When you have a food processor in your home or you might be planning to buy one, you will undoubtedly look at its power. Both from the perspective of whether it is a good appliance for your kitchen activities, but also with a view to consumption. Although Watts and fine indication, sometimes the amount of Watts can sometimes not tell you how powerful your food processor actually is. Today I’ll take you past the power consumption of a food processor.
What about the power of a food processor?
The power of a food processor is often indicated in Wattage. People often think this directly equals power, or the greater the Wattage the more powerful it is. In many cases this is true, but not always. In fact, it indicates the minimum amount of energy the motor needs to run properly.
Less Wattage may therefore save energy, but it is also true that the less Wattage the food processor has, the faster it can overheat.
Drive: direct and indirect
If you want to determine the power of a food processor, you need more information than just the number of Watts. The secret lies mainly in the drive. With food processors, a distinction is often made between direct and indirect drive. With a direct drive, the machine is driven directly by the motor. With an indirect drive, there is a component in between. This part is driven by the motor and this part in turn drives the machine. An indirect drive therefore requires more effort and energy.
What power do I need? And how much energy does it take?
If you are looking for a food processor that is good for the frequent use of heavy ingredients, you will need different Wattages for a food processor with a direct and indirect drive. With a direct drive, 325 Watts is fine, with an indirect drive you should rather think about 1200 Watts. Quite a big difference!
A small calculation
So, then let’s calculate roughly how much energy this takes. Mind you, this is a general indication so it won’t be 100% accurate for everyone, but this is a good example for everyone to get a bit of an idea of how it works.
Direct drive
In this example, we’ll take a 325-watt food processor. 1 kilowatt hour is equivalent to 1,000 watts. So in this case, we are dealing with a food processor of 0.325 kWh.
If you use the food processor for half an hour, that equals 0.5 x 0.325 = 0.1625 kWh. If the energy rate with your supplier is €0.22 cents, which is a reasonable average, you end up with 0.1625 x 0.5 = €0.08, so not very expensive!
Indirect drive
In this example, we’ll take a 1,200-watt food processor. 1 kilowatt hour is equivalent to 1,000 watts. So in this case, we are dealing with a food processor of 1.2 kWh.
If you use the food processor for half an hour, that equals 0.5 x 1.2 = 0.6 kWh. If the energy rate with your supplier is €0.22 cents, which is a reasonable average, then you end up with 0.6 x 0.5 = €0.30. This isn’t too bad in itself, but it’s a big contrast when you consider the direct drive.
In conclusion
So, in conclusion. You will initially put down a bit more money for a food processor with a direct drive, but if you are buying a food processor partly with an eye on using less energy in the kitchen, which is also a reason for many people to buy a food processor besides convenience, then a food processor with a direct drive is the way to go.