Energy efficient Air fryer

Catpuss66

Heard that these can be cheaper to run than a conventional fan oven if cooking for one? Any suggestions best energy efficient air fryers? Or are they just another gadget. 

longhill

Hi I live alone and use my air fryer all the time I use it instead of main oven as I can cook some meals in it in the time it would take to heat my oven up 

tboo

I have an Actify and will more than likely change it to an Airfryer in the future, as they do seem to be more versatile in cooking items.

Ignore the models etc in the link, it's just for comparison related to the machines.

https://frytheworld.com/airfryer-vs-actifry/

SadieO

I don't know the variance in effeciency between different models but I have a ninja one that I absolutely love. I use it multiple times a week and have barely switched my oven on in the six-odd months that I have had it. I too was a bit worried that it would just be another gadget that gets used a few times and then is either just clutter on the worksurface or buried in a cupboard (I have a shameful list of these - juicer, huge towering electric steamer, various coffee machines ) But it certainly hasn't turned out that way for this. I use it for so much. I'd keep it over any other gadget and honestly if I could only have an air fryer or an oven I'd now choose the air fryer! As longhill says, it's so much quicker that waiting for the oven to heat up. And then as well, it cooks things in half or two-thirds of the time. I don't really know my electricity usage figures but for those reasons alone I am sure it must be a saving. 

Effician

I've been looking for some time for details of cooking costs for various types & weight of food with an air fryer but nothing.   seems like it's a well guarded secret & i guess not as cheap to run as people think ( please correct me if i'm wrong)

Meanwhile i'll stick with the combi  microwave/ convection oven , induction hob, pressure cooker & deep fat fryer as i know these are all fairly cheap to run as i have costed cooking of various food items plus they cover most of the bases for our needs.

ariarnia

Effician said:

I've been looking for some time for details of cooking costs for various types & weight of food with an air fryer but nothing.   seems like it's a well guarded secret & i guess not as cheap to run as people think ( please correct me if i'm wrong)

i would have thought it was just the wattage x the time to cook whatever it is? 

https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/do-air-fryers-use-a-lot-of-electricity

here they give an example of an air fryer at 0.75kwh for half an hour would use half the electricity of an oven at 1.5kwh for the same half an hour, but you'd have to think about if the thing you're cooking would cook in the same time in the oven (if you need to preheat maybe because its a bigger space)

logically i would think it would be cheaper to use an air fryer because your heating a smaller space and there should be less wasted heat than one small thing in a big oven. but theres also a fan to push the hot air around and savings for bulk cooking/cooking large amounts in the same heat so i can see why the actual saving might be different for different machines/people.  

Effician

ariarnia said:

Effician said:

I've been looking for some time for details of cooking costs for various types & weight of food with an air fryer but nothing.   seems like it's a well guarded secret & i guess not as cheap to run as people think ( please correct me if i'm wrong)

i would have thought it was just the wattage x the time to cook whatever it is? 

What about thermostats built into the appliance to maintain temperature , once an appliance is up to temp it no longer operates at constant max draw & the energy use will drop. A smaller appliance will more than likely run at constant full power than a larger better insulated one.

joedenise

Airfryers don't run at constant full power, they also have thermostats on them so that the power draw is on and off the same as an oven.  However most ovens use at least 3 to 4 times more power than an air fryer.  

I use different things for different purposes.  If I'm batch cooking and can make use of both shelves in the oven then I will use that but if I'm making a smaller amount I'll use the air fryer or Remoska.  My preference if it will fit in is the Remoska as it is the lowest wattage of the lot at 600w and takes a similar amount of time to the oven but doesn't need pre-heating as it reaches temperature extremely quickly.  Things that need a lot higher or lower temperature get done in the air fryer as the Remoska is one temperature only around 190 degrees C.  

Things like chips and pastry get cooked in the air fryer as they need a higher temperature.

@Effician - you seem to have made up your mind that oven is best so just use your oven.  No one is saying you MUST use an air fryer.

Effician

joedenise said:

@Effician - you seem to have made up your mind that oven is best so just use your oven.  No one is saying you MUST use an air fryer.

@joedenise On the contrary i really like the sound of them, i just wish someone could clarify how much they actually cost to cook something in kwh.

For instance this morning i'm pressure cooking a 1.8kg whole chicken , even with browning the skin with blow torch it will use 0.5kwh, the same chicken will use 1.5kwh in the convection oven, 700g of chips will use 1kwh in the deep fat fryer & another 700g done straight after will use another 0.5kwh.

I am able to  measure how much my cooking costs are but there is no info at all on air fryers apart from the standard reply of , they must be cheaper to run because they are smaller & quicker & they are lower powered. I would hate to go & pod out £100+ to find they have just the same cooking costs as i'm already achieving.

joedenise

@Effician - You can't really compare cooking a chicken in the pressure cooker with roasting a chicken in the oven!  They are 2 completely different cooking methods!  It's a boiled/steamed chicken in the PC as opposed to roast in the oven.

The only way to work out how much anything will cost to cook is to use the wattage of the appliance.  The lower the wattage the cheaper it will be to run

For example my induction hob ranges from 1800-3700W depending on which size ring and what level of heat I'm using.  I know that my air fryer uses 1200-1400W.  My oven uses around 3000W average but obviously likely to be on for longer than anything cooked on the hob.

Not sure if that helps you to work out how much something would cost to cook but it's the only way I am able to explain it.

PS - have you got a friend who would lend you an air fryer to try so that you can work out how much things cost?  Alternatively try Freecycle.  You can always re-donate if you find it's not for you.

Effician

joedenise said:

@Effician - You can't really compare cooking a chicken in the pressure cooker with roasting a chicken in the oven!  They are 2 completely different cooking methods!  It's a boiled/steamed chicken in the PC as opposed to roast in the oven.

The only way to work out how much anything will cost to cook is to use the wattage of the appliance.  The lower the wattage the cheaper it will be to run

@joedenise

Thanks for the reply & yes they are different methods but i use an energy monitor to see exactly how much it costs using each method .If you want it in money terms the chicken this morning cost exactly 10p to cook at 20p/kwh( our E7 night rate) , had i cooked it in the oven it would have cost exactly 30p , these are actual costs, not guesstimates.

The wattage of an appliance is only part of the equation, you also have to take into account the contents you are cooking , the temp at which you're cooking & the time to cook, there is also a need to allow for how much heat escapes the appliance when in operation , either through  venting or poor insulation.  Without an energy monitor  working out the cost of running an appliance with a thermostat  is pure guess work..

Edit : a late ps,   as you mention the induction hob  , that is what i used this morning for the pressure cooker ,the  2+kw ring was on for 40mins but as i was in effect the thermostat adjusting the heat as needed only 0.4kwh was used.

I think trying to find a loaner might be the best option.