The temperature in a refrigerator should be 40 °F or below throughout the unit, so that any place is safe for storage of any food. Raw meat, poultry, and seafood should be in a sealed container or wrapped securely to prevent raw juices from contaminating other foods.
On average, a standard refrigerator consumes between 1 to 2 units (kWh) of electricity per day. This can increase if the refrigerator is frequently opened or if it operates in a warmer environment.
Keep your appliances at the proper temperatures. Keep the refrigerator temperature at or below 40° F (4° C). The freezer temperature should be 0° F (-18° C). Check temperatures periodically. Appliance thermometers are the best way of knowing these temperatures and are generally inexpensive.
Use an appliance thermometer to be sure the temperature is consistently 40° F or below and the freezer temperature is 0° F or below. Refrigerate or freeze meat, poultry, eggs, seafood, and other perishables within 2 hours of cooking or purchasing. Refrigerate within 1 hour if the temperature outside is above 90° F.
Maintaining Safe Refrigerator Temperatures a) Keep the temperature of chillers between 0ºC and 4ºC and the temperature of freezers at -12ºC and below. b) Use a refrigerator thermometer (one that can read temperatures below 0oC) to ensure that the refrigerator temperature is correct.
Your fridge should run from around 35% of the day to around 85% of the day. A refrigerator that gets opened more frequently has to operate more often to lower the temperature of warmer items, so this amount varies. However, no fridge should run all the time.
As the USDA notes in Keeping Food Safe During an Emergency, your refrigerator will keep food safe for up to 4 hours during a power outage. Keep the door closed as much as possible. Discard refrigerated perishable food such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and leftovers after 4 hours without power.
Step Three: Most “average” refrigerators run for about eight hours per day. Multiply 8 hours of usage by the number of watts you came up with in step two, or 8 x 960 = 7,680 watts per day, on average. But 7,680 watts is only 7.68 kilowatt-hours.
So, how often should a fridge/freezer cycle on and off? On average, most refrigerators run for about 45 minutes to an hour before taking a break. This means the compressor is actively cooling your food for around 80–90% of the day.
How often should a fridge start and stop? All fridges are 'on' most of the time. And by that I mean — it is typical for a refrigerator compressor to run anywhere between 4 and 8 hours before turning 'off'. Newer models run even more frequently — about 80% of the time.