The proof of the oven is in the heating

Panasonic confirms its oven uses less energy compared to market leaders

Panasonic has pitched its full metal door NE-1878 with Inverter technology model against two market-leading professional cooking brands to prove its efficiency, and the results are in!

In December 2022 Panasonic commissioned UKAS Accredited independent EMC Test laboratory, Eurofins Hursley, with a brief that would compare and assess commercial microwave performance. Specifically, that of its NE-1878 full metal door commercial oven and its precursor, the NE-1853, against two market leaders.

The brief was to carry out three comparative tests on all four ovens; electricity consumption on full power, when used to heat 500ml of water; heating efficiency, when used to heat 500ml of water; and internal radiation efficiency, whereby heating of different locations within each microwave were compared.

The standout result for the heating efficiency test was that, while all ovens reached a similar final temperature in 1 minute 30 seconds, the Panasonic NE-1878 used less energy to achieve it, saving 15W overall, or 18% compared to the market leading alternatives.

A scoring system was applied by the laboratory which gave points to each oven against each test performed and the overall conclusion was that the Panasonic NE-1878 scored a total of 10 out of a maximum 12 points, against the NE-1853 with 6, and the two competitor ovens with 5 and 9 respectively with the laboratory summarising, “Overall, this leads to the Panasonic 1878 achieving the highest score in our rankings, indicating that it compares very favourably with the other three microwaves in these particular tests.”

Outside of the test results, additional observations were noted that included, “Microwave emissions were spotchecked during the testing process as an additional QC and safety check. Leakage from the Panasonic 1853 was low. There was barely any leakage of microwave radiation observed from the Panasonic 1878. This could be due, at least in part, to the use of a full metal door on that unit.” And, “It indicates that the Panasonic 1878 is the safer of the four microwaves from an emissions perspective and it could also explain why that unit is the most efficient in terms of power usage, as more of the microwave radiation is retained within the oven.” In addition, it was noted by the laboratory that, “The Panasonic 1878 is the lightest of the four units, so carries the lowest risk in terms of manual handling.” This is due to its Inverter technology, where all other commercial ovens are still using transformers.

Andrew Whyte, Product Manager – Kitchen Appliance, Panasonic UK; “It has been a very interesting exercise to put our world first NE-1878 oven through this testing and we’re delighted with the results. To be able to validate the claim that our NE-1878 performs with greater energy efficiency against the market leaders during these challenging times is something we can be proud of and should help to reassure operators when choosing their next commercial microwave.”

To find out more about Panasonic’s range of commercial microwave ovens, email commercial.ovens@eu.panasonic. com or go to panasonic.co.uk/pro-cooking