make a walkin outside! i have searched for this article numerus times since to no avail anybody got info on making your own???????????

 

Ideally, perhaps mankind could reduce or eliminate the need for refridgerators. Easier said than done, though. So many people have them; it's a convenience that would be really hard to give up.

 

And we all know they have no summer, in Canada?

 

Yeah, sci-fi "stasis units." So why are you busy inventing them?

No need for refrigerators? So what will we have then? Warm, yucky watery tap water? I like my water chilled, one of the main benefits of my new refrigerator, as the old one was getting too unreliable at defrosting, to open the door every time I wanted some chilled water. Why would you impose warm water upon us?

And no, my old kitchen with a too-small refrigerator space, and my budget, couldn't afford one of those nifty side-by-side refrigerators with the water and ice dispenser in the door. Besides, I am afraid of them. How long until all those extra parts break or need cleaning or repair? How long until the ice maker turns into a solid block of ice?

And there is energy in the heat removed from the refrigerator. Why can't that be used, for running the refrigerator, or for producing household electricity? I think the "2nd Law of Thermodynamics," that says that entropy in a closed system always increases over time, is a general observation, not a "law" at all. But presumably, some exception to this "law" must be found, or else the self-powered refrigerator concept, will never work, well unless it has "nuclear" batteries?