Excellent idea. As soon as my lazy brother-in-law wakes up I will pull the back cover off (4 screws) and vacuum it out.

I found the manufacturer's sticker, the refrigerator was made in October of 2000. So about 16 years old now.

I have had the Kill-A-Watt hooked up now for 19.5 hours, 2.07 KWh consumed, giving an average load of 106 watts. Since the refrigerator draws 127 watts while running, this would suggest that sometime during those 19.5 hours the refrigerator did turn off, accumulating about 3.2 hours of down time.

Another thing that might be contributing to high usage is not solvable without some serious remodeling of the apartment. The refrigerator is tucked into a tight little nook, with no more than five centimeters clearance on sides and back, open on top. The manufacturer's sticker says this is allowable (minimum required clearance is 2.5 CM) but no doubt it would be happier in a more open environment.

tanstaafl.