So now I have a solar PV system how do I make the most of it???

Exiled_Tyke

1961Nick wrote: »

I'm pretty sure our microwave works by turning the magnetron on & off to achieve different power levels. If yours works in the same way as mine, the 1500w magnetron is on about 53% of the time to achieve an average of 800w.

At full power mine draws 1500w all the time. So I'm presuming it's around 50% efficient. Only on lower power settings does it cut in and out. Microwaves are great but not as efficient as people think they are.

Doc_N

Exiled_Tyke wrote: »

At full power mine draws 1500w all the time. So I'm presuming it's around 50% efficient. Only on lower power settings does it cut in and out. Microwaves are great but not as efficient as people think they are.

Don't forget the extremely short cooking times. Often a tiny fraction of those involved in any other cooker.

When utiliising 'free' electricity though, the food, time and convenience have, for me, to be weighed up against relatively small savings.

Exiled_Tyke

Doc_N wrote: »

Don't forget the extremely short cooking times. Often a tiny fraction of those involved in any other cooker.

When utiliising 'free' electricity though, the food, time and convenience have, for me, to be weighed up against relatively small savings.

Agreed. Compared to heating up a whole conventional oven microwaves can often be extremely efficient especially for small amounts of food. The problem is that this leaves people into thinking they are the best solution to everything including boiling water when a kettle is probably somewhere near twice as efficient at that job.

pinnks

I agree. My experience with boiling water in a microwave is that it doesn't, we, not efficiently anyway. Milk, soup and other liquids where there are solids suspended in them are all fine but pure water just doesn't get hot in my experience, even if you pop a spoon in the container. My 1kW kettle is the answer for the small amounts of water we boil at any one time (usually just a cup of water for tea as one of us is a coffee drinker with the bean-to-cup luxury...

Martyn1981

pinnks wrote: »

I agree. My experience with boiling water in a microwave is that it doesn't, we, not efficiently anyway. Milk, soup and other liquids where there are solids suspended in them are all fine but pure water just doesn't get hot in my experience, even if you pop a spoon in the container. My 1kW kettle is the answer for the small amounts of water we boil at any one time (usually just a cup of water for tea as one of us is a coffee drinker with the bean-to-cup luxury...

Same here, 1kW kettle can at a push fill two cups, but the ability to only boil one cup's worth is great.

Also, when the 3kW kettle died, we replaced it with a 2.2kW, seemed logical. Though it rarely gets used other than as a reservoir for the ickle one, warming water to room temp.

Exiled_Tyke

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Same here, 1kW kettle can at a push fill two cups, but the ability to only boil one cup's worth is great.

Also, when the 3kW kettle died, we replaced it with a 2.2kW, seemed logical. Though it rarely gets used other than as a reservoir for the ickle one, warming water to room temp.

2.2kW kettle is very interesting. Can you post details please?

JKenH

Exiled_Tyke wrote: »

2.2kW kettle is very interesting. Can you post details please?

2.2kw kettles are commonplace available in most supermarkets. Just had a look and the cheap plastic one we are using in our motor home is 1.85-2.2kw.

I use a 1.25kw/1.25 litre insulated kettle which keeps water hot enough for tea for 2 hours and coffee 4 hours - allegedly. Other sizes and wattages are available.

I also fill a couple of 1 litre thermos flasks up when the sun is shining and use the contents either directly to make tea/coffee or to put in the pan for boiling vegetables or to fill the low wattage kettle up the next morning for a quicker boil. I am not sure it saves much money but it more than halves the time taken to boil the kettle in the morning.

In addition to the insulated kettle I have a 1.7 litre 1kw kettle which takes 10 minutes to boil so I just use that to fill the flasks up or in anticipation of cooking vegetables or rice.

mmmmikey

JKenH wrote: »

2.2kw kettles are commonplace available in most supermarkets. Just had a look and the cheap plastic one we are using in our motor home is 1.85-2.2kw.

I use a 1.25kw/1.25 litre insulated kettle which keeps water hot enough for tea for 2 hours and coffee 4 hours - allegedly. Other sizes and wattages are available.

I also fill a couple of 1 litre thermos flasks up when the sun is shining and use the contents either directly to make tea/coffee or to put in the pan for boiling vegetables or to fill the low wattage kettle up the next morning for a quicker boil. I am not sure it saves much money but it more than halves the time taken to boil the kettle in the morning.

In addition to the insulated kettle I have a 1.7 litre 1kw kettle which takes 10 minutes to boil so I just use that to fill the flasks up or in anticipation of cooking vegetables or rice.

Whew - I had to listen to listen to some whale music and do some yoga to compose myself after reading that I'm up for a bit of green moneysaving but using pre-heated water from a thermos for tea making - what is the world coming to!

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/23/never-boil-water-twice-making-cuppa-tea-guru-warns/

If you want to save a bit of money with a thermos flask, use it for cooking rice - just put the rice in, fill with boiling water, seal it up and leave for 20 minutes - perfect.

But NEVER mess with an Englishman's tea

It's all too much, I'm going to lie down.....

JKenH

mmmmikey wrote: »

Whew - I had to listen to listen to some whale music and do some yoga to compose myself after reading that I'm up for a bit of green moneysaving but using pre-heated water from a thermos for tea making - what is the world coming to!

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/23/never-boil-water-twice-making-cuppa-tea-guru-warns/

If you want to save a bit of money with a thermos flask, use it for cooking rice - just put the rice in, fill with boiling water, seal it up and leave for 20 minutes - perfect.

But NEVER mess with an Englishman's tea

It's all too much, I'm going to lie down.....

I stand suitably chastised. Good to know someone else takes their tea making seriously.

joefizz

ASavvyBuyer wrote: »

We now use an Air Fryer to do most of the cooking we used to do in the oven or under the grill.

x2
Was very sceptical about air fryers then my brother got one. I bought one 3 or 4 weeks ago and the oven hasnt really been on since.
Another vote for the george foreman type grills.
And seeing as I seem to be on a roll with the gadgets (not really eco if you buy a load of gadgets, or is it, lifetime end to end maybe?), heres a couple more.
Hot water dispenser rather than kettle (one cup at a time) morphy richards one does real boiling water so as not to mess with anyones tea ;-)
Slow cooker, put it on all day, make a batch, freeze what you dont use, rinse, repeat. After the summer you have a load of frozen meals you can just heat up in the microwave (unless your freezer packs in). Downside if you work from home is that you can smell that curry cooking all day long...
Dedicated rice cooker (if you dont want to use the flask method) cooks rice under pressure, keeps it warm, lower energy than boiling a pot and watching it stick slowly to the bottom.
Induction hobs, most of you will probably use gas but induction hob is the closest Ive got to gas on electric, can play havoc with your battery on low setting (on, off times not enough for battery to catch up).
Anything chargeable on a timer, which can mean putting the timer unit on an extension lead and plugging all your rechargeables into that (taking account of load and rating on the timer of course). No point saving money as the fire brigade dowse the fire as you come home...