Why are you selling Zojirushi rice cookers and water heaters?
We are a UK couple who love eating rice (having visited and lived in Asia) and eat it on a daily basis. We were unsatisfied with the rice cookers available to UK residents where the rice cookers often failed to last more than a month of use and spit water everywhere. We researched on the internet as to what rice cookers have the best record of durability and cooking results and found this to be Zojirushi. We bought this product for ourselves...this was 6 years ago and the rice cooker is still going strong and is used everyday. We were so impressed that we decided to source these Zojirushi rice cookers for sale in the UK, Europe and Australia so that other people like ourselves can see just how fantastic these cookers are. After using our Zojirushi rice cooker for so long we got a water heater, which has been just as fantastic as the rice cooker!
Will these rice cookers and water heaters work on UK and European power supply?
Yes. The rice cookers and water heaters were sourced to be compatible with UK and European 220-240v, 50hz power supply. The unit comes fitted with a British 3-pin rectangular blade plug. All our Zojirushi products are compatible with European and Australian power (or any country with 220-240v power) and just need an adapter plug. Please note that models imported from the US and Japan run on a different power supply (110v) and WILL NOT work on UK, European and Australian power.
I don't understand the capacity of these rice cookers
The capacity of rice cookers can be confusing, especially because the international standard is to display the capacity in terms of litres of uncooked rice. To make it easy we have put together this table:
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Capacity in cups*
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Capacity in litres/kg
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Number of people
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Translation to cooked rice**
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3 cup
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0.5 litres or 500g
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1-3 people
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1.5 litres or 1.5kg
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5½ cup
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1 litre or 1kg
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1-5 people
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3 litres or 3kg
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10 cup
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1.8 litre or 1.8kg
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1-10 people
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5.4 litres or 5.4kg
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* 1 cup = 180ml of uncooked rice
**1kg of uncooked rice = 3kg of cooked rice
What else can I cook in these rice cookers?
Essentially these are rice cookers and perform best when used for cooking rice. However, we do have recipes that can be cooked in the rice cookers we sell and the book 'The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook' is highly recommended by people who own these rice cookers.
Why don't you stock Zojirushi Induction Heating (IH) models?
There are quite a few IH models for sale which are available for 110v power - including the NP-HBC10/18 - but only one 220-240v equivalent is available. After looking at the features of the Induction Heating models, we believe that it does not offer anything substantially different to the models we currently stock to justify the high price of these cookers, so we have decided at this moment in time not to stock this model. To give you a little bit of background to our decision, our suppliers have demonstrated both the IH model and the models that we stock, we tasted rice from each model and we honestly couldn't tell the difference between the models. The only difference in the rice cookers we could see was that the IH model has a 'regular, softer, harder' setting for the texture of white rice (which the NS-ZAQ10 and NS-ZAQ18 already has) and the GABA brown rice setting (which the NS-YSQ10 and NS-YSQ18 already has). Other than this, the induction heating method is slightly different electronics (ie the heating element is slightly different) and we really cannot see what costs 3-4 times as much as the other rice cookers we stock! The IH models actually do their best work with plain rice, they don't cook rice any better than the fuzzy logic models we supply and they also don't cook oatmeal porridge, a feature a lot of our customers are interested in. Induction heating models are still quite expensive (around £100 more than the YSQ10 and offering less features). Induction Heating models are also not as energy efficient as fuzzy logic models - for example, a 5.5 cup fuzzy logic is a 570 - 610W machine whereas the same size Induction model is typically 1200W or more. There are also some issues with power supply and the IH models – what we mean by this is that the electrical frequency cycle has to be exactly right for IH models to work as they use magnets to heat the inner bowl, it’s extremely important that the frequency of the machine and the power supply match.
How can I tell the difference between fuzzy logic and Induction Heating (IH) rice cookers?
Some Chinese-made rice cookers claim to be IH models but they are actually fuzzy logic rice cookers. All fuzzy logic rice cookers have a round metal heating element inside the rice cooker which the inner bowl sits on top of (like a disc with a pressure sensor in the middle). Induction heating models do not have this heating element as they cook by using a magnetic field. The inside of an Induction Heating model is completely smooth with just a pressure sensor in the middle of the bowl and a pressure line around half way up the side of the inside of the machine to help the magnetic field use the bowl as the heating element. Although the fuzzy logic rice cooker inner bowls are very heavy duty (aluminium coated stainless steel with an outer coating of non-stick), Induction Heating model bowls are much heavier as they are made from different materials (usually aluminium coated stainless steel which is then coated with either copper or a ceramic material as well as a non-stick outer coating) as they need to conduct the heat in a completely different way. It is easy to tell the difference between the two types of rice cooker once you know what you are looking for! See our page how rice cookers work for more details. Induction Heating models use a lot more power than fuzzy logic models - for example, a 5½ cup fuzzy logic is a 570 - 610W machine whereas the same size Induction model is typically 1200W or more.
Are your Zojirushi products shipped from the UK?
Yes. We send each rice cooker or water heater from within the UK which means that there are no import or customs fees if you are based in the UK or EU. These Customs fees when importing into the UK or EU can sometimes be up to 50% of the value of the item.
What are your shipping costs?
