How to Calculate Time to Heat Water - By Elyse James

Using the formula Pt = (4.2 � L � T ) � 3600 you can calculate the time it takes to
heat a specific quantity of water from one temperature to another temperature. Once
you have calculated the thermal power used to heat the water, as represented by Pt
in the above equation, divide this number by the heater element rating to find out
how long it would take to heat your water. Calculate Kilowatt-Hours

Calculate the kilowatt-hours (kWh) required to heat the water using the following
formula: Pt = (4.2 � L � T ) � 3600. Pt is the power used to heat the water, in
kWh. L is the number of liters of water that is being heated and T is the
difference in temperature from what you started with, listed in degrees Celsius.

Solve for Thermal Power - Substitute in the appropriate numbers into the equation.
So imagine you are heating 20 liters of water from 20 degrees to 100 degrees. Your
formula would then look like this:
Pt = (4.2 � 20 � (100-20)) � 3600, or Pt = 1.867
Divide by Heater Element Rating - Calculate the amount of time it takes to heat the
water by dividing the power used to heat the water, which was determined to be
1.867 with the heater element rating, listed in kW. So if your heater element
rating was 3.6 kW, your equation would look like this:
heating time = 1.867 � 3.6, or heating time =0.52 hours. Therefore, it would take
0.52 hours to heat 20 liters of water, with an element with a rating of 3.6 kW.