Energy Efficient Kettle ?

monkey_writer

Hello,

Does anyone know what the most energy efficient kettle is?

Thanks

raymond

None

It takes a fixed amount of energy to boil a fixed amount of water the only difference will be the time taken by a more or less powerful element.

The only way to reduce the amount of energy required to boil water is reduce the amount of water so only fill it with the amount you need.

Stompa

raymond wrote:

The only way to reduce the amount of energy required to boil water is reduce the amount of water so only fill it with the amount you need.

Indeed, you can get a kettle specifically designed to enable you control how much you actually boil:

http://www.ecokettle.com/

Personally, I'm not convinced that it offers much (if any) advantage over just filling an ordinary kettle with the required amount!

raymond

Gimmick.

If you want accuracy, just fill the number of cups you want and pour into kettle !!

Make sure to cover the element though.

Hunnymonster

Or use a Kelly Kettle and fire it with your junk mail

http://www.kellykettle.com/

withabix

Some very minor points, but I will make tham anyway:

Kettles with submerged elements will probably be more energy efficient than kettles with the flat disk type element, as the submerged element can only transmit it's heat through the water. Flat disk elements are only in contact with water on one side, so some energy will be lost through the bottom of the kettle.

A plastic kettle will be more energy efficient than an identical metal one, as the plastic will insulate the contents better agianst heat loss than the metal one, which will conduct heat away to the surrounding air and hence more energy will be required to boil the water.

kittiwoz

All the posts above are correct with the minor correction that there's not really any such thing as a flat plate element. It's a spiral element stuck to the bottom of a flat conducting plate so the area of the element exposed to the air is actually greater than that exposed to the water. On the other hand since the element is at the bottom of the kettle, the base of the kettle is made from insulating plastic, and hot air rises most of the heat will still be transferred to the water. Nonetheless a submerged butterfly element is more efficient.

While all electric kettles are similar in efficiency there is no real need for a more efficient kettle since they are very efficient as it is.

hardpressed

If you are only making one cup of coffee would it be more energy efficient to boil the water in the microwave?

henhog

I've got an eco kettle and for some reason the water does not seem as hot as if it was boiled in a normal kettle. Also, it takes a bit of getting used too - you have to pump the water from one chamber to the next and if you forget to do this the kettle will sort of shut down for a few mins. I bought mine because I got ten pounds off with the electric bill, but I think you might be better off just filling a normal kettle the desired amount. HTH.

kittiwoz

If you are only making one cup of coffee would it be more energy efficient to boil the water in the microwave?

No. The kettle is more efficient than the microwave.