Chest Freezer Power Consumption Calculator (Deep Freezers)

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If you are planning to buy a chest freezer or wondering how much electricity your existing chest freezer is consuming then this article is for you. In this article, we will calculate the power consumption of a chest freezer and also look at how much it costs to use one.

Also by the end, you will learn to calculate the power consumption of any deep freezer using a simple calculator.

Chest freezers are normally rated between 100 watts to 250 watts. A 7.2 Cu.ft (203 ltr) 120-watt chest freezer running for 24 hours in a day will consume around 0.72 kWh of electricity in a day. This adds up to around 21.60 kWh of electricity in a month.

Hence, the cost to run a 120 watt chest freezer for 24 hours a day for an entire month will be $ 5.57 in Los Angeles, £ 7.78 in London, NZ$ 6.56 in New Zealand, C$ 3.37 in Canada, A$ 6.96 in Australia, and Rs 216 in Mumbai.


Calculate The Power Consumption Of A Chest Freezer:

Before we go ahead and start with the calculation, I want to share some details that I gathered while doing research for this article.

I browsed through a bunch of e-commerce websites and read the specification sheets of a lot of chest freezers and found the annual power consumption of different sizes of chest freezers through their energy-saving label.

The results are below.

(Source: Amazon & Home Depot)

Chest Freezer SizeAnnual Power Consumption of Chest Freezer
3.5 Cu.ft (100 Ltr)193 kWh
5.0 Cu.ft (142 Ltr)218 kWh
7.0 Cu.ft (200 Ltr)250 kWh
11 Cu.ft (311 Ltr)280 kWh
14.8 Cu.ft (420 Ltr)296 kWh
19.8 Cu.ft (560 Ltr)361 kWh
21.7 Cu.ft (614 Ltr)346 kWh
24.8 Cu.ft (700 Ltr)424 kWh

The above power consumption values are approximate figures, also the power consumption values will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Hence, if you have an energy star-rated deep freezer then just look at its energy-saving label and you will get a pretty good estimate of its annual power consumption.

If your chest freezer doesn’t have a power consumption label then use the following method to calculate the power consumption of your freezer.

The power consumption of a chest freezer (for that matter any electrical appliance) depends upon two main things,

  1. First is the wattage of your chest freezer,
  2. And second is the electricity tariff in your area.

Before we jump into calculating the power consumption of your deep freezer let’s see what these terms are and how you can find out your deep freezer’s wattage and the electricity tariff of your locality.

If you already know these terms and just want to use the calculator then please scroll down to see the power consumption table and use the calculator.


What is the Wattage of A Chest Freezer:

Deep Freezer 7.2 Cu.ft (203 ltr) : 140-Watts

The wattage of chest freezers varies from 100 watts to 250 watts, generally, the bigger the capacity, the higher the wattage, and the more the power consumption.

However, I came across an interesting thing during my research, as the size of a refrigerator increases, the power consumption also increases, but the increase is not linear.

If you calculate the power consumption per unit volume for different size refrigerators you will see, the bigger the size the less the power consumption per unit volume.

Hence, even though for bigger size deep freezer refrigerators the power consumption will be higher, they are more energy efficient as the electricity needed to cool per unit volume is much less.

You can find the wattage of your chest freezer by reading the label on it or just look for your chest freezer on amazon or the manufacturer’s website and you will find its wattage in the description section.

If this whole talk about wattage and electricity is confusing you then here is a quick explanation about what is watt.

Watt is the unit of power. It means the rate at which electricity is consumed or produced by a device. For example, a 50-watt TV consumes power at a rate of 50 watts per hour, it does not mean that the TV consumed 50 units of electricity, it means it will consume power at a rate of 50 watts every hour.

So in short, the wattage of a deep freezer lies between 50 watts to 150 watts and you can find it by looking at the label on it. With that out of the way, let’s look at what is electricity tariff.


What is Your Electricity Tariff:

In simple words, electricity tariff is the amount your electricity provider charges you for one kWh (unit) of electricity. I live in Mumbai, India here the electricity tariff is Rs 12/kWh.

