Energy Use Guidance

Why Energy Usage Matters

The world is more concerned than ever before about the environment and the rising costs of electricity. From our early beginnings Yum Asia predicted these changes and conceived product designs that could make your lifestyle more energy efficient.

To keep your electric bills down and to be less wasteful of energy Yum Asia sells products that reduce the amount of energy consumed.

A good example is the difference between a cheap high wattage appliance without effective insulation and how it can double or even triple the cost to make a meal. Heating only the water you need for a cup of tea rather than boiling a whole kettle of water repeatedly is another example of how you can save energy.

This is where Yum Asia products really shine. You can not only make the best tasting rice you have ever had, along with a nice instant hot cup of tea, but you can feel reassured knowing that you are saving money and helping contribute to a greener world.

So What About Yum Asia Rice Cookers?

Our rice cookers are designed with thick insulating walls to keep the heat in. This means that heat does not have to be turned on as regularly to cook the food inside. This is enhanced further in our induction heating (IH) models where the inner bowl becomes the heat source. This way the heat is directed only where it is needed and not all around the internal area of the rice cooker, as in the case of conventional heating method.

Adding the ability to keep rice warm at the end of cooking or set the time when you want the food to be ready (preset timer) means that you don't waste time cooking and it's ready just when you need it. All of our rice cookers have advanced fuzzy logic which means they have our specifically designed cooking profiles incorporated which optimally cook your food so it doesn't become overcooked. For example, we don't just boil rice to death, we nurture the cooking of it to retain the taste, texture and aroma.

We only use low energy modern LED displays which are bright, clear and keep the power consumption down. All of our Yum Asia rice cookers have an on/off function built in.

Rice Cooker Energy Savings Explained

This table above shows the relative costs to cook 2 cups of white rice in various types of rice cooker. You can see that Yum Asia rice cookers are highly efficient especially when compared to a regular glass lid saucepan being cooked on a regular hot plate and conventional induction heating plate .

To give you an example of the type of energy saving we can use the Kumo rice cooker. If you were to use our Kumo rice cooker over the period of a year and cook 2 cups of white rice a day your saving would be estimated to be as follows:

EXAMPLE - KUMO ENERGY SAVING SAUCEPAN ENERGY - KUMO ENERGY x 365 DAYS = YEARLY SAVING
so... 10.25p - 2.6p x 365 days = 938,7p or £9.39 saved for 2 cups of white rice a day
or... 20.5p - 5.2p x 365 days = 1,877.5p or £18.76 saved for 4 cups of white rice a day

This comparison is done without adding the energy savings made by using the keep warm function of our rice cookers which cannot be easily achieved in a regular saucepan. You could therefore add substantial savings to these calculations because you are not having to reheat rice in a saucepan or microwave.

Whilst these savings can easily add up year on year you additionally save time with modern rice cookers over a regular saucepan method because you don't have to hover over a stove watching it and adjusting the temperature. Theoretically, (30 minutes x 365 days) you could save 10,950 minutes or 182.5 hours a year by not having to manually cook your rice.

FLUCTUATING ENERGY COSTS Note also that these calculations are based on a kWh of £0.25p. Whilst this is a reasonable rate there are some customers who may be on a rate as high as £0.50p kWh, in which case you could double these savings.

SAVE WITH A RICE COOKER

Save around 75% in energy costs when you use a Yum Asia rice cooker compared to saucepan methis

Energy Saving With A Yum Asia Rice Cooker

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SAVE WITH AN OYU DISPENSER

Save around 70% in energy costs when you use an Oyu instant hot water dispenser when compared to a kettle

Energy Saving With An Oyu Instant Dispenser

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So What About Yum Asia Thermalware?

The Oyu instant hot water dispenser only dispenses and heats the exact amount of water you require. This is in contrast to a kettle which you have to boil more water than is needed. This older method of heating water in a kettle is more wasteful of energy and therefore more costly. As conventional kettles have inefficient/have non-existent insulation therefore there is an overconsumption of energy. Oyu also saves energy compared to conventional water heaters because you aren’t keeping any water warm, you are just heating as it’s needed. The Yum Ecoboil system gets the water you are dispensing to the correct temperature fast to ensure the beverage you are brewing is fresh, hot and ready to drink right away. No having to wait for overboiled water to cool down and no burning your mouth either.

