Re: Water kettle energy consumption logging

"Jim Wilkins"  wrote in message news:[email protected]...

>It would be useful to record the KWH and time to heat 4l from cold and each 
>lower setting, to compare to the temperature holding KWH values which you 
>could confirm.

The important and difficult measurement is how much energy you save while 
the water is cooling to a lower setting, that requires observing when the 
heater turns on. It would help to have a thermometer visible to see how 
close it is, perhaps by recording a few time and temperature readings to 
plot or calculate the cooling rate and the intercept time at the thermostat 
setting.

Cooling isn't linear, the rate is proportional to how far it has left to go, 
which is exponential. Figuring it as linear degrees per time gets you there 
early which is better than late.

You could do the same for heating to tell when to expect the heater to shut 
off, so you don't accidentally include a second heating cycle. Since the 
heat input is constant the rate will be at first, decreasing as losses 
increase.

I drilled a small hole in the lid of a large kettle to hold a meat 
thermometer or temperature probe. When water or stew in it boils the steam 
will escape with or without the hole.

Amazon sells this inexpensive thermocouple temperature monitor.
https://www.amazon.com/K-Type-Digital-Thermometer-TM-902C-Thermocouple/dp/B016EILWBM/ref=asc_df_B016EILWBM?

I bought a long food-grade probe to use with it. I didn't give its reference 
because it was custom made, Inconel instead of stainless, and more expensive 
than necessary for cooking.