(What is a Kilowatt hour (kWh) Kilowatt hour or unit of electricity is the energy consumption of a device. For example, a 50-watt fan running for 50 hours will consume 50 watts x 50 hours = 2500-watt hours = 2.5-kilowatt hours of electricity = 2.5 units of electricity. (1 kWh of electricity = 1 unit of electricity))

To find your electricity tariff, just look into your previous month’s electricity bill and find out your monthly electricity consumption, then just divide your monthly electricity consumption by your total monthly electricity bill, the figure you get is approximately your electricity tariff.

I have put together the following table that shows the electricity tariff of a few countries.

Electricity Tariff Around The World:

CountryElectricity TariffCountryElectricity Tariff
United States$ 0.154/kWhIndiaRs 6/kWh
United Kingdom£‎ 0.27/kWhGermany€ 0.44/kWh
CanadaC$ 0.30/kWhPhilippines₱ 9.70/kWh
AustraliaA$ 0.32/kWhSouth AfricaR 2.558/kWh

You can also check out the following resources to know your electricity tariff:


How To Calculate Electricity Consumption of A Chest Freezer:

With the knowledge of your chest freezer’s wattage, just use this simple formula to calculate its power consumption.

Power consumption of an appliance = Wattage of an appliance X operational hours.

Cost to run an appliance = Power consumption of an appliance X electricity tariff.

(Operational hours is basically the number of hours you are using your chest freezer)

Let me show you an example,

chest freezer power consumption
Chest Freezer 7.0 Cu.ft (200 ltr) : 120-Watts

I have selected a 7.0 Cu.ft (200 ltr) 120-watt chest freezer listed on home depot. Let’s assume we will be using it 24 X 7 throughout the year.

Hence, we will calculate the daily, monthly, and annual power consumption of this 120-watt deep freezer.

Before we start with the calculation, one thing to keep in mind is, even though the chest freezer is running 24 hours a day, its compressor (which consumes the majority of the electricity) only runs 25% to 30% of the time, which means it runs between 6 hours to 8 hours a day.

Hence, while calculating, we will consider the daily operational hours as 6 hours instead of 24 hours, even though the deep freezer will be running for 24 hours a day.

Now let’s calculate,


Electricity consumption of A Chest Freezer:

In our case, wattage is 120-watt and operational hours are 6 hours in a day (since the compressor runs for only 25% of the time), 180 hours in a month, and 2,190 hours in a year.

Hence by using the above formula.

  • Daily power consumption of a 7.0 Cu.ft (200 ltr)120-watt chest freezer is = 120-watt X 6 hours = 720 wh.
  • Similarly, Monthly power consumption of a 7.0 Cu.ft (200 ltr) 120-watt chest freezer is = 120-watt X 180 = 21.6 kWh.
  • Annual Power consumption of a 7.0 Cu.ft (200 ltr) 120-watt chest freezer is = 120-watt X 2,190 = 262.8 kWh.

In the above table, we saw the annual power consumption of a 7.0 Cu.ft (200 ltr) 120-watt chest freezer is equal to 250 kWh, and using this calculation method, we got the annual power consumption of a 7.0 Cu.ft (200 ltr) 120-watt chest freezer to be 262.8 kWh.

Hence, it’s safe to say our calculations are pretty accurate.

Now that you know the power consumption just multiply it by your electricity tariff and you will get to know the cost to run your chest freezer.

let’s calculate how much it will cost to run this 120-watt chest freezer for 24 hours every day for an entire month in the US, UK, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, and Mumbai.

  • In Los Angeles, the electricity tariff is around 25.8 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), hence it will cost around $ 5.57 (21.6 kWh X 25.8 cents/kWh) to run this 120-watt chest freezer for 24 hours every day for an entire month.
  • In London, the electricity tariff is around 36p/kWh, hence it will cost around £ 7.78 (21.6 kWh X 36p/kWh) to run this 120-watt chest freezer for 24 hours every day for an entire month.
  • In New Zealand, the electricity tariff is around NZ$ 0.304/kWh, hence it will cost around NZ$ 6.56 (21.6 kWh X NZ$ 0.304/kWh) to run this 120-watt chest freezer for 24 hours every day for an entire month.
  • In Canada, the electricity tariff is around C$ 0.156/kWh, hence it will cost around C$ 3.37 (21.6 kWh X C$ 36/kWh) to run this 120-watt chest freezer for 24 hours every day for an entire month.
  • In Australia, the electricity tariff is around A$ 0.32/kWh, hence it will cost around A$ 6.91 (21.6 kWh X A$ 0.32/kWh) to run this 120-watt chest freezer for 24 hours every day for an entire month.
  • In Mumbai, the electricity tariff is around Rs 10 per kilowatt hour (kWh), hence it will cost around Rs 216 (21.6 kWh X Rs 10) to run this 120-watt chest freezer for 24 hours every day for an entire month.

