Hi,
My flatmate boils the water in the electric kettle before pouring into a pot and then continueing to boil on the stove. Yes, it is quicker.
My question is, is it cheaper to bring 500ml-1L water to a boil in the kettle or use the stove on full blast,no lid, in a pot.
I've got a Breville Clear kettle, 2400watts if that makes any diff.
cheaper for me in my nxt bill! not for the planet/society
That you can actually compare if you have a wattmeter and a gasmeter. Let us know what you find out.
Actually on further thought the electricity side is not hard to work out. 1 calorie (not the dietary calorie) raises 1 g of water 1 degree C. Assume 1 litre of water. This is 1000 g. Raising it from say 25 C to 100 C will take:
1000 x 75 = 75000 calories = 312800 joules = 312800 watt-seconds ~= 86.88 watt-hours = 0.086 kWh. At say 25c per kWh this will cost you about 2.1c. Probably a bit more due to losses but close enough.
For gas you'd have to know the calorific content of the gas which you can probably look up if you know the composition of the gas. Then assume a figure of inefficiency in the transmission of heat from the flame to the pot. I think that's the hard part.
efficiency /effectivness doesnt mean cheaper either… if elec costs more ?
The only way Mythbusters could test this is to use the same equipment (kettle/stove) and if they applied whatever your gas/electric taffifs were - or at least gave you the info to do it yourself.
In any event, you will find water will come to the boil more quickly if you put the lid on the pot if you are using the stove.
yeh, but my flatmate would never use a lid. im not gonna ask her to change her behavioir because she wont. ill just up her rent.
Hi,
Gas is cheaper during PEAK. Check with your electricity company if you have PEAK and OFF PEAK, during OFFPEAK boiling with electric kettle is cheaper.
Microwave ;)
An electric kettle is more effective at turning the electricity to heat, but then there are transmission losses. Gas has different environmental issues. Maybe ask Mythbusters? ;)