Induction hobs?

[Dave7]

Ours is 10 years old and although there may be a fine mark or two it cleans and polishes up very well. The main thing to worry about is molten sugar as that can leave a mark.

Thanks.
Can't imagine ever having molten sugar but appreciate the 'heads up'.

 

[lazybloke]

You can get a 4 zone induction hob with a 13 amp supply, so 2 zones won't be a challenge.

 

[T4tomo]

We had to have a new feed put in, that said, our kitchen electrics were in a bit of a mess. If you think about it, if you had all 4 "burners" working at the same time on a high power level, there would be a large power draw so it did make sense.

conversely my runs of the simple feed to the old gas ignitor.
the ones that come with 13A plug are less powerful than the wired in ones, but other than not being able to run all 4 rings on level 9 together (or whatever your top setting is) the gubbins will limits them if you do that, they are plenty powerful enough. Given they heat up so quickly, in the unlikey event yo need all 4 rings at same time you just get one boiling, tur down a touch, do next etc.

I was a massive gas fan and now I'm an induction convert. After using the induction at my partners house, i took out a perfectly good gas hob to install mine.

as soooooo easy to keep clean.

 

[icowden]

Our gas hob is showing its age and our pans need replacing so this might be the point to go electric. Past experiences of electric hobs has been poor with them being slower and less responsive than gas. I’m led to believe the new induction hobs are a step up. Any thoughts on where to start looking?

Both my parents in law and brother in law now have induction and like it a lot. The main downside is that you may need to buy a completely new pan set, and you can't just borrow the big pan from another member of the family.

We had this convo before Christmas:-

"Do you have a really big saucepan?"
"yes"
"Will it work on induction?"
"no"

 

[lazybloke]

Induction hob - 13 amp plug;
Pros: Probably cheaper. Able to plug in anywhere - covenient. No cost/disruption/mess for wiring.
Cons: 13amps is only 3 kwatts, which isn't much to share between multiple 'rings', especially when using them simulataneously, eg a big Sunday dinner; the hob will reduce power to stay within the limit, so it will be slower and less responsive.
Conclusion: Probably fine for 90% of all cooking; but an annoyance for adventurous chefs.

Induction hob - hardwired
Pros: Offer a high power rating of 7-10 kwatts or higher. Kitchen gurus will appreciate the extra power, and the ability to simulataneously run multiple 'rings' at high power. Boiling will be faster, the rings will be more responsive.
Cons: Probably more expensive, plus you also have connection costs. Needs a dedicated supply cable, which might be an additional installation cost (and mess).
Conclusion: A better option ifor cooks, especailly if the right cable exists.

 

[Profpointy]

I've only used one once in a holiday cottage

1. I was struggling to get it to work at first, but luckily the landlady popped round to check everything was OK, and she explained that it gets its knickers in a twist so you have to turn it off and on again sometimes ! Not a good start but not a disaster either

2 The touch buttons were mildly annoying but workable

3 Quite impressed with the controllability ... until I tried frying and later cooking steak. It simply would not heat up hot enough and the best you could get was hunting where it would be hot for a few seconds then cool, then hot again

I'm told good ones are better, but this one was basically shyte it you wanted to do any sort of searing or proper frying. I assume a griddle plate would be utterly hopeless

Another problem is we've accumulated an extensive selection of copper pans which would all need replacing. OK cast iron would be cheaper that the copper but they're even heavier and you'd lose the rapid response aspect.

I read here of a hob running off a 13 amp supply. That's about the power of a single small gas ring, so even allowing for the supposed extra efficiency, that is still pretty feeble. I think my big ring is 10kw. Some people here say it's OK if you don't run all the rings at once - I don't get that at all; may as well have fewer rings - is one or two really enough? And if so why have 4? Prompted by the thread I saw the induction version of my own cooker has 11kW for the 5 ringed hob, which is plenty


Why is induction claimed to be more efficient than normal electric? Power is power. The wastage in the resistance heating is surely just the heat capacity of the hob itself, so if you have to have a higher heat capacity pan like cast iron to make induction work, the gain must be modest.

Some of the above criticisms also apply to halogen hobs - not getting hot enough, and the dodgy controls, though to be fair they are quite reactive and don't need iron pans specifically

Anyhow, until I use a good one, I remain a skeptic

Edit: Also regarding holiday cottages, why oh why do they have over complex cookers where you have fanny around for ages trying to work out how to make it get hot like some puzzle to be overcome in Tomb Raider. My posh range cooker at home has one knob for each overln conveniently marked with temperature.