For your reference, I have calculated the cost to run this 120-watt chest freezer for 24 hours daily throughout the entire year in the US, UK, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, and Mumbai.

(Remember, the compressor runs for only 25% of the time, 6 hours in a day)

Country (Tariff)Daily Power Consumption of a Chest Freezer
(120-watt)
Monthly Power Consumption of a Chest Freezer
(120-watt)
Annual Power Consumption of a Chest Freezer
(120-watt)
Los Angeles (25.8 c/kWh)0.72 kWh, cents 18.5721.60 kWh, $ 5.57262.8 kWh, $ 67.80
London (36p/kWh)0.72 kWh, pence 25.9221.60 kWh, £ 7.77262.8 kWh, £ 94.61
New Zealand (NZ$ 0.304/kWh)0.72 kWh, NZ$ 0.2121.60 kWh, NZ$ 6.56262.8 kWh, NZ$ 79.89
Canada (C$ 0.156/kWh)0.72 kWh, C$ 0.1121.60 kWh, C$ 3.37262.8 kWh, C$ 41.00
Australia (A$ 0.32/kWh)0.72 kWh, A$ 0.2321.60 kWh, A$ 6.91262.8 kWh, A$ 84.09
Mumbai (Rs 10/kWh)0.72 kWh, Rs 7.221.60 kWh, Rs 216262.8 kWh, Rs 2,628

The above figures show the approximate power consumption of a 120-watt chest freezer (mostly on the higher side), hence, the actual power consumption can be 5 % to 10% lower than this.


How Much Does it Cost To Run A Chest Freezer For 24 Hours?

From the above, we know the cost to run a 7.0 Cu.ft (200 ltr) 120-watt chest freezer for 24 hours a day, the answers are as follows:

  • The cost to run a 7.0 Cu.ft (200 ltr) chest freezer for 24 hours a day in LA is $ 0.185
  • The cost to run a 7.0 Cu.ft (200 ltr) chest freezer for 24 hours a day in London is £ 0.259.
  • The cost to run a 7.0 Cu.ft (200 ltr) chest freezer for 24 hours a day in New Zealand is NZ$ 0.21.
  • The cost to run a 7.0 Cu.ft (200 ltr) chest freezer for 24 hours a day in Canada is C$ 0.11.
  • The cost to run a 7.0 Cu.ft (200 ltr) chest freezer for 24 hours a day in Australia is A$ 0.23.
  • The cost to run a 7.0 Cu.ft (200 ltr) chest freezer for 24 hours a day in Mumbai is Rs 7.20.

Now go ahead and use the below calculator to find out the power consumption of your deep freezer.

Just type the wattage of your deep freezer, the number of hours of usage, and your electricity tariff, and let the calculator do the math for you.


Chest (Deep) Freezer Power consumption calculator:

As I said before, these are approximate values and the actual power consumption will be 5% – 10% on the lower side.

If you are not happy with the approximate results and you want to know the exact power consumption of your deep freezer, then I would suggest you buy a cheap Kill-A-Watt Meter from amazon.


Calculate the exact power consumption of any Freezer using Kill A Watt Meter:

Kill A Watt Meter is a simple device that gives real-time data on the power consumption of any device.

You can check it on amazon using this link – Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor

To use a kill-a-watt meter to calculate the power consumption of your deep freezer, first, connect your deep freezers plug into the kill-a-watt meter and then plug the kill-a-watt meter in your wall socket and you are good to go.

Then start using your refrigerator and you can see in real-time how many kWh (units) of electricity it is consuming.

You can check out this article to know more about the power consumption of all types of refrigerators, How much power does a refrigerator consume?

or check the following articles to know their power consumption in detail:

You can check out this article to know more about the power consumption of common household appliances.

Check out my articles on solar power for home and how it can help you save your electricity bill.

Thank you for reading.

Aavjo 👋


References:


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