Think of your fridge as a cool cat – both have an average life span of 15 years. And both tend to cost you more as old age creeps in.

Many factors come into play when choosing which refrigerator to buy, and not the least is the expected life span. This is where components and materials are more important than looks and brand status. You can safely anticipate a good, modern fridge to last at least 15 years. With maintenance and tender loving care, the popular brands of fridges being sold today will last up to 20 years.

But just because the fridge still looks good and keeps things cold – and hey it’s grown up with the kids – that doesn’t mean you should not replace it. Consider how the fridge is working every second of every day and every night. It is soaking up a huge portion of your energy usage, and even more in summer. Over time, the seals wear out and the refrigerant slowly leaks, resulting in the fridge working harder to stay cold. There comes a point when it makes financial sense to replace the old fridge with the latest, energy efficient model. As a rough guide, a fridge made before 1992 will use twice the amount of electricity as one of today’s fridges.

Energy efficiency is improving every year, especially since Australia adopted the Energy Star rating system introduced by President Bill Clinton in the United States in 1992. Your state or territory’s energy regulator can probably give you a good guide to the energy consumption of your fridge, which will help you to decide when to upgrade.