In cold weather, leave your oven open as it cools

by Josh Katz
(Elkton, MD USA)

No point letting the heat in your oven go to waste when you're done baking a cake or roasting a meal - open the oven and use that extra heat to warm up your kitchen!

During the winter time my kitchen is always a little colder than the rest of the house due to lack of in-wall insulation.

When we cook large meals in the oven and the food is done, we turn off the oven and leave the door open. Now you have 350 degree air mixing in with your cold air with energy that has already been used.

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In cold weather, leave your oven open as it cools

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Feb 08, 2011
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Close the oven door!!!
by: Anonymous

Finally, someone interjected a little bit of science into the conversation. The Laws of Thermodynamics prevail...!!!

YOU ABSOLUTELY DO NOT SAVE ANY ENERGY BY LEAVING THE OVEN DOOR OPEN. ALL THE ENERGY WILL GRADUALLY DISSIPATE AND WARM THE HOUSE DESPITE THE DOOR BEING CLOSED.

Next, someone will suggest leaving the refrigerator door open to cool the house - which will actually warm the house!

Oct 23, 2009
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This may not really save energy
by: Robin Green

There are situations where your idea will save energy, but don't forget that the heat inside that oven will eventually escape out of the oven and into your kitchen even if you don't open the oven door after baking or roasting. Opening the oven just lets the heat out faster.

This will help if you would otherwise be turning up the thermostat for the whole house because it's cold inside, but are staying in the kitchen, and the heat from the oven helps you delay or avoid turning up the thermostat.

But because of the first law of thermodynamics, which states that energy can be transformed, but cannot be created or destroyed, you really don't save energy using this technique in most cases, because the heat from the oven will make its way out either suddenly, or over time. In fact, in a house that is not perfectly insulated (that is, every house in the real world) the hotter the kitchen gets as a result of opening the oven, the faster the heat will escape through walls to the out of doors (because a greater heat differential leads to a faster heat transfer). Therefore, leaving the oven door closed is probably the better energy saving approach.

Robin from Green Energy Efficient Homes

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In cold weather, leave your oven open as it cools

Comments for In cold weather, leave your oven open as it cools

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In cold weather, leave your oven open as it cools