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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 365 responses total. |
cmcgee
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response 175 of 365:
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Nov 5 22:25 UTC 2000 |
Ok, good about the water.
What about the slow cooking of the casserole?
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scott
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response 176 of 365:
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Nov 5 22:42 UTC 2000 |
Not a clear-cut. The big savings in a microwave is the concentration of heat
in the food. Long cooking will leak a lot of heat into the container and
surrounds, and you're really not any more efficient than a crock-pot at that
point.
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drew
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response 177 of 365:
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Nov 5 22:45 UTC 2000 |
Re #174:
I would not have thought that balance between the two 120V legs would
affect the accuracy of the meter. Is this so? Any other comments from our
resident engineers?
Stoves *are* 220V. You pretty much need that in order to get the amounts
of energy used for cooking through 20 amp wires. Same with electric dryers
and water heaters.
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birdy
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response 178 of 365:
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Nov 6 01:13 UTC 2000 |
Microwave would be cheaper for the casserole, but a) would it fit in there
and b) food usually tastes better when cooked instead of nuked... plus you
keep your vitamins. =)
(I know...not mathematical...but hey...)
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scott
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response 179 of 365:
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Nov 6 01:35 UTC 2000 |
Balance of legs doesn't affect the accuracy of the meter... otherwise it'd
be easy to get bad readings by not carefully distributing things among various
outlets. It might have been the case in the past, though.
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keesan
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response 180 of 365:
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Nov 6 03:45 UTC 2000 |
Microwave ovens do not remove vitamins. Boiling leaches them into the cooking
water. Food tastes different when baked or fried than when boiled, steamed
or microwaved partly because of the texture (dry instead of wet) and partly
because higher temperatures can convert some of the starch to sugar (which
caramelizes and turns brown).
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birdy
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response 181 of 365:
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Nov 6 04:26 UTC 2000 |
Hmmm...must be one of those old microwave rumors, then.
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gelinas
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response 182 of 365:
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Nov 6 04:29 UTC 2000 |
Yeah, radiation *must* be bad. Until we get used to it.
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keesan
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response 183 of 365:
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Nov 6 17:39 UTC 2000 |
ALITE (by TRIUS) is a small spreadsheet program that does what I want it to,
without the need for a mouse or VGA. It also does an awful lot of things I
don't need it to do, but it does add rows and columns nicely. I finally read
far enough into the 100 page manual to find out how to exit (type / for a
menu). It is much faster and simpler to use than the graphical spreadsheet
included with NewDeal (which also will not work without a mouse).
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jor
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response 184 of 365:
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Nov 6 17:39 UTC 2000 |
efficient 1: in terms of how much power used
efficient 2: in terms of how much you will be billed
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rcurl
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response 185 of 365:
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Nov 6 19:33 UTC 2000 |
MIcrowave heating is the least efficient way to heat. That fan you hear?
It is cooling the microwave cavity generating the microwaves. Feel the
warm air blowing out.
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keesan
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response 186 of 365:
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Nov 6 20:34 UTC 2000 |
This is one reason why I usually microwave everything in a covered dish, which
retains the heat. Microwaved foods can be eaten out of the container that
you cooked them in, which (for those of us who do not eat out of the cooking
pot) is more efficient time-wise. The standard American oven, in a stove,
has a hole at the top which lets heat out, probably on the assumption that
Americans want their baked food to dry out. This is not energy efficient.
To keep the steam from escaping in an oven, you have to cook the food in a
closed container, which, since the heat is generated outside the container
(unlike in a microwave oven) is not energy efficient. I have a small
portable oven which lets you close the hole on top, good for bread baking.
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gull
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response 187 of 365:
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Nov 6 21:40 UTC 2000 |
RE #185: In a lot of microwaves, the metal fan blades also scatter the
microwave energy, to help even out the cooking. (Even then, you usually get
'cold spots' and 'hot spots.')
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rcurl
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response 188 of 365:
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Nov 6 21:52 UTC 2000 |
There are two "fans". The scattered for the microwaves only looks like
a fan - it is not for moving air, but rather microwaves. It is silent.
The FAN that you hear is internal and blows air past the cavity generator:
if it didn't, it would get red hot very quickly. I think maybe 75%+ of
the energy consumed just heats the cavity, it is so inefficient.
The *best* device for heating just a couple of cups of water for tea or
coffee is a small 1 cup appliance similar to a "cofeemate". We have a
Black and Decker version. It heats and geysers the water. There is very
little other mass heated.
For larger volumes we use an electric kettle. Every home has one in
England, and most do also in Canada. I looked for one here quite a few
years ago, but they could not be bought in America. So, we picked one up
in Windsor. These heat the water with a heating element immersed directly
in the water, so there is no lost energy heating with an external element
that also loses a lot of heat to the surroundings.
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gull
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response 189 of 365:
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Nov 7 04:37 UTC 2000 |
I'd be surprised to find you can't buy them here. I know some college
students who use them for making ramen.
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rcurl
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response 190 of 365:
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Nov 7 07:34 UTC 2000 |
I'd be surprised too, today, though I have not looked for another.
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carson
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response 191 of 365:
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Nov 7 13:56 UTC 2000 |
(The Hotpot connection?)
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scott
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response 192 of 365:
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Nov 7 14:16 UTC 2000 |
http://www.hotpotsgalore.com
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rcurl
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response 193 of 365:
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Nov 7 17:51 UTC 2000 |
"Netscape is unable to locate the server......"
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scott
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response 194 of 365:
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Nov 7 20:18 UTC 2000 |
Hmm... maybe they got merged with http://www.e-hotpots.com?
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keesan
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response 195 of 365:
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Nov 7 20:51 UTC 2000 |
Electric coffee percolators also heat the water directly. Just get rid of
the aluminum thing at the top under the lid. Kiwanis has lots of them, cheap.
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scott
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response 196 of 365:
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Nov 7 22:08 UTC 2000 |
Oh wait, I got that link all wrong. It's:
http://www.hotpotnow.com
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rcurl
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response 197 of 365:
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Nov 7 22:50 UTC 2000 |
Good idea in #195!
I checked while at Meijer, and they do have a 1 quart electric kettle for
$18. Presto. The B&D "cup at a time" (8-12 ounces) is #15. (An old perc
is probably $5.)
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drew
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response 198 of 365:
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Nov 7 23:19 UTC 2000 |
Just how much savings are we talking about here? At my electric rates, running
a 1500 watt appliance for a *whole hour* costs about 15 cents.
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scott
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response 199 of 365:
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Nov 7 23:56 UTC 2000 |
Dan, I'm glad you asked that question. See:
http://www.hotpots-online.com/faq
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