 

[icowden]

Why is induction claimed to be more efficient than normal electric? Power is power. The wastage in the resistance heating is surely just the heat capacity of the hob itself, so if you have to have a higher heat capacity pan like cast iron to make induction work, the gain must be modest.

There's a good answer to that here:-
https://carbonswitch.com/is-induction-really-better/

TLDR: It's far more efficient than gas but there isn't much in it between induction and electric

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

From what I have read the 13amp induction hobs work on a compromise

So the better ones may be able to heat a pan up perfectly well - to high heat even
however, to do that it needs to be the only one on - or to steal power from the others

Personally we have decided that we will get a more expensive one - which also gives us the potential to have one where you can put the pan anywhere on a large "ring" and it will sort out where the power needs to go

I think my wife's agreement to this also involves the fact that we would need to redo the whole kitchen (a bit) and change the tiles - so lots of decorative and colour changing needed
all of which we would probably have done anyway I suppose!

 

[T4tomo]

Some people here say it's OK if you don't run all the rings at once - I don't get that at all; may as well have fewer rings - is one or two really enough? And if so why have 4?

From what I have read the 13amp induction hobs work on a compromise

So the better ones may be able to heat a pan up perfectly well - to high heat even
however, to do that it needs to be the only one on - or to steal power from the others

I cooked xmas dinner on mine, I ran all 4 rings together. Only one can be on the top boost setting at a time, but it happily boost boils one while the other three are on mid or low settings simmering stuff.

The only compromise is not being able to boil the living shite out of 4 pans simultaneously

It is one of the circa £350 Neff ones. touch controls are intuitive press the ring you want to adjust - then turn it up or down.

The only negative I can think of on mine is if you wipe it down and dont intermediately dry the control pad part it beeps a couple of times at you.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Another problem is we've accumulated an extensive selection of copper pans which would all need replacing. OK cast iron would be cheaper that the copper but they're even heavier and you'd lose the rapid response aspect.

There is a cheaper solution. Lots of variants available, eg here:

https://www.italiancookshop.com/pro...and-adapter-for-induction-hob-converter-plate

 

[Profpointy]

There is a cheaper solution. Lots of variants available, eg here:

https://www.italiancookshop.com/pro...and-adapter-for-induction-hob-converter-plate

Whilst that just about makes sense if it's only for your coffee pot now and again, it does sound a bit crazy that you've bought a sophisticated bit of tech which cleverly uses induction to heat up a metal plate on which you then put your saucepan. Might as well have a boring old fashioned hob that gets hot and stick the pan on that.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Whilst that just about makes sense if it's only for your coffee pot now and again, it does sound a bit crazy that you've bought a sophisticated bit of tech which cleverly uses induction to heat up a metal plate on which you then put your saucepan. Might as well have a boring old fashioned hob that gets hot and stick the pan on that.

Just making Prof. aware of their existence since he seemed to be attached to his copper pans. No endorsement given or implied.

 

[Profpointy]

I did a quick look up the electricity generation mix and it looked like 40 something percent gas. It does raise the question on whether it is genuinely more green to burn gas to make electricity to then run your stove rather than heating your food with gas. Frankly I'd be surprised if the former is more efficient, though appreciate there's a cost (in energy, CO2 and money) in pumping gas round the country too. I read of efficiencies of gas turbines being 30-50% (one outlier suggested a rather implausible 80%) when driving a shaft. Don't know what the work to electricity efficiency of the dynamo is - maybe 90%?

Anyhow, so long as we're making a fair bit of out power from gas, then electric heating sounds a bit daft doesn't it?

Fair enough if your town doesn't have gas of course

 

[T4tomo]

I did a quick look up the electricity generation mix and it looked like 40 something percent gas. It does raise the question on whether it is genuinely more green to burn gas to make electricity to then run your stove rather than heating your food with gas. Frankly I'd be surprised if the former is more efficient, though appreciate there's a cost (in energy, CO2 and money) in pumping gas round the country too. I read of efficiencies of gas turbines being 30-50% (one outlier suggested a rather implausible 80%) when driving a shaft. Don't know what the work to electricity efficiency of the dynamo is - maybe 90%?

Anyhow, so long as we're making a fair bit of out power from gas, then electric heating sounds a bit daft doesn't it?

Fair enough if your town doesn't have gas of course

To be fully green I've install a small scale hydro electric plant on my rainwater downpipe, its generating so much at the moment I'm having the mokka pot permanently generating coffee

 

[Bonefish Blues]

To be fully green I've install a small scale hydro electric plant on my rainwater downpipe, its generating so much at the moment I'm having the mokka pot permanently generating coffee

View: https://youtu.be/xHEMkbyXFxs?si=A01wyXr9Kz99YcXB&t=104