Oven Burner BTU Rating

[Porthos]

I have a Frigidaire range similar to this model:LGGF3043KF.  I can't seem to find out what the BTU rating of the oven burner is. I am trying to compare the cost of roasting veggies in my toaster oven that sucks up 1400 watts of power versus using my oven. In the summer it's a no-brainer to use the toaster oven because I take it out onto the patio to avoid adding to the heat load in the house. But in cooler months I'm wondering if gas is quite a bit cheaper or is it close to the same. Any hints on finding the rating of my oven burner? It's not in the users manual or in the specs for the model listed on-line.

[dcarch]

10,000 BTUs from an electric oven may not heat the same way as 10,000 BTUs from a gas oven. There are too many variables.

 

I am not sure how you can compare the two.

 

 

dcarch

[Porthos]

I'm trying to look at the cost of energy (per hour as a baseline) between the two. I can tell you that the toaster oven costs approximately $0.29 per hour based upon the rates I pay. I made a wild stab based upon a fuzzy memory for gas range ovens: if the duty cycle of the burner over an hour's time for a temperature of 425 F is 66% and the burner is a 20,000 BTU unit then the cost per hour is only $0.12 per hour.

 

If the burner has a lower BTU rating but has a higher duty cycle I can still get a reasonable comparison.

 

I would rather have a real number than my estimation for gas.

[dcarch]

How about this:

 

Get a big pot of water, measure the temperature, and time how long you get the water to boil. Do one on electric using a Killawatt meter. Do another with your gas oven. Mark down how many cubic feet of gas you used by reading the gas meter.

 

dcarch

[Edward J]

Open the oven door and look for a metalic sticker on the frame/rim of the oven cavity, most N. American models have it there and should give you the btu rating for the oven and stove top burners

[Shalmanese]

I'm trying to look at the cost of energy (per hour as a baseline) between the two. I can tell you that the toaster oven costs approximately $0.29 per hour based upon the rates I pay.

Edited January 17, 2015 by Shalmanese (log)

[Porthos]

My rate is $0.21 per KWH. Toaster oven pulls 1400 watts. When I use it for roasting veggies I set it to 450 F and have the Turbo fan on. Even if it's a duty cycle of 75% that's still $0.22/hour.

[Shel_B]

I'm trying to look at the cost of energy (per hour as a baseline) between the two. I can tell you that the toaster oven costs approximately $0.29 per hour based upon the rates I pay.

 

That seems awfully high ... I often pay less than 30-cents per day for my entire apartment, including cooking.

 

Does your power company use smart meters?  If so, it may be possible to go on line and get your electric costs.  PG&E up here gives me a breakdown of electric use/cost in fifteen minute intervals.  I sometimes use this meter   http://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421531688&sr=8-1&keywords=kill+watt+meter&pebp=1421531819530&peasin=B00009MDBU for more precise and specific information.

 

I'm curious: What toaster oven are you using.  FWIW, I use the Breville Smart Oven and it uses far less juice than what you've seemingly calculated.

 

On New Years Eve, from 5:45pm through to 8:15pm, I used the oven, the rangetop, the Breville, had lights on throughout the apartment, and the background electricity (fridge, emergency lights, computer, etc)  was running, and I only used  25.5 cents worth of electricity.  I get a good deal on power - at the time I was paying ten cents per KWH, so you can calculate how much electricity was used.  At your rate, it would be about 50-cents or so.  It seems odd that one toaster oven would cost so much ...

Edited January 17, 2015 by Shel_B (log)

[MSRadell]

I can tell you that the toaster oven costs approximately $0.29 per hour based upon the rates I pay.

[Porthos]

I got the rates right off of my bill. We are a family of 4 adults and 1 toddler. We have 2 refrigerators and a small chest freezer. We also use electric space heaters and only heat the part of the house we are in. We have a smart meter and I have a Kill-A-Watt meter which I used to verify the power draw of my Oster toaster oven. I have been out of work for close to 2 years so there in no BSO in my immediate future.

[Porthos]

There's no way a toaster oven is costing 29 cents an hour, that's basically maxing out the wall socket

1400 watts on my 120V circuit is 11.67 amps. It is on a 20 amp breaker.

[Porthos]

Edward J, I looked at the 2 tags on my stove and neither of them had the BTU information. I appreciate the suggestion.

[Shalmanese]

My rate is $0.21 per KWH. Toaster oven pulls 1400 watts. When I use it for roasting veggies I set it to 450 F and have the Turbo fan on. Even if it's a duty cycle of 75% that's still $0.22/hour.

There's no way an oven would have a steady state duty cycle of 75% for the simple reason that such an oven would take hours to get up to temperature. You say you have a kill-o-watt, why are you guessing?

[dcarch]

You can save money:

 

1. don't preheat oven. Many recipes tell you to preheat, but there is no need to.

 

2. Remove all things you are not using in an oven, racks, you need only one most of the time. It is a big waste to leave your pizza stone in the oven all the time.

 

dcarch 

[Porthos]

I have emailed Frigidaire my question.

 

For the record I have over 30 years experience in electrical and electronics engineering which includes 8 years at a high-power power convertor company working on equipment rated anywhere from 135 KW to 2 MegaWatts. My last job was working on a motor controller for a 4 MegaWatt electric motor. Yes, I did say 4,000,000 watts.

[Porthos]

My rate is $0.21 per KWH. Toaster oven pulls 1400 watts. When I use it for roasting veggies I set it to 450 F and have the Turbo fan on. Even if it's a duty cycle of 75% that's still $0.22/hour.

