Inside the Home of Instant Pot • Hacker News Board

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#201

Post by billfruit » Tue, Dec 19, 2017, 1:17 PM UTC

gamblor956 wrote: post #185

billfruit wrote: post #109

Does it deal with power failures, as in it remembers it's state and then properly adjusts for delayed start and stop considering the duration of power failure and adjusting process considering the cooking due to already generated heat when power was gone?

If your electric power is as flaky as described, this product, and indeed all other electric pressure cookers, are not for you.

But it only requires a few minor design changes to make it robust against power failure, and then these could be viable devices in most of the world.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#202

Post by tonyarkles » Tue, Dec 19, 2017, 8:31 PM UTC

dagw wrote: post #189

EADGBE wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, wasn't aware of that issue. Perhaps that's why it isn't as mainstream.

I think that's an implementation detail, not a standard feature. Certainly in Sweden induction is basically standard in any kitchen done up in the past 3-4 years or so, and I've never seen that problem. One problem that is real is that they all insist on using resistive touch controls on the cooking surface instead of physical knobs. Which means if you spill liquid on your cooking surface or accidentally slide your p…

Heh, yes. I've definitely had a pot boil over and had double chaos when the controls started flipping at random too.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#203

Post by daveguy » Tue, Dec 19, 2017, 8:48 PM UTC

baldfat wrote: post #161

daveguy wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> anything doubles in sales for 6 straight years I think this kind of article is warranted. If they started at 1 sale the first year they would be at 64 sales. No matter where they started they doubling every year for 6 years is 64x (2^6) sales. 64x sales over 6 years is great if you're an investor, but it isn't news. Inability to buy one means they are having trouble with production. You can bet it is doing more tha…

> Makes me want to cancel my NYT subscription. I think you should just do it. This is an article about a kitchen appliance and how the guy gave away 200 units and used Amazon Fulfillment to grow his company. > Inability to buy one means they are having trouble with production. Yes they can't make enough of them even though they are doubling production every year.

> I think you should just do it. This is an article about a kitchen appliance and how the guy gave away 200 units and used Amazon Fulfillment to grow his company.

Good point. I actually unsubscribed previously because of their "native advertising" policy (and then resubscribed in the last year or so).

> Yes they can't make enough of them even though they are doubling production every year.

The point I was trying to make in the first post was that doubling sales/production/anything else every year for six years doesn't mean a whole lot without seeing year 1.

1) If they doubled production every year for 5 years maybe they should have had extra capacity for year 6.

2) If year 1 they sold 1 unit then this year they sold on the order of 64 (obviously minimal). If year 1 they sold 100 units then this year they sold on the order of 6400. From a production standpoint that is not a difficult task.

I was just disappointed that NYT ran what is essentially a corporate PR puff piece as a "news" article.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#204

Post by akgerber » Tue, Dec 19, 2017, 11:02 PM UTC

derekp7 wrote: post #178

Bromskloss wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how one properly make a safety valve that works even when smeared by food, or prevent the smearing from happening. Should the valve be really large in cross-sectional area, so that the force a food clot would have to withstand becomes large?

Pressure sensor that cuts off the electricity if pressure gets too high. No more electricity, no more heating, pressure drops. Another one I've seen on my mom's pressure cooker that she's had for probably 40 years or more, is a physical plug that will shoot out if the pressure gets too high and the release valve gets stuck. Of course, not sure what the potential damage from this plug would be (I've only ever seen it…

The Instant Pot claims to have some sort of mechanism that will lower the cooking pot and break the seal in an overpressure situation: http://instantpot.us/benefits/safety-features/

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#205

Post by wheresmyusern » Fri, Dec 22, 2017, 7:03 PM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #82

wheresmyusern wrote: post #42

another cool kitchen appliance with a cult following is the panasonic flashxpress. its a toaster oven that uses ir light instead of typical heating elements and convection. there are really good, cult-worthy toaster ovens and pressure cookers but unfortunately there are no such bread makers. we really need a better bread maker on the market.

What features would turn a bread maker from an ordinary appliance to an extra-ordinary appliance?

automatic ingredient dispensing is the biggest one. the second biggest is automatic removal of the bread from the pan.

the other comments are wrong, bread machines make very good bread. ive been basically living off of bread machine bread for months so i happen to know.

the idea of a bread machine is to render bread-making easy. so you can set a timer on the machine and have it start the mixing and baking process whenever you want. however, the bread must be removed from the pan as soon as its done baking or else it will become soggy. this is a pain and almost completely nullifies the overall convenience of the machine because yes you can set a timer but you have to make sure to be around when its done -- this is highly, extremely annoying and also dramatically reduces your ability to make bread spontaneously. automatic removal would be very easy to implement, i have a few ideas myself on how to do it. but nobody does it.

the automatic dispensing of ingredients would be the final key stone is the whole arch of bread making convenience. for simple whole wheat bread, like the bread i make, there arent very many ingredients and all but one are dry. so automatic dispensing is conceivable. i would love to be able to fill a few hoppers with cheap, healthy ingredients and then be able to simply push a button and later on find a fresh loaf of bread waiting for me. but apparently im the only one.

also a bread machine with a nice display and ui would be nice. nobody seems to be able to do it.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#206

Post by balazer » Sat, Dec 30, 2017, 10:25 AM UTC

sliverstorm wrote: post #23

shostack wrote: post #13

I'm a massive fan of things that improve my quality of living, save me time, and save me money. This little hunk of magic does all three. I had no patience for my slow cooker, and this lets me experiment with foods I normally would have avoided. Beans? 90 minutes from dry. Real steel cut oats? 20 min. roughly. It has saved countless hours of cooking by letting me make awesome meals for the freezer. Lastly, it has eas…

Real steel cut oats? 20 min. roughly. They're only 20 min on the stove in a pot. What does this do differently?

You throw the food in the cooker, press a button, walk away, and it will be ready and hot for you whenever you decide you are hungry. There's no temperature adjustment, no watching, and no stirring. When I cook grains in the Instant Pot, I pressure steam them in a bowl, which means the pot doesn't need to be cleaned (and the bowl is easy to clean). The Instant Pot isn't much faster than a pot on the stove for many grains, but it's a heck of a lot easier and more consistent.