Zojirushi water boilers are different to Oyu in that they first bring water to temperature and then use vacuum insulation to preserve the heat with reheating of the water when the temperature drops as needed. They are less energy efficient than Oyu but are still better at reducing energy costs when compared to conventional kettles which literally leak heat.

The Iku and Iku Active thermal mugs have double walled vacuum insulation. Heat or cold cannot travel through this vacuum so heat preservation is optimal. This means your liquids (soups, coffee, tea, juice, sodas) can be kept hot for up to 8 hours or cold for up to 12 hours!

Water Heater Energy Savings Explained

This table shows the relative costs to dispense heated water over time. You can see that Oyu is by far the most efficient of the 3 water heater types tested.

As an example, if you were to use Oyu over the period of a year and dispense 4 cups of hot water a day your saving would be estimated to be as follows:

EXAMPLE - OYU VERSUS REGULAR KETTLE REGULAR KETTLE ENERGY - OYU ENERGY x 365 DAYS = YEARLY SAVING
so... 9.1p - 2.8p x 365 days = 1,013p
or £10.13 saved for 4 cups a day
or... 18.2p - 5.6p x 365 days = 2,026p or £20.26 saved for 8 cups a day

A saving of £20 a year can easily add up year on year, but additionally you save time with Oyu over a regular kettle because you get hot water on demand exactly when you need it.. Theoretically, (4 x 2.5 minutes x 365 days) you could save 3650 minutes or 61 hours a year of waiting for the kettle to boil.

Whilst the Zojirushi water boilers are slightly more expensive to run than a regular kettle, once they are preboiled to temperature you still save time with the dispensing of water.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Do your electrical products work on UK power supply?

All electrical products sold on this store are made for the UK market. They are 220-240V, 50Hz built and include a BS 3 pin plug and power cable. They are all certified to CE, UKCA, CB and RoHS standards.

My rice cup only goes up to 160ml on the scale - do I have the wrong cup?

Rice cups are traditionally 180ml (g) but please note that this is to the brim (top) of the rice cup. Whilst the scale of the rice cups goes to 160ml the cup’s capacity is actually 180ml or 180g when fully filled.

So when you fill with rice to get a full 180 mL measuring cup. Don’t forget to go right to the brim and then level off the rice.

Do you have a chart where I can compare all your rice cookers?

You can use the in built Çompare feature of our website’. Every rice cooker has a compare icon you can click. Alternatively you can check our rice cooker comparison page here.

If you are still stuck you can get more guidance from our Choose a rice cooker page here

You can also use our rice cooker advisor tool above. It will ask you a series of questions and then based upon your answers will curate some rice cooker choices for you.

Are the manuals multi language?

For Yum Asia models in Europe the manual is supplied in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

For Yum Asia models in the USA the manual is supplied in English, French and Spanish.

For Zojirushi models the language of the user manuals are English only

How can I tell the difference between fuzzy logic and Induction Heating (IH) rice cookers?

Some Chinese-made rice cookers claim to be IH models but they are actually fuzzy logic rice cookers. All fuzzy logic rice cookers have a round metal heating element inside the rice cooker which the inner bowl sits on top of (like a disc with a pressure sensor in the middle). Induction heating models do not have this heating element as they cook by using a magnetic field.

The inside of an Induction Heating model is completely smooth with just a pressure sensor in the middle of the bowl and a pressure line around half way up the side of the inside of the machine to help the magnetic field use the bowl as the heating element. Although the fuzzy logic rice cooker inner bowls are very heavy duty (aluminium coated stainless steel with an outer coating of non-stick), Induction Heating model bowls are much heavier as they are made from different materials (usually aluminium coated stainless steel which is then coated with either copper or a ceramic material as well as a non-stick outer coating) as they need to conduct the heat in a completely different way. It is easy to tell the difference between the two types of rice cooker once you know what you are looking for!

Can't I just buy a Zojirushi or other rice cooker from USA or Asia and import it?

No. USA units are not compatible with UK and European power supply (they are 110V and 60Hz) and you would need to purchase a bulky and expensive transformer to convert the voltage so you could use it. Transformers for stepping up voltage take up a lot of electricity when converting voltage, are bulky and don’t convert the cyclical electricity frequency of an appliance (ie they don’t convert from 60Hz to 50Hz). We have had several customers who have tried to use US rice cookers with a voltage converter and they do not work or broke within 6 months.

Some Asian rice cooker models are confusing also as they are often available in both 110V and 240V power ratings. Please take care if going this route.