 

My estimate of the duty cycle after the toaster oven warming up of perhaps 75% as a reasonable guess was not even close. After warmup it only has a 40% duty cycle. With warmup that make the cost for a hour 13.4 cents. I am both truly surprised and happy that the cost is lower than I was figuring.

 

Now I need to wait for the answer from Frigidaire and test for it's duty cycle to get a better handle on it's cost. I am expecting it to be lower also.

 

The main thing I am taking away at this point is I am not spending as much money on using the toaster oven as I thought I was. I still believe my gas stove will have a lower cost than the toaster oven but at around 13 cents a use I'm way less concerned with the difference. I only roasted veggies every week or two.

[Porthos]

I received a non-answer from Electrolux who apparently owns the Frigidaire name. I suspect they also own others.

 

This means that for my gas range I am going to do something similar to what dcarch suggested. I'm going to see how much gas is consumed for one hour of operation at 425 F including the initial heat-up cycle.

[Barrytm]

Porthos,  I didn't answer earlier, because I was afraid I was going to offend you, but I think you are on the right path now.  Your earlier question about btu of the burner was a path that I don't think would give the answer you needed.  Assume a manufacturer made two identical ovens, and put a 10,000 btu burner in one, and a 20,000 btu burner in the other, which would be more efficient? The answer is probably the 10,000 burner oven, but only a very tiny bit. Since the 20,000 btu burner was twice as powerful, it would stay on about half the time, so the size of the burner is not the big difference in efficiency. Instead, efficiency would depend on the size of the oven cavity, the amount of  insulation ( including how much venting there is to the outside of the products of combustion )  and how tightly the thermostat holds the temp, and the duration of cooking.   The only way to measure those is a direct measurement,  understanding that for different temperatures and different times, you will have different efficiency curves.  My WAG, is that in terms of efficiency, a well insulated electric oven will be more efficient than a gas oven, because both are very efficient in converting the power to heat, and a gas oven is usually vented more thoroughly than an electric oven.  OTOH, the question of which is more expensive would depend on rates for electric and gas in your area. When you then throw the toaster oven into the mix,  a WAG is that is should cost less to operate than a gas oven since while it is not insulated, the oven chamber is a small fraction of the size of a full sized gas oven, but again there is no way to know without running tests.  Of course, if you are going to make toast, pretty sure the toaster oven will be cheaper, and if you are cooking a turkey, the full sized gas oven would probably be cheaper since the long preheat time will be offset in part by better heat retention for a long cook.  Looking forward to seeing your results.  Once you are done with those tests, you might want to test your toaster oven with our without convection to see which is better .  Convection adds the electrical power of a fan, but reduces time and temps, so it may be more efficient, no idea.

[dcarch]

Microwave cooking is actually not too bad for many types of cooking.

 

Try warming up a cup of coffee in  a microwave vs. on the stove.

 

dcarch

[Porthos]

I use the convection to keep the hot air circulating in the toaster oven since the tray with the veggies is just slightly smaller that the oven itself.

 

I mostly use the convection function on my gas range oven also.

 

I am having a bit of trouble deciphering some of the markings on my gas meter. Since I had to do an bit of emergency plumbing today the testing of my range oven was push back a day or two, which includes figuring our the gas meter. It's 30 years old and exposed to the elements and the plastic is a bit fuzzy in front of what I think are the fine measurement dials. The ones I can see start with 1000 cubic feet..

[Shalmanese]

Get a thermometer. Turn the toaster oven on for an hour, then turn it off. Turn the gas oven on for an hour, then turn it off. Whichever heats up the room more is the one using more energy. But unless your gas oven is using an order of magnitude more energy than your toaster oven, you're talking about pennies per month worth of difference.

edit: Alternatively, preheat your gas oven, then turn it off and put your toaster oven *in* your gas oven and turn it on with the door open. Once it's back up to temp, check using the kill-a-watt how much electricity it's using. If it's less than the toaster oven out in the open, then the gas oven is better insulated and thus, using less power.

Edited January 20, 2015 by Shalmanese (log)

[dcarch]

Get a thermometer. Turn the toaster oven on for an hour, then turn it off. Turn the gas oven on for an hour, then turn it off. Whichever heats up the room more is the one using more energy. But unless your gas oven is using an order of magnitude more energy than your toaster oven, you're talking about pennies per month worth of difference.

edit: Alternatively, preheat your gas oven, then turn it off and put your toaster oven *in* your gas oven and turn it on with the door open. Once it's back up to temp, check using the kill-a-watt how much electricity it's using. If it's less than the toaster oven out in the open, then the gas oven is better insulated and thus, using less power.

 

How well the oven is insulated will not tell you how well the oven cooks.

 

Gas oven cooks by convection/conduction, and an electric oven heats by IR/conduction. They each heats up the food differently using the same BTUs.

 

dcarch

[Shalmanese]

How well the oven is insulated will not tell you how well the oven cooks.

 

Gas oven cooks by convection/conduction, and an electric oven heats by IR/conduction. They each heats up the food differently using the same BTUs.

 

dcarch

All ovens convert energy to heat at 100% efficiency so once an oven is up to temp, the power usage is determined solely by how much energy is lost to the room. The power of the heating element is irrelevant as long as it can maintain temp since a more powerful heater will simply be turned on for less time.

[dcarch]

All ovens convert energy to heat at 100% efficiency so once an oven is up to temp, the power usage is determined solely by how much energy is lost to the room. The power of the heating element is irrelevant as long as it can maintain temp since a more powerful heater will simply be turned on for less time.

[Shalmanese]

I think you are 100% correct in the science of heat relative to energy input and energy output.

 

But I think the OP is more interested in energy input efficiencies and costs in cooking food, between a gas oven vs. an electric toaster oven.  

 

dcarch