Power consumption & energy usage of electric iron

An electric iron or a steam iron or an iron box is a tool used to press the wrinkles out of your clothes so that when you dress up you look smart and neat. It is a basic tool that converts electric energy to heat. It consumes more electric power than most of the other appliances you have at home. This energy usage calculator for electric iron can help you calculate the energy consumed by the iron box and the usage charges.

Electric iron shall not remain ON always. Once the set temperature is reached the power to the heating element is cut off. Electric irons are available in various ratings and features. Electric irons consume roughly 350 watts to 3000 watts of power, varying from one model to another.

Enter the wattage, hours of usage, and cost per kWh. This electricity usage calculator for electric iron gives you the total energy consumed by an electric Iron and utility charges.

Energy usage of electric iron/iron box

Wattage:
Average duration of usage per day (Minutes):
Cost per unit*:(Global Electricity rates)
Electricity usage per day:
Usage cost per day:
Usage cost per month:
Usage cost per year:
*The cost is currency independent and same that of cost per unit input given.

Terms and definitions:

Wattage:

Power usage of the device in watts shall be mentioned on it’s label.

Cost per unit:

The average cost per unit charged by the electric utility. Every country has different tariff rates. Visit: Global Electricity prices for details if you don’t know how much the utility company charges you per unit or kWH.

Units per day:

The number of units of electricity consumed by the load every day considering the entered operation hours.

Hours of usage:

Number of hours the load is used per day.

Energy usage of electric iron/iron box
Working of iron box

The electricity usage depends on the wattage, number of hours of usage. The utility company charges you for total number of kilo-watt-hour of energy you have consumed. Kilowatt hour is the product of power consumption of the load and the number of hours of usage.

Working of electric iron

An American mathematician Henry W. Seeley invented the electric iron, in 1882.

A temperature of 130 degree Celsius to 270 degree Celsius is needed to remove wrinkles from the fabrics. To attain this temperature, an electric iron makes use of heating element called Nichrome (80% nickel, 20% chromium). When electric current flows through the heating element, it is heated up. This heat is transferred to the base plate of the electric iron.

working of iron box
Source: https://www.butterflyfields.com/how-does-an-iron-box-work/

An electric iron consists of a temperature regulator and bi-metallic strip to limit the temperature of the base plate. When the desired temperature is reached, the bi-metallic strip cuts of the current flow to the heating element. Hence, it prevents overheating.

Typical power consumption of electric iron

The below table indicated the typical power consumption of electric iron.

Basic model350 – 1200 watts
Steam Iron1400 – 3000 watts

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