If you think about it for a minute you will realize that electric power is charged in killowatt-hours. The amount of time a motor spends starting and coasting is insignificant compared to the runtime. You may expend a great deal of effort for an insignificant payoff. Surely you have better things to do with your time.
U can lower your fridge related electric bill by puting a small fan on the radiator and filing empty spaces in the fridge . If it's a A or A+ type....don't bother.
A motor driving an air cond or fridge compressor usually
uses 3.5 times as much current during starting, due to a starting capacitor that is switched into the motor circuit.
Inertia and liquid freon require the extra current.
Normal current and power of the motor will NOT be enough
to start.
In the UK there is a product called "SavaPlug" that works by reducing the power to the compressor motor AFTER it has started. This is because full power is only needed to start the compressor.
I noticed that there is a long list of products that are not compatible with it, so I assume that many newer products already incorporate some energy saving electronics in order to achieve high energy efficiency ratings.
The fan method works on any type of Fridge. It encreases the heat transfer (especialy if it's a warm day) and the compresor will stay on a shorter period.
About Sava Plug....I wonder how it works?
But the surge only lasts for a short length of time. Papabravo's right it takes a certain amount of energy to get started. Restricting the surge, hence slowing the process down won't save any energy at all, it'll probably only only consume more energy overall.
Why is all that smoke?
Oh, my SavaPlug reduces the surge current to my air conditioner so frequently its motor doesn't start. Both the SavaPlug and the motor are burning.