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[pcampbell]

I have been looking at deck ovens and have a difficult time due a true apples to apples conversion.

I understand that technically when it comes to converting coal to electricity then electricity to heat, it seems a bit silly in my mind.  However there is more to it than that.

I would not be surprised if gas ovens are only 70% efficient and that is probably being very generous, with a 6" flue.  That brings a 120k btu oven down to 84k BTU, but you still get to pay for all 120k.

Assuming for ease of comparison, it runs a full tilt all day, that is 12 hours a day, 25 days a month, that is 360 therms, or  about $540 USD.

For sake of argument let's say the electric of comparable deck size (although different brand and should be better insulated) is 17 KW/h and we'll say it's 100% efficient (obviously not the case but...).  If that is also running for the same duration of time per day, it is 5100 KW/h * .15 cents = $765 USD.  17 KW/h is about 58K BTU.

The electric should cook more evenly for one.  In terms of heat recovery, assume that with the lack of huge vent and additional insulation that they perform equally.  The electric does not require "combustion" air and has less heat being leaked into the kitchen and restaurant.

For my area .15 KW/h is a lot, and I feel like $1.50 is pretty cheap, but I am still not convinced on gas... thoughts?