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How bad is my gas stove?

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Re: How bad is my gas stove?

#331

Post by leobg »

reaperducer wrote: post #108
leobg wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love induction. The main annoyance, for me, are the touch controls. You regulate up or down in steps, and the controls sometimes have trouble recognizing your fingers if they are wet. There’s also no tactile feedback. I’d much rather turn a knob. Then it would be perfect.

I’d much rather turn a knob. I have induction with knobs. It's no different. I suspect it's just a knob on the user side, and there's still the big steps behind-the-scenes. My stove's induction knobs give me tactile feedback, but lack the granular control that a real analog knob has.

Good point. Some things look like a knob but are not the same as a know. At least when compared to how it works on a gas stove.

It's really weird. Granular and immediate control should be such an easy thing to do with electric.

It almost seems as if manufacturers are adding in these "steps" to make it more user friendly in the sense that you can say "I've turned it up to 3".

Is there any technical reason to have discrete steps?

Re: How bad is my gas stove?

#332

Post by evilduck »

noduerme wrote: post #254
mhh__ wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing with gas for me at least isn't that the heat is better or anything like that but that I feel like I can control the application of the heat better. You can move the pan around heat-surface (or an isotherm, technically) in 3D whereas with induction (I imagine it's better if you spend enough) for the same price it seems harder to get that feel. Definitely an electric oven though.

100% - the ability to visually check the flame is crucial. Especially when you're cooking a lot of things quickly at different temperatures. Without that visual cue, you're just guessing every time. Induction is amazing, but harder to work with. There might be a good idea in making stoves that visually show the temperature of what's in the pot versus how much heat is being fed into it. That would maybe convince me to…

A flame doesn’t tell you the temperature of what’s in the pot or pan either. You’ve trained yourself to intuitively understand your gas cooktop, you can do the same with an induction stove presenting you a heating number too. I don’t find induction any worse, it just took a while to relearn and internalize differences.

Re: How bad is my gas stove?

#333

Post by bmicraft »

test001only wrote: post #220
jonnycomputer wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, here is an example. To make yogurt, I first heat up milk to just below boiling for about half-an-hour (this denatures the whey in the milk making for a thicker yogurt). If it boils, then it will usually boil over and make a mess. My electric stove heats on an on-off cycle. That means it goes through periods of being a lot hotter than average, and a lot cooler than average. If I set the electric stove so that the…

Yes, the fact that heat on electric is controlled by switching on and off cycle is what prevents me from switching to it (I believe induction does the same to control the heat). We need no fancy control or michelen rated appliance, just a basic gas stove allows us better control than electric stove.

Induction does not do the same thing, mine seems to (from what you can hear) use pwm with a period time of a few milliseconds and adjust duty cycle based on the heat setting

Re: How bad is my gas stove?

#334

Post by laumars »

gibspaulding wrote: post #310
mhh__ wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can believe it, maybe I've just only used bad induction.

My wife and I have a $200 two burner induction cooktop (Duxtop) and it definitely leaves a bit to be desired. You can tell it tries to keep temperature as conditions change, but it definitely struggles, and the adjustment is pretty coarse. I imagine $1500 Breville one someone else mentioned here is a different experience!

I bought a cheap (£200) 4 plate induction hob around 10 years and it worked really well most of the time (it only struggled if you tried to have all 4 plates on high temperatures so you’d have to think ahead a little if doing a roast). But if 1 to 3 plates running concurrently it was really reliable. So you don’t need to buy top end to get something useable.

Re: How bad is my gas stove?

#335

Post by gibbonsrcool »

jtbayly wrote: post #298
gibbonsrcool wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author is comparing cooking between different types of stoves, not indoor air quality between different activities. I believe you would call this a controlled variable, for example by making sure you cook the same meal, at the same quantity, the same way. Real scientists can correct me.

No. The author didn’t do this.

You might wanna take a second look at the title of the article.

Re: How bad is my gas stove?

#336

Post by IdoRA »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #184
samwillis wrote: post #110

To anyone considering switching to an induction hob and hearing anecdotal stories of how some people don’t think they are “as hot” or “slower” than gas. I guarantee these are all related to the pans being used. It is of upmost importance that you get a really good set of pans “designed” for induction. We have found “tri-ply” stainless steel pans work really well, better than on gas. Cast iron is also brilliant, I inh…

I have an induction cooktop and my cast iron pans have been terrible. Cast iron has lousy heat conduction and induction stoves do not have even distribution. They negate a lot of the benefits of induction, which is the ability to put a massive amount of heat into the pan very quickly. High carbon steel pans (the kind used by kitchen services) have been brilliant. Every time I've seen an induction cooktop in use in a…

You do need to be careful using carbon steel on induction, at least until you get the hang of it: the instant heat makes warpage easy to encounter, especially if the coil is undersized relative to the pan (US portable hobs have tiny diameter coils).

Re: How bad is my gas stove?

#337

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #268
smileysteve wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If wired for an electric resistance range and oven, the typical American home has 240x30+

Right, but we are talking about an upgrade to a house that was wired for a gas range. The person I was responding to suggested using a countertop hob plugged into a standard wall socket. That's not going to work in the states. At least, I assume that is what they were talking about because there are no full scale induction ranges available for 300 pounds = $400. They start around $900.

> countertop hob plugged into a standard wall socket.

There are two-burner countertop units on Amazon that use 120 volt/15 amp and are inexpensive. I have not tried them.

Re: How bad is my gas stove?

#338

Post by stephen_g »

jonnycomputer wrote: post #191
eptcyka wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My mother uses her bialetti moka pot on her induction stove every morning. I'm not entirely sure what you're on about.

Probably depends on which moka pot you get. https://caffeinetalk.com/using-a-moka-pot-on-an-induction-st...

Any moka pot can work with a conversion plate - https://alternativebrewing.com.au/products/bialetti-inductio...

Re: How bad is my gas stove?

#339

Post by laumars »

Macha wrote: post #330
laumars wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Induction hubs are electric but not all electric hub are induction. I’m not certain what you have there, sounds a little like halogen zones though those are old and uncommon. Induction doesn’t work by producing heat. It works by using electro magnets to excite the metal pots causing them to heat. This makes induction much more efficient than conventional electric (more efficient than gas too) but also fast to react t…

Yeah, no idea either, I rent my current place so it's just whatever the landlord put in years ago and there's only a brand name but no model number on the hob itself. EDIT: from the link, a ceramic hob matches most closely

Yeah ceramic hobs are one of the, if not the, worst types of hob you have. I feel for your pain there because my first house had them and I found them to be borderline unusable.

Re: How bad is my gas stove?

#340

Post by sidewndr46 »

gibspaulding wrote: post #302
jtbayly wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whoah! But it is expensive! $1500 for one pan at a time?!?

I'm not sure what you're looking at, but my wife and I have a mix of cast iron and some stainless steel that has been great and I don't think we paid more than $50 for any one piece.

I believe the question is asking about the induction cooktop. Which indeed does seem to cost about $1500.
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