🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <Bxt5s0.M8@brunel.ac.uk> dt89csc@brunel.ac.uk (C S Codrington) wrote:
> 
> Does anyone out there know anything about the use of Halogen lamps for
> heating food. I want to use a Halogen lamp in a kettle instead of a
> heating element. 
> 
> Is this feasible?

Well an electric kettle uses a heating element rated at about 2KW. A halogen
lamp - or any lamp - rated at about the same power will generate exactly the
same heat. Remember that a lamp *is* a heating element - infact it gets so hot
that it glows!!

Now the bad news. Most lamps will not take kindly to operating immersed in
water, the lamp may explode, or it may just electrocute you.

Ofcourse you may be thinking of indirect heating (IR radiation) as employed
by many hotplates. This works best if the IR heats a collector surface in
contact with the object to be heated. You can't just point a lamp at a beaker
of water and expect it to boil.

> Is it cheaper?

Than what? It *is* cheaper than burning used banknotes to boil water : )
seriously though the only way to heat a given amount of water at a certain
rate is by pumping in energy. If that energy is also used to heat a kettle,
the room etc. it is not very efficient. Electric heating elements *are* very
efficient (~100%) at converting electrical energy into heat energy. A lamp
is very inefficient (~2%) at converting electrical energy into light energy.
All of the rest turns into heat.

So using IR is not going to be a good way to heat the water. A microwave is
probably the best way to heat water. The advantage here is that you don't
need to heat the vessel in which the water is contained.

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