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Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: pirate_wench on May 03, 2014, 08:30:24 PM

Title: How to estimate energy cost of food dehydrator?
Post by: pirate_wench on May 03, 2014, 08:30:24 PM
Hello Mustachians,

Is there a simple way to calculate energy usage/cost for a food dehydrator? I am dehydrating copious amounts of meals/food for backpacking adventures, and am curious as to how much money I'm actually saving, if any, by making my own when accounting for  electricity. I'm in Seattle, if that matters.

Thanks!
Title: Re: How to estimate energy cost of food dehydrator?
Post by: deborah on May 03, 2014, 09:12:57 PM
At our library, we can get a "home energy audit kit" which includes a plug in device to find out the power consumption of any appliance, including a dehydrator. Maybe your library does this too - or you could suggest this as a wonderful addition to your library system.
Title: Re: How to estimate energy cost of food dehydrator?
Post by: phred on May 03, 2014, 09:24:32 PM
Does the dehydrator have a tech info plate or sticker somewhere on it?  That should tell you the wattage it draws.  Then call your electric supplier to determine the charge per kilowatt.  After that, it is (machine-wattage) times (# of hours) times (kilowatt-rate).  Now, you will have to do a conversion as follows: If the machine is in watts,  then you will have to change machine wattage to machine-kilowattage.  To do this, just divide machine wattage by 1000

An example: your electricity cost 7 cents per kilowatt hour, your dehydrator uses 600  watts, and you run it 18 hours
(600/1000)     x     18 hours      x    .07  = $1.84

Title: Re: How to estimate energy cost of food dehydrator?
Post by: Erica/NWEdible on May 03, 2014, 09:55:00 PM
Seattle public library rents kill-o-watts. We pay 11 cent per kWh up here just north of the city, I think it's the same in Seattle proper.
Title: Re: How to estimate energy cost of food dehydrator?
Post by: pirate_wench on May 06, 2014, 06:57:16 AM
Thanks guys, that's exactly what I was looking for!