by Banjoe » Sun Feb 03, 2013 6:31 pm
The operating cost could depend on where your curing fridge is located.
If it's in the house, the heat rejected reduces your winter heating costs so it's not lost energy. In the summer, the heat adds to any air conditioning load.
If your fridge is in an out building then you need to figure out if you're getting benefit of the rejected heat in the winter. If you don't need the heat, then the costs are all lost to the environment.
Operating power is noted on the nameplate so should be easy to figure. The challenge is the operating time. A normal house fridge could be using $200 a year but that cost comes from all the opening and closing, as well as the emptying out and refilling with nice warm goods. Huge loads just with the opening & closing & added humidity loads. Adding hundreds of pounds of warm goods is the other major loading on house fridges.
Your curing fridge loading will depend on its environment, the number of times you open and close the door to check things out, and the number of times your turn over the product with new projects.
Not a simple answer but, if you go through all the effort, I think you'll find it's costing in the area of a $1 a week while it's running and is more than worth the investment for the great results you're getting at the end of each run.