Hot air fryers are not necessarily energy savers. It can depend how you use them and what you compare them to.
I will start with looking at two large kitchen appliances such as an oven and a refrigerator. These might seem like they are big users of electricity, but you have to remember that they are (a) insulated and (b) thermostat controlled, with the result being that they turn themselves off for long periods of time while they are at the desired temperature, and only turn themselves on for the time required to bring the temperature range back to the desired temperature.
Some ovens are only actually on one-quarter of the time they are being used [1] Cote, Doug. Slow Cookers and Energy Usage. https://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/010528j.cfm ; the US Department of Energy says that refrigerators are only actually on about one-third of the time. [2] Estimating Appliance and Home Electronic Energy Use. https://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/estimating-appliance-and-home-electronic-energy-use
In contrast, hot air fryers are smaller, but they are running all the time that they are being used, because they need to continuously blow superheated air.
And slow cookers aren’t the necessarily the great energy savers that people think they are, because insulated ones with thermostats only started coming on the market in 2013 : those dangerous hot sides you felt all those decades was constant heat being wasted out the sides.
Air Fryer Wattages
Here are some common air fryer wattages:
- The Philips AirFyer classic users 1425 watts of power.
- As of August 2014, all Actifry models use 1400 watts of power except:
- Actifry Gourmet / Actifry Gourmand: 1450 watts
- Actifry Express: 1550 watts
We’re going to do a sample usage calculation here.
The formula that the US Department of Energy says to use is:
(Wattage × Hours Used Per Day) ÷ 1000 = Daily Kilowatt-hour (kWh) consumption
To keep it simple, we’ll assume we’re talking about a 1400 watt model of air fryer, and that we are cooking something that requires 30 minutes (.5 hours) of running time, such as half a kilo (1 lb) of fries.
So, that would be: (1400 watts x .5 hrs) / 1000
Which equals: .7 kWh
Comparison wattage usages for appliances
From the chart below, it appears that to cook something it could be more energy efficient to deep fry it, pop it in a small-sized slow cooker, or cook it in an oven, compared to hot air frying it.
- Deep fat fryer running for 14 minutes for two portions of chips (french fries): 0.41 KWh [3] Deep fat fryer figure from https://www.infomania.co.uk/archives/38. They did not define a portion.
- Small slow cooker on low for 8 hours: 0.56 kWh [4] Slow cooker and oven figures calculated by Cote, Doug. Slow Cookers and Energy Usage. https://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/010528j.cfm
- Large regular oven for 1 hour: 0.6 kWh
- Hot air fryer for 30 minutes: .7 kWh
- Large slow cooker on high for 4 hours: 1 kWh
- Large slow cooker on low for 8 hours: 1.4 kWh
I found a statement about an Actifry Classic from an Argos UK customer service rep who said, “Having looked into your query, I can confirm that a 1kg portion of chips will use an electricity consumption of 1kw over 40 minutes.” [5] https://answers.argos.co.uk/answers/1493-en_gb/product/4201386/questions.htm?sort=helpfulq&dir=asc
Probably the reason why deep frying is so energy efficient is that oil is one of the most efficient conductors of cooking heat that we have to work with.
Confusingly, though, I found a statement on the “Which” consumer site which read, “The Tefal Actifry is a fryer that Tefal claims will allow the user to fry enough chips to feed a family using only a spoonful of oil. This is said to make chips contain less fat, and the product more energy efficient.” [6] https://www.which.co.uk/news/2008/11/tefal-issues-advice-over-actifry-fire-concern-162004/ which implies that the less oil, the more energy efficient.
I believe that the science is actually the other way around, but in any event, the wattage table above would seem to show that you are paying an electricity premium for healthier hot air frying over deep fat frying. (For sure, though, of course there’s the purchase cost and refrigerated storage cost for the oil, etc, as well.)
Industrial Design Consultancy, UK, says that during an Actifry’s (presumably a standard one) lifetime (and it doesn’t say what figure it used for that), which is used for 1 hour a week, will have a carbon footprint equivalent to driving a car for 1,000 km. [7] https://news.idc.uk.com/2012/santa-s-carbon-footprint-idc-analyses-the-co2-in-2012-s-top-christmas-gifts/ Most of that footprint is incurred not in the manufacturing, but in the usage.
Some will point out that if you’re really looking for the lowest-possible energy usage for cooking, you’ll be using a pressure cooker, and it’s hard to dispute that. It’s just a little tricky to get your fries brown and crispy that way (unless you’re talking pressure fryer here!)
My thoughts
I do not believe I am saving energy using a hot air fryer compared to other cooking methods, but then that wasn’t my goal for acquiring one.
But my goal was to save money — on the food budget.
At the time, we were ordering delivery food a couple times a week because of how busy life was, and the cost was starting to really hit home. So, my goal was to be able to produce “fast food” meals that were as tasty and tempting as delivery food, at a fraction of the cost — and that goal was achieved very quickly. Whatever little extra being spent on electricity now is nothing compared to the two or three hundred bucks that were being spent on delivery food monthly. So for me, there were cost savings immediately, though I recognize that is a pretty unique comparison situation.
All my other kitchen appliances are as energy efficient as the current state of the technology allows (I even switched to a modern insulated slow cooker), so I feel good about that.
Granted, whenever it’s possible, I do try to wait until cheaper electricity rates have started for the day before doing any cooking. But that’s a nice to have if cooking just needs to be done at regular rates for whatever reason.
