BBC expert explained how people’s freezers are frequently set too high ‘burning power’
A food expert has explained a simple £20 gadget anyone with a fridge freezer should buy to potentially save £100 a year. Many people have their freezer on too high so Kate Hall told BBC Morning Live presenters Helen Skelton and Rav Wilding people need to monitor it themselves because the fridge may not be recording the temperature properly.
Ms Hall said people should get a thermometer – and if it’s on too high they’re burning power and can turn it down without damaging frozen food. She said: “You can get freezer thermometers which are £3 or £4 and they just live in your freezer and they’ve got the temperature on. But if you can in vest in something like this – about £10 or £20. It wants to be minus 18C.
Q”The reason this is helpful is it can cost about £110 a year to run a fridge/freezer so if this is too cold then you are wasting energy. If it’s colder than minus 22C you don’t need it to be that cold. You can adjust it – but minus 18C is fine. “
Helen Skelton added: “Minus 18C could save you over £100 quid each year.” The advice has previously been suggested by personal finance guru Martin Lewis who told everyone with a fridge to change 2 settings because millions are ‘wasting too much money’. The personal finance expert spoke about his energy-saving tips on his ITV show – and this month the Money Saving Expert site he founded updated its advice, saying they are all still valid.
He said that people across the UK are making a big mistake on their fridge – making it far too cold and therefore burning through more power and adding to bills. He said that according to the Food Standards Agency, you should keep fridges at 5°C and freezers at -18°C.
He said: “About heating your fridge. 5 degrees is what your fridge needs to be set to. -18 your freezer. If it’s colder, you’re wasting too much money.” On another issue people are filling their baths wrongly, he explained: “We’re all guilty of this, me included. You run a hot bath, you run a shower, and you add cold to it, don’t you? So what are you doing? You’re paying to pop your heat up on the hot water and then it’s too hot, so even though you’ve paid for it, you’re now mixing it with cold water to reduce the temperature.
“Makes no sense, lower your hot water temperature. 55 degrees is the recommendation. On a combi boiler and it’s quite easy to do on a combi boiler. It’s slightly higher and more complex for other boilers. Just bring the temperature down, you don’t need it to be too hot. If you’ve got a cylinder on your hot water tank, if you haven’t got a jacket on it, a 15 quid jacket could save you 50, 60 quid a year on insulation.”
In terms of heating Mr Lewis said people should go round and check radiators. He said: “I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist. Don’t be afraid to touch your knob. What I mean by this is we turn our central heating on, we haven’t checked our radiators. All the rooms are heating, even the ones you’re not using. If you’ve got rooms in your house, you’re lucky enough to to have rooms you don’t use, make sure the radiator’s turned off.
“But when you turn the central heating on the first time, you only want the radiators on in the rooms you’re using. We all know this, it’s not rocket science. We just don’t all do it.”
Even watching TV can help: “We watch 4 hours a day on average. Put it on a low energy setting, we’ll save you a little bit of money.”
