Mini domestic electric cookers are commonly sold without thermal insulation, resulting in avoidable heat loss. This study determines the glasswool insulation thickness that minimizes the life cycle cost of a Q2-8012 mini electric cooker by integrating Conjugate Heat Transfer (CHT) simulation with Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis. Simulations were run for five thickness configurations of 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 mm in SolidWorks Flow Simulation using an external analysis approach, an inner wall temperature fixed at 95 °C, and natural convection computed directly from airflow physics. The heat loss data were regressed with a series-resistance model at a coefficient of determination of 0.9997, then optimized against an LCC function based on ISO 15686-5:2017 over a five-year period. Heat loss decreased from 23.192 W to 6.808 W, a 70.6% reduction, with an economically optimal thickness of 11.28 mm and a practical recommendation of 10 mm. Life cycle cost savings reached IDR 33,918 (61.8%) with a payback period of 0.40 year. The lid was identified as the primary barrier to insulation effectiveness, its contribution to total heat loss rising from 12.1% to 80.8% as wall insulation thickened, so thickening beyond the optimum yields negligible benefit.
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