All in all, taking into account that a hot air fryer uses high electricity, but only for a short burst of time, I would consider that using one incurs about normal energy usage / costs overall for a kitchen appliance.
* Actifry™ is a registered trademark of SEB, France.
* AirFryer™ is a registered trademark of Philips, Netherlands.
References
| ↑1 | Cote, Doug. Slow Cookers and Energy Usage. https://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/010528j.cfm |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Estimating Appliance and Home Electronic Energy Use. https://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/estimating-appliance-and-home-electronic-energy-use |
| ↑3 | Deep fat fryer figure from https://www.infomania.co.uk/archives/38. They did not define a portion. |
| ↑4 | Slow cooker and oven figures calculated by Cote, Doug. Slow Cookers and Energy Usage. https://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/010528j.cfm |
| ↑5 | https://answers.argos.co.uk/answers/1493-en_gb/product/4201386/questions.htm?sort=helpfulq&dir=asc |
| ↑6 | https://www.which.co.uk/news/2008/11/tefal-issues-advice-over-actifry-fire-concern-162004/ |
| ↑7 | https://news.idc.uk.com/2012/santa-s-carbon-footprint-idc-analyses-the-co2-in-2012-s-top-christmas-gifts/ |
I enjoyed reading this article, but I found a big flaw in it. When you compared times and wattage you used a 30 minute airfryer comparison to a 14 minute deepfryer. It’s the times that are the issue! If you have a longer cooking time then of COURSE it will use more wattage. The airfryer only takes 9-16 minutes to cook fries.
9 to 16 minutes would be for a very small portion, indeed.
My air fryer cooks 1.5 pounds of frys in 16 minutes as specified with the instruction manual.
It also cooks 1.5 pound of onion rings in 8 minutes
I agree with you. The main issue is healthy cooked foods .
Main flaw is that the airfrier, like all other appliances does not consume a constant energy. The heating element will alternate on and off based on a thermostat. So the efficiency will have a great deal to do with the insulation of the unit.
My thought exactly!
Hi I just bought it and 4 pieces of chicken in 20 miniut with bone and fries 20 miniut too but my question about electricity it’s comsumsion is high .or average gas range stove.
If you think this in an ecological way though – wasting oil is a lot bigger sin than using a little bit more energy. And producing oil is probably quite energy unefficient (and requires a lot of water).
And there is also the heating time. The deep oil fryer riches the working temp slower than an air fryer
I live in florida. The air fryer can be moved to a screened porch so the airconditioner doesn’t have to use energy to remove the excess heat. During the winter, i use the air fryer inside the house to add the heat.
that is a calculation mistake : 1400watt x 0.5 hour/1000 = 0.7kwh, not 7kwh! that makes huge difference LOL
That’s right. That’s what it says currently, .7; there is a decimal point already in front of the 7 . You may not have noticed it on your screen.
Convention is, though, to place a zero before the decimal point in order to avoid the aforementioned and unsurprising observational error. 😉
I just want to know how many amps
If your going to compare different cooking devices you have to use the right time periods, and also the right amount. ie you have the air fryer cooking one whole pound of fries, but when you go back to the oven, it is only enough for two servings., but it is not stated what the rest of the devices are cooking or how much, In science, there is not another way around. You should be using same times and amounts of food cooked in each device to make it real science. The statement that you made about making a air fryer more efficient because it used less oil, it way off. You think maybe the idea could have been it might be healthier?? If is obvious that you just think air fryers cost more money for power, which is very bias. If you want to prove something you have to use facts, not maybe this, or maybe that.
Yeah, too many false assumptions here. Oil fryers take a lot more time and anergy to get up to heat, where air fryers hit their cooking temp in a couple of minutes. Also it’s not the case that air fryers are simply on full all the time – just like in a conventional oven they cut power when they are at temperature, fluctuating power output. I’ve seen a food scientist actually testing the power drawn by each cooking appliance while heating and cooking a weighed portion of chips, and the full size oven draws far more power, the fat fryer also drawing about double the power of the air fryer.
All these conversations on energy usage of the different appliances are flawed, because they assume that they need the full rated power for the duration of the cooking time. However once they have reached the desired temperature, the heater cycles on and off, depending on how much heat escapes the appliance. For example my 1600W air fryer run over ten minutes would consume 267Wh, but the measured value is 190Wh. So unless the energy is actually measured, the comparisons are meaningless.
Ovens and air fryers operate similarly. This device utilises less energy than an oven. You’ll also notice that the oven need more time to heat up than an air fryer does.
This was an eye-opening read! I always assumed hot air fryers were a more energy-efficient option, but it makes sense that they might not save as much energy as I thought, especially with the preheating factor. Thanks for sharing this perspective!
Interesting perspective! I always thought hot air fryers were a great way to save energy while cooking, but your analysis makes me reconsider. It’s crucial to think about the overall energy consumption, including preheating and cooking time. Thanks for sharing this insight!
I found this post really insightful! It’s surprising how we often assume that hot air fryers are more energy-efficient without considering the whole picture. I appreciate the breakdown of energy usage compared to traditional cooking methods. It definitely makes me rethink my kitchen appliance choices!
This is an eye-opener! I always assumed that using a hot air fryer would save energy compared to traditional ovens. It’s interesting to see the breakdown of how energy consumption can actually vary based on cooking times and food types. Thanks for sharing this perspective!
Interesting perspective! I always thought hot air fryers were a more energy-efficient option compared to traditional ovens. Your points about the actual energy consumption versus cooking times are really eye-opening. I’ll definitely be reconsidering my usage now!