Rodney Myrvaagnes writes:
>
Priscilla Ballou wrote:
>>zxcvbob wrote:
>>> Priscilla Ballou wrote:
>>> >zxcvbob wrote:
>>> >>Louis Cohen wrote:
>>> >>
>>> >>>Which one is more energy-efficient?
>>> >>
>>> >>In the winter, it doesn't make any difference because the "wasted"
>>> >>energy helps heat your house -- probably more efficiently than your
>furnace.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > You must have a much more poorly insulated oven than I do. I don't lose
>>> > much heat when it's on and its door is shut.
>>
>>> The point is whatever inefficiency you have using the oven instead of
>>> the stovetop is made up by your furnace running less.

But with modern housing with central heating systems this will usually
contribute to higher energy costs, most espcially because most modern homes
have no kitchen door... with an open kitchen an over heated kitchen area will
fool the central heating thermostat into shutting down, causing the building's
perimeter structure to cool so much as to require more energy to reheat than
was gained from the oven being on... just like the heat loss from using a
fireplace (the immediate area near the fire is roasting and the rest of the
house is like an icebox). Of course if you live in a rustic cabin with only a
wood stove then disregard the preceding.

Continue...

>>But my furnace *doesn't* run less. There is little heat benefit from a
>>closed oven. Or at least my well-insulated oven.
>>
>>> In the summer, the oven insulation makes a big difference in energy
>>> efficiency. In the winter, it doesn't.
>>
>>I don't think you follow. Your point was that the extra fuel burned by
>>cooking in the oven would have a secondary effect of heating the house.
>>My point was that my oven is well insulated and most heat doesn't get
>>out of it to heat the house, so it's wasted.
>>
>No way, Priscilla. The heat can't disappear from the universe. Better
>insulation will slow the transfer, but it doesn't prevent it forever.
>Otherwise the oven would never cool. When it does cool, the heat is in
>the house. It either relieves the furnace or burdens the AC, depending
>on circumstances.

The heat transfer isn't through the oven's insulation (were that true the oven
would be a piece of crap), there's typically some small loss through the oven
itself (negligible), typically mostly at the door seal (fix it), but the vast
majority of heat escapes through the oven vent... in fact more heat escapes
from the oven vent than would be needed to keep a pot simmering on the stove
top, which is why before the advent of sealed burners many stoves vented
through one of the rear burners, the obvious spot to place ye olde stock pot.
And therein lies the reason(s) it's *always* more energy efficient to simmer on
the stove top.

Anyone living in a modern house with a central heating system who thinks
there's an energy savings from using the kitchen oven is fooling themselves...
not unless they seal off the rest of the house, have the oven on all the time,
and live huddled only in the immediate kitchen area (1850 Americana style).




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