Now this energy saving measure probably seems pretty tight to some people. Boiling water using an electric kettle has always annoyed me. It uses a lot of electricity – If you have ever ridden a bicycle to convert motive power into energy – to heat up water – you will know just how much it consumes. The power it uses is too highly rated for ‘onsite renewable sources’. I have longed to eradicate the electric kettle from my kitchen.
Now we have a wood-burning stove we fill a kettle and place it on top during the evening fire.
Every time it boils we use the water to fill up large thermos flasks.
This means we get free hot water for hot drinks during the evening and hot water bottles for bed.
There is enough to wash up the dishes in the evening and if we don’t the water stays hot until the morning and one of us washes the dishes then.
Now this might seem a lot of work, walking to the kitchen with boiling water and such, but our electricity bills have gone down noticeably as a result of this single action. And I have a big smirk when I look at our nearly useless kettle.
What will we do in summer when there are no more fires? Take a look at my home-made Rocket Stove!