We believe in reasonable shipping costs and we have sourced the very cheapest shipping to ensure this is the very best value for our customers; we have standard costs for the first item shipped with discounts applied at checkout for multiple items. See our delivery information page for more details.
When I check out I get a message saying 'Warning: No Shipping options are available. Please contact us for assistance!'. What does this mean?
You will receive this message if you are trying to check out with a delivery address in a country we do not ship to - see our delivery information page for more details. Any non-UK customers will also receive this message if they have tableware in their shopping cart. We do not currently ship tableware to non-UK customers.
What payment methods are available and is your payment system secure?
It's easy to buy a product or multiple products via our website.
Yum Asia accepts all debit and credit cards and also payments made via a Paypal account. Paypal administers all our payments and has a state of the art 128 bit SSL encryption and our payment pages are secured by Verisign. You do not need a Paypal account to purchase, just a debit or credit card.
For your added protection we have a 3D Secure system, this means you need to be enrolled in either Verified by Visa or Mastercard Securecode to be able to complete the payment on our website. Although this is an additional page to complete before your payment is approved, we feel that the 3D Secure system (along with many other online retailers) offers our customers that extra security and peace of mind that our payment system is completely secure and reliable.
Where are these rice cookers made?
The Zojirushi rice cookers we sell are made in dedicated Zojirushi factories in China (NS-LAQ05, NS-TGQ10, NS-TSQ10, NS-TGQ18 and NS-TSQ18) or Japan (NS-ZAQ10, NS-ZAQ18, NS-YSQ10 and NS-YSQ18). Only Zojirushi products are made in these factories; Zojirushi manufacturing standards are extremely high and the factories have a reputation of excellence with build quality and detailed quality control. Many other brand rice cookers are made in generic Chinese factories which make a diverse number of products for several companies (products range from air conditioners to toasters and blenders).
Are these rice cookers and water heaters new?
Yes. These rice cookers and water heaters are brand new in factory wrapping/box. The unit has not been used and has manufacturers manual and utensils included.
Can't I just buy a Zojirushi rice cooker or water heater from USA and import it?
No. USA Zojirushi units are not compatible with UK, European and Australian power supply (they are 110v and 60Hz) and you would need to purchase a bulky and expensive transformer to convert the voltage so you could use it. Transformers for stepping up voltage take up a lot of electricty when converting voltage, are bulky and don't convert the cyclical electricity frequency of an appliance (ie they don't convert from 60Hz to 50Hz). We have had several customers who have tried to use US Zojirushi rice cookers with a voltage converter and they do not work.
Can I use a rice cooker that runs at 220v, 60Hz power in the UK or Europe?
No, appliances designed to be connected onto the 60Hz system (such as Korean branded rice cookers) cannot be used safely on the 50Hz system without first having proper technical modification work done. This may result in the rice cooker malfunctioning and breaking down.
Why choose a Zojirushi rice cooker or water heater?
Zojirushi is the gold standard of many Asian style kitchen appliances but in particular is a market leader for rice cookers and water heaters. The durability of these rice cookers and ability to out-perform all other rice cookers is unbeaten! If you like rice and want the best possible kitchen appliance that will cook it perfectly then this is THE product for you. This rice cooker will go on and on cooking rice for you. The water heaters are the very best model on the market with the benefit of 50-60% energy saving capacity over standard other brand water heaters
Does it cost a lot to keep a Zojirushi water heater on all the time?
No. A lot of the energy in a traditional kettle is wasted because of poor insulation, as water is converted to steam before it switches off. There is also excess water which is heated and left in the kettle but not used - most people overfill their kettles. The inner pot of these water heaters are insulated therefore the energy goes into the water, no steam is produced and very little energy is needed to keep it warm. It is estimated that maintaining the water temperature costs less than 7 pence per day (depending on electricity tariffs). Remember that each time you boil a kettle it costs you each time it is boiled - you are probably heating more water than you need too every time you boil your ordinary kettle and then letting it cool. These Zojirushi water heaters retain most of the energy used, therefore saving you money to use on other things!
Do you have a returns policy?
Yes, we do. Please see this page for details of our returns policy. All the products we sell are provided with Yum Asia's unique 12 months warranty.
Do you supply spare parts for Zojirushi products?
Yes, we supply spare parts for the Zojirushi products we sell for existing Yum Asia customers. These spare parts need to be ordered in advance and take approximately 6 weeks to come in stock. Due to high demand we currently only supply spare parts to Yum Asia customers. Please contact us to order. Prices for spare parts including shipping
- LAQ05 inner bowl - £32
- TGQ10 inner bowl - £37
- ZAQ10 inner bowl - £40
- YSQ10 inner bowl - £44
- TGQ18 inner bowl - £40
- ZAQ18 inner bowl - £45
- YSQ18 inner bowl - £51
Are these products CE Marked for European and UK use?
Yes, all the Zojirushi products we sell have the CE Mark applied. We hold a EU Declaration of Conformity for these Zojirushi products showing conformance to the relevant UK and European safety directives.
How do Fuzzy Logic Micom rice cookers work?
Fuzzy Logic Micom rice cookers are sophisticated machines, see our page, how rice cookers work
Are there any reviews of these rice cookers or water heaters?
Yes, we have many happy customers - don't just take our word for it look on each product page for reviews form our customers.
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