Kitchen Appliances Worth Millions

Kitchens across British homes, have £2.6 billion of kitchen gadgets rusting in cupboards completely unused, according to research from Halifax Home Insurance.

From spice shakers to blenders, kitchens are filled with unused appliances. Men spend an average of £119 on unused kitchen appliances, a third more than women who spend around £88. Over a quarter of a million British households have more than £500 worth of abandoned kitchen gadgets stored away.

‘Toastie makers‘, top the list of unused kitchen gadgets abandoned in darkened cupboards, with 32 per cent of homes, having one, but not using it. While around 21 per cent of households with a blender haven't used it in over a year. The lean, mean grilling machine spends more time on the shelf gathering dust than helping the nation lose weight in the 17 per cent of households that have the appliance. Around a fifth, (17 per cent) of those with steamers, juicers and electric carving knives never use them.

From scorching kitchen blow torches to electric carving knives slicing through worktops, kitchen gadgets often prove hazardous. More than £64 million of damage has been caused by cooks having accidents with appliances. Perhaps because they use gadgets without reading the instructions, men unfortunately live up to the stereotype of being klutzes in the kitchen causing one and a half times more damage than women.

David Rochester, Head of Underwriting at Halifax Home Insurance, said: “British kitchens are turning into a graveyard of unused gadgets. While Britons have the best intentions when buying kitchen gadgets, thousands of blenders, grills, steamers and juicers lie idle on worktops. Kitchen gadgets appear to have become merely decorative items in the kitchen for millions of wannabe chefs.”

He added: “Britons should ensure they always read the instructions before firing up a blow torch or electric carving knife as they could cause extensive damage to their property and potentially injure the user. Electrical items should be checked carefully, especially if they haven't been used for a long time to ensure the plugs, wiring and heating elements have not been damaged, which could cause a fire or electrocute the user.”

On a regional basis those living in the South East have wasted the most money on unused kitchen gadgets (£119), closely followed by the North of England (£118). Thrifty Midlanders spend the least on unused kitchen appliances (£80).
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How to find out how much energy an appliance uses

Perhaps the most obvious way of finding out just how much electrical energy is being used by an appliance is to turn everything else in your house off and take two meter readings exactly one minute or ten minutes apart. This will give you an approximate figure which you can then use to calculate its power demands over longer periods based on your own usage estimates.

You may not want to do this however, as apart from the inconvenience of it all, you probably do not want to be turning off your fridge or freezer unnecessarily.

If you are happy with an approximation, then you might just want to take the easy route and work it out from the figures given on the appliance itself, either printed directly onto the body of the device or on a label near the power inlet. If it is a DC device with an external transformer, then these figures will be both on the unit itself and on the body of the transformer.

Although the label may only tell you how many amps a device uses in normal operation, this figure can be used to work out the power rating simply by multiplying it by the mains voltage.

If you are trying to figure out the power demands of a DC device, remember to use the DC voltage stated on the transformer rather than the mains voltage in your calculations.

Usually, appliances are designed to be able to work within a set range of voltages, to compensate for differing electrical supply conditions. So an appliance that is set up to work with a 240 volt supply can actually accept any mains voltage from 220 to 240 Volts.

Even if you suspect that your mains voltage is somewhat less than the maximum of 240v, it is still a good idea to use this figure in any energy calculations that you are doing, as a voltage drop can be a temporary state of affairs.

Devices designed for the international market can often work with a huge range of AC voltages ranging from 100v to 240v, and often have a switch to select between them. When calculating power usage, always use the maximum voltage used in the country you are in(240v in the UK) if you want an accurate result.

Article Source: http://www.deeparticles.com