Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Trending News
Convection ovens make good space heaters?
Today I went to a store where they had some inexpensive convection ovens.
I've heard convection ovens can be pretty efficient because they heat the food more rapidly.
It appeared the ones I saw for sale had no insulation, just thin metal walls and even some vents to allow air to exchange from around the oven into the air around.
In the winter I think this would be fine because the oven would help heat the house, but in the summer any heat leaked out of the oven just causes extra work for the air conditioner. Considering air conditioners aren't very efficient, this seems to multiply the amount of energy use by a factor greater than three.
Why are all the convection ovens designed in such a despicably wasteful way?
Are we such terrible engineers?
Is it so expensive to keep air from leaking out of a small oven?
Maybe there is some essential requirement for ventilation that I'm missing?
I think maybe the missing piece of info here is that I was looking at the dinky ones, about the size of a toaster oven, running around $30, to $50 ish, nothing like the large ones that are typically I guess about 8 cubic feet or around there! Not sure if we are talking about the same gadgets, sorry for my unclear question, I'll let it ride & see if we can get more clarity
Ok well,
I completely disagree about the idea that the energy use is negligible. To use 20 cents or 30 cents worth of energy when it would be extremely simple to use only 10 cents worth of energy instead is a crime in principle, as other people need the energy; just as in food waste, if we purchase wastefully at a higher price we deprive other less wealthy people of a chance to use it beneficially. Cooperation is a higher value than independence or competition.
I also disagree with the answer that said air conditioners are efficient. In the context I'm talking about, it's inefficient to use the air conditioner unnecessarily. Compared to using the AC unnecessarily, it's infinitely more efficient to avoid using it. The energy consumed at the power plant to counteract the heat is three or four times as much at least as the amount brought into a dwelling by a cooker or oven or stove. That is why microwave ovens are such a great gain in efficiency.
The cheapo convectio
... The cheapo convection ovens I looked at plainly didn't have insulation, just thin metal sides.
Thank you for the explanation about not melting the sensors; that part made sense!!
4 Answers
- Ray;mondLv 79 years agoFavorite Answer
Until recently, few people were concerned about the dimes worth of electricity that cooking wasted. Those that were could use a microwave oven which uses almost half of the electricity to heat the food. Even a microwave oven if unvented would flavor the food with fumes which out gas from the food; much more so with a convection oven which gets the surface of the food perhaps 450 f, instead of about 200 f for the microwave oven. Yes convection ovens are very efficient as space heaters. Neil
- ?Lv 45 years ago
Microwave: A microwave heats water and molecules in the food by using microwave radiation. It will heat food efficiently and quickly, but does not brown or bake like a conventional oven. Oven: Fueled by gas or electricity and heats from the bottom (baking, roasting) or from the top (broiling). The heat is from a single direction and not uniform. Convection Oven: An oven that has a fan that circulates heated air. This allows for operation at a lower temperature while cooking more quickly. It also results in a more even bake. Convection Microwave (Oven): A combination of a microwave and a convection oven. Allows for even, quick cooking that is browned or baked. So, at the bottom of the scale is a microwave and an oven. They each have different functions. Then there is a middle tier that would be a convection oven - an improvement over the oven. The top tier is the convection microwave oven that provides all the features: quick cooking, heating, baking, browning, and evenness.
- Born YesterdayLv 79 years ago
The convection ovens are well insulated as one of your respondents pointed out. What your missing
is that the controls and electronics can't withstand the oven's internal temperature.
Convection ovens are considerably more efficient than standard but more expensive to operate
(at least in the case of electric). They are popular for commercial cooking because they are
faster, and usually programmable.
A conventional oven exhaust more heat into a kitchen.
There are many techniques for getting the most out of your A/C.
Check EPA's website among others.
- oil field trashLv 79 years ago
I can't speak to other convection ovens but ours has a small recirculating fan and it does not vent the heated air. It is also very well insulated.
A convection oven is no better or worse than any electric heater with a small fan since almost all of the energy goes into heat.
As to the efficiency of current air conditioners, they are very efficient as are heat pumps.
