Appliances
Buy and sell appliances in Guatemala.
Two numbers decide what a fridge, a dryer or a dehumidifier really costs in Guatemala: the asking price, and what it adds to the light bill every month afterwards. Refrigerators, washers and stoves change hands here new and pre-owned, alongside the fans, irons and vacuum cleaners that sit around them. The machines that heat, or that run around the clock, are the ones the meter notices, so look for the wattage on the rating plate, or the yearly kWh on a yellow EnergyGuide label, before you go to see one.
Appliances that heat and appliances that never switch off:
those are the two kinds that move the light bill, and most large appliances fall into one or the other. The refrigerator and the chest freezer in kitchen appliances run day and night, and so do the dehumidifiers and splits under air conditioning. Dryers and irons, filed under laundry, turn electricity into heat, and heat is what costs most. A washer mostly turns a drum, a fan barely registers, and a vacuum cleaner from cleaning and household works half an hour a week, so for those the asking price is nearly the whole story.
The light bill, the INDE contribution and the inverter fridge:
electricity costs noticeably more per kWh across most of the west and east of the country than in the departments of Guatemala, Sacatepéquez and Escuintla, and a large share of homes keep their consumption low enough to receive the INDE contribution on the bill. One machine that runs all day can push a home past that line, and that month the contribution is lost. That is why an inverter compressor matters more here than a long list of features. It slows down instead of switching on and off, and on a fridge or a split that is where the saving comes from. A fridge more than fifteen years old can draw a third more than a current one of the same size, which eats into the saving on a cheap used one every month it is plugged in.
What a dryer costs before and after it is plugged in:
a full-size machine of about 20 kilos, from Mabe, Whirlpool, LG or Samsung, sits around Q4,500 to Q5,000 new at its ordinary price, and gas and electric versions cost about the same to buy. The difference comes afterwards. A gas dryer heats with propane and barely touches the meter; an electric one draws a few kWh per load, a few quetzales each time, and run several times a week that alone can cost a home its INDE contribution. A used dryer is worth what its drum bearings, belt and heating element have left, so ask how long a normal load takes to dry.
Signs a used fridge, dryer or vacuum is wasting power:
most of them show before you pay. A fridge whose compressor runs for long stretches without a pause, or a frost-free freezer that has grown a coat of ice, is short of gas or has a failing seal or defrost part, and it charges you for the fault every month. A dryer that needs two cycles for one load usually has a blocked lint duct or a tired element, so pull the lint filter and look behind for a crushed vent hose. Leave a dehumidifier an hour in a damp bathroom and there should be water in its tank. Cordless and robot vacuum cleaners live on their battery: ask how long it runs now, not when it was new.
Wattage, kWh and the truck for a fridge or a washer:
a buyer who has done the sums will ask what the machine costs to run, so answer before they do. Photograph the rating plate and, if it still has one, the EnergyGuide label with its yearly kWh. Say whether the fridge or split is inverter, whether the dryer is gas or electric, and how old it is, and give a cordless vacuum an honest runtime. Big pieces travel in a hired truck, so list height, width and depth and say whether you will help carry it down to the truck for a buyer coming from Sololá or Sanarate. Plenty of used fridges and washers come out of homes that changed machines to bring the bill down, and a listing that says so plainly, works fine, costs more to run, sells faster than one that pretends otherwise.