Appliances - The EnerGuide Label

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Capacity Measurement and Energy Consumption Test Methods for Refrigerators, Combination Refrigerator-Freezers and Freezers

CSA Standard: C300-M91

What is tested?

Refrigerators, combination refrigerator-freezers and freezers of different product classes (e.g., automatic defrost, partial automatic defrost, location of freezer section, through-the-door ice service) and sizes are tested for their energy consumption.

Energy consumption is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh). The instrument that measures electrical energy use is similar to the meter used by electric power companies to measure the total electrical energy consumption of a home.

Before testing begins, the following criteria must be met:

• The test-room temperature is 32°C to simulate the temperature flux that occurs when a refrigerator or freezer door is opened several times a day, thereby causing the appliance to lose cold air.
• The fresh-food compartment of a refrigerator is 3.3°C; the fresh food compartment of a refrigerator-freezer is 7.2°C.
• The freezer compartment temperature of a refrigerator-freezer is -15°C; for a freezer, the compartment temperature is -17.8°C.

Refrigerators, combination refrigerator-freezers and freezers are tested at two different thermostat settings. They are run for a test period of at least 3 hours and up to 24 hours for each thermostat setting, depending on whether they are manual or automatic defrost. In addition, separate tests using 300-g spinach packages are carried out for refrigerator-freezers and freezers with manual defrost. The freezer compartments are loaded to 75 per cent capacity with the packages of spinach. Electric thermometers are placed inside the spinach packages to determine the average freezer temperature.

The energy consumption measured during the test period is converted into a daily (24-hour) consumption value, which in turn is multiplied by 365 to get an annual energy consumption value.