To truly know the cost of an appliance, you need to take both the initial cost (the price of the product) and the cost of using the appliance into consideration. A purchase may feel like a bargain initially if the product has a low price tag, but if the cost of running the product is high, it will even out in the end.
Therefore, it’s important to overlook all aspects of a purchase before you jump head first. In the case of air fryers, they are known to be cost-effective and marketed as such. To label something as cost-effective doesn’t provide nearly enough insight, at least not for me.
Therefore, I’ve done research on the subject to clarify this question, hopefully, this will make your decision easier.
Here’s what I came up with.
Do air fryers consume a lot of electricity? Air fryers don’t consume a lot of electricity. They use energy efficiently and in comparison to an oven, they reduce cooking times by up to 25%, which of course, makes it possible for an air fryer to run for a shorter amount of time when cooking. A Philips air fryer, for example, costs about a penny to run for 5 minutes. This may vary a little, depending on the cost of electricity per kWh in your region. Scroll further to find out how to calculate the cost of your air fryer!
To actually calculate the amount of energy used by your air fryer, or the one you’ve got on your wish list, first, we need to find out at what wattage the air fryer runs.
Wattage is usually labeled on the appliance, then, by multiplying the wattage with the amount of time used, we can easily understand the cost of the product. Digging deeper into the equation will tell you how much energy the air fryer consumes for a single batch of french fries.
Now, take the wattage of the air fryer, multiply it by the amount of time, let’s say half an hour, that’s 0.50 of an hour, which is pretty rare for an air fryer, usually, you’ll cook for no more than 20 minutes. The average cooking time of an air fryer is much closer to 12-15 minutes.
If the wattage of the air fryer in this example is 1450, we’ll take 1450 x 0.50, which equals 725.
Now, to achieve the actual costs, you need to find out about the actual costs of electricity in your specific region. For this example, I’ll say that electricity costs 10 cents per kWh. Which I think is pretty accurate, it might stretch up to 13 cents in some places.
With that in mind, take the cost per kWh and multiply it by 725. In our case, that’s $0.072.5 to run the air fryer for half an hour, if the air fryer’s wattage is 1450.
But, as we said earlier, using an air fryer for half an hour is pretty rare. Instead, if you were to use it for 15 minutes, you wouldn’t have spent more than 35 cents.
For the sake of perspective, we’ll compare the air fryer’s energy consumption to other appliances.
- Deep Fryer: Standard wattage is anywhere between 1500-1800. We’ll take 1650. If a 1650 watt deep fryer was running for 30 minutes, it would cost $0.082.5. Yes, once the oil is heated, deep-frying doesn’t take more than a couple of minutes. The time-consuming part of deep frying is waiting for the oil to reach the
boiling point. - An electric oven runs on 2500-5000 watts, which makes it a much more expensive alternative. Using an electric oven at 2500 watts for 30 minutes at 10 cents kWh would cost $0.125
But still, all of these alternatives are pretty cost-effective. Even if you were to use them for 30 minutes every day, it wouldn’t cost you more than 30 dollars to run the appliance for an entire year, and that’s the electric oven, which is the most expensive of the alternatives.
Are Air Fryers Energy Efficient And Economical
In order to understand how air fryers can be so efficient, we need to understand how they actually work. One of the things that separate an air fryer from other appliances is the time it takes to reach cooking temperatures.
An air fryer cooks food by circulating hot air, the heat is produced by a heating coil and then distributed throughout the air fryer using the convection mechanism and a mechanical fan.
When convection takes place, warm air heated by the heating element rises to the top of the air fryer, and cool air is pushed to the bottom, once there, it’s heated by the element. When the newly heated air is pushed upwards, the air starts circulating.
And, unlike a conventional oven, an air fryer is compact and small. The bigger the size of the chamber, the longer it takes for the air to reach higher temperatures. And in that aspect, the air fryer’s restricted space becomes an advantage.
Because of the air fryers powerful heating and its smaller size, the air fryer can cook a meal quicker than many other appliances. Therefore, the appliance runs for less time, which equals less power used per each session.
The energy efficiency of an air fryer may not lay in the wattage, but instead, in the reduced cooking times.
Optimal Air Fryer Wattages
Typically, air fryers run on somewhere between 1200-1500 watts. The wattage of the air fryer has an effect on the appliance’s performance, but because temperature and time are adjustable on an air fryer, there shouldn’t be a noticeable difference between a 1200 watt air fryer and a 1500 watt air fryer.
After a couple of hours online, researching the wattage of air fryers, it seems like the majority of air fryers run on 1400~ watts.
Anywhere close to 1400 (give or take 100~) watts is a good wattage for an air fryer.
But as I said before, going lower than 1400, maybe as low as 1200, isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however, the lower you go, the less power the air fryer has, and as a result, the cooking times will be longer.
Are Air Fryers Suitable For RVs And Campers?
Most people who own RVs or enjoy camping know that you have to scale down on everything when you’re on the road. Camping isn’t always about comfort, but it can be quite comfortable and practical with the right tools.
Recreational vehicles and air fryers go hand in hand, the air fryer is small enough to fit on any countertop, easy to store and quick to clean. As an added bonus, it cooks food quickly. However, one thing to consider is the size of air fryers, they are, typically, smaller than convection ovens, and many air fryers aren’t able to cook food for an entire family in one batch.
Therefore, it’s suggested that campers look for an air fryer large enough to suit their needs. Anything above 5 Quart should be able to cook for a family of 3-5. Larger air fryers tend to run on higher wattages, either make sure that you RV outlet supports the wattage used by the air fryer, or look for an air fryer with adjustable wattage.
But, in my opinion, it might be smarter to look for a microwave oven with an air frying feature. See, the air fryer can’t really replicate the speed of the microwave, and the microwave can’t produce the crispy texture that the air fryer creates.
The best option would be a 2-1 solution like this.
Why Change Wattage On Air Fryer
Some air fryers offer the possibility to change the wattage used, both up and down. Being able to change the wattage of an air fryer makes the air fryer more adaptable.
Let me explain.
In order for you to run the air fryer, your kitchen area needs an outlet that can support the wattage that the appliance runs on. Different air fryers may run on different wattages. Allowing the user to change the wattage ensures that the air fryer can be used no matter what.
Conclusion
An air fryer doesn’t consume more electricity than other appliances, but it takes less time to cook food in the air fryer, which makes it a time and money saver in that sense.
The small design makes the air fryer a perfect choice for RV owners and campers. Make sure that the air fryer doesn’t run on more power than your RV or camper can support.