The cost of boiling a kettle, running a Wi-Fi router, and powering a floor fan

[Jean Claude Vaaldamme]

This was 2 years ago

[OPINION] The cost of making a cuppa tea - gas vs electricity

CapeTalk breakfast show producer Bruce Hong shares his experiment making tea using gas vs electricity.

www.capetalk.co.za

Gas worked out double back then

Yes but that is very user dependent. Like said in article. My wife also uses the biggest burner for most stuff and all the heat and flames just goes up the sides.
Our kettle for the gas stove in load shedding also have like a 1cm rim/edge type of thing around the bottom which I am sure will make a difference in keeping more heat at the bottom

 

[PsyWulf]

So how many cents of gas goes out in 10 minutes?

No

It takes a set amount of Joules to heat water from 26C - 100C
In the US kettles run at 120V so takes twice as long to heat as our 230V as it needs the same energy input
Same premise with Gas,it has a set amount of Joule per KG gas (each energy conversion has it's own loss of course but we're talking ~60% vs ~70% energy efficiency not 50% vs 100%)

Technology Connections did an interesting video on why Yanks don't use Electric Kettles to Boil water

 

[Lupus]

No

It takes a set amount of Joules to heat water from 26C - 100C
In the US kettles run at 110V so takes twice as long to heat as our 230V as it needs the same energy input
Same premise with Gas,it has a set amount of Joule per KG gas (each form has it's own loss of course but we're talking ~60% vs ~70% energy efficiency not 50% vs 100%)

Most Americans don't have electric kettles

Business Insider

Insider tells the global tech, finance, markets, media, healthcare, and strategy stories you want to know.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[Splinter]

Mate of mine's company recently added solar and battery backup to their building
When people started complaining about not being able to make coffee during loadsheds the boss laughed and said "I'm not paying half a mil extra for you to make coffee. Suck it up"

Thermos flasks are also a thing..

 

[Lupus]

Yes but that is very user dependent. Like said in article. My wife also uses the biggest burner for most stuff and all the heat and flames just goes up the sides.
Our kettle for the gas stove in load shedding also have like a 1cm rim/edge type of thing around the bottom which I am sure will make a difference in keeping more heat at the bottom

Wouldn't that use more?

 

[PsyWulf]

Most Americans don't have electric kettles

Business Insider

Insider tells the global tech, finance, markets, media, healthcare, and strategy stories you want to know.

www.businessinsider.com

Exactly - video goes into the many why's. But not the point. Again,slower this time

It
Takes
Twice
As
Long
In
The
US
To
Boil
Water
In
An
Electric
Kettle

It's not a electric vs gas thing how "long" it takes

 

[PsyWulf]

Thermos flasks are also a thing..

Ever heard the expression "Kak op die werk se rekening"
Much the same

They'll complain,they won't spend their own money to fix it

 

[Nephew_]

Lekker article.
Important to not fill the kettle if making just one cup, I just cover the element.
Agreed, pool pump and geyser/heatpump uses the most.

 

[Cranjus McBasketball]

And in my house they just have to boil a full kettle every time. But apparently it's more convenient to waste money and stand there waiting 4 or 5 minutes to make 1 cup of coffee.

 

[KleinBoontjie]

No

It takes a set amount of Joules to heat water from 26C - 100C
In the US kettles run at 120V so takes twice as long to heat as our 230V as it needs the same energy input
Same premise with Gas,it has a set amount of Joule per KG gas (each energy conversion has it's own loss of course but we're talking ~60% vs ~70% energy efficiency not 50% vs 100%)

Technology Connections did an interesting video on why Yanks don't use Electric Kettles to Boil water

Huh? Wat het ek gevra?

 

[PsyWulf]

Huh? Wat het ek gevra?

You implied 10mins of gas would cost significantly more than 5minutes of electricity because of the "Time" aspect
I explained the correlative between ( Time x Rate of Energy ) = Total Energy to take water to 100C,the time component doesn't change the cost when the total energy required remains constant

TLDR: Won't 10mins gas cost more than 5minutes kettle = No - Not significant difference to get both to Boil
Happy?

 

[garyc]

Looks like the same device that I got from Geewiz to measure the power consumption of various devices. This is worth doing for planning electricity backup hardware.

The measurements on the fridge also showed that it used relatively little power, but had a 6 amp spike when the motor started. Obviously any inverter would have to be able to accommodate this in addition to the other loading.

Right at the moment it is plugged into the aircon to see how much that costs to run - the Gauteng summer is getting started.

 

[Synaesthesia]

Don't fill it all the way and it will boil faster.

 

[system32]

More please.

I have also started monitoring power draw for various appliances.
At the moment, my geyser and pool pump draws the bulk of my electricity.

Bunch of amateurs using kill-a-watt meter.
Professionals use IoT sensors.

How much does a gaming PC use?
How much does a PS4 use?

Here is my readings from 17:00pm to 02:00am





I have a bunch of smart plugs & Sonoff POW2 flashed with Tasmota around the house.
RPI4 4GB with Docker containers:

• mosquitto mqtt
• Postgresql database
• Grafana
• mqtt2postgresql

I wrote the mqtt2postgresql python script.
I think Home Assistant can be configured to save to a database.
I search of github shows a few mqtt2sql apps.

 

[PsyWulf]

Looks like the same device that I got from Geewiz to measure the power consumption of various devices. This is worth doing for planning electricity backup hardware.

The measurements on the fridge also showed that it used relatively little power, but had a 6 amp spike when the motor started. Obviously any inverter would have to be able to accommodate this in addition to the other loading.

Right at the moment it is plugged into the aircon to see how much that costs to run - the Gauteng summer is getting started.

Non-inverters that startup is a whopper

 

[PsyWulf]

snip

*switches wifi off*

Okie dokie

 

[G.A.S]

No

It takes a set amount of Joules to heat water from 26C - 100C
In the US kettles run at 120V so takes twice as long to heat as our 230V as it needs the same energy input
Same premise with Gas,it has a set amount of Joule per KG gas (each energy conversion has it's own loss of course but we're talking ~60% vs ~70% energy efficiency not 50% vs 100%)

Technology Connections did an interesting video on why Yanks don't use Electric Kettles to Boil water

Use the Watts rating, not the voltage.

In SA most kettles are in the 1350W to 2400W range, while in the US they are more around 900W to 1500W range. That said, you could technically get them to work at 240V too (don't try this at home:

)

Edit: I did go out of my way to find a 3000W kettle for the kitchen and it is awesome

 

[PsyWulf]

In SA most kettles are in the 1350W to 2400W range, while in the US they are more around 900W to 1500W range.

Because of Voltage..
Their Watts is lower at same amperage..
Because of lower watts their heat per minute transferred is lower..
Because of that lower transfer their time to boil is longer..

The physics hasn't changed,the water still needed the same Watt/Joule added to boil,be it taking 30 minutes or 3

For christ sakes my ignore list can only get so long

 

[The Voice]

Pro tip: if you’re only making a single cup of coffee, don’t boil a full kettle. Alternatively, boil a full kettle, and then fill up a thermos to use for the rest of the day.

 

[Dan C]

How much it costs to boil a kettle

MyBroadband tested the power consumption of various appliances and devices to see how much it costs to run them and found a kettle to be the most expensive.

We measured power draw with a Kill-A-Watt meter, which also calculates the cost based on a constant price per unit, for which we used R2.56 per kilowatt-hour (kWh).

I don't drink coffee. Please measure an ice maker for my whiskey.