Last year, when the pandemic started shutting more and more places down, we started to fill up our freezer, just in case we had to shelter in place and couldn’t get to the store.
Luckily, that didn’t happen. But that full freezer meant it wasn’t working so hard, running more efficiently. Avista’s Energy Guide tells me that both my refrigerator and my freezer work better when they are full, with a little room left to let the air circulate freely.
It’s harder to keep air cold than it is to keep frozen liquids and solids. That’s why a full freezer works better. If you aren’t keeping a lot of food in your freezer, take some empty milk jugs, fill them partway with water and keep the cap loose on it because water expands when it freezes. This way, your freezer is full without keeping a lot of frozen foods in it. When you are ready to fill it up with food again, you can take out the milk jugs.
Lucky for me, my freezer is very small, so it’s not hard to keep it full. But on the off chance it starts to empty out, I’ll know what to do to keep my freezer running efficiently.
Lisa, an Avista customer, bought her 1910 house because she loved the old-world character, some of which doesn’t make her house very energy efficient. Lisa is sharing her experience on taking some simple do-it-yourself improvements to inspire others to do the same. You’ll find her stories right here every Tuesday.