Induction cooker

silvertop
silvertop Solar Expert Posts: 155 ✭✭✭✭✭
I just got my Oct. issue of Home Power and it has an article on Induction cookers, and this afternoon Fed X just delivered ours! It appears to be the same unit listed under another brand name. The one we purchased is under the same manufacturer name as our 110v dryer Sonya. It boiled water in about two minutes, it does conserve electric. It's very interesting to say the least. I only learned about this principle a couple of years ago, anyone else have or use one? In Home Power they picked there's up for $59 Craigslist we bought ours on line for $89 with a free pot, anyway one more off the grid notch...........:cool:
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Comments

  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    I think mine is a Burton - don't use it much - till the propane runs out :)
    amazing - 95% of the power goes into the pan, not radiated into the room.

    Attachment not found.
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,

  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    i have no experience with induction cooking and am wondering if it just brings the water to boil faster or does it actually cook faster like a microwave would do? i have to ask because one must put this in perspective that it is still cooking with electric and is still not the best way to cook. only microwave ovens come close to being good in my view because even though it is still a high power draw, the time of cooking gets reduced far enough to make it somewhat worthwhile. as far as i can see the boiling water will still cook in the induction method in the same time frames as any other method of boiling water would.
  • Blackcherry04
    Blackcherry04 Solar Expert Posts: 2,490 ✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    I'v got 2 of them. They are faster, but they are current hogs. They will pull 1500 watts in a heart beat on high. We use ours on 2-3 power level and it's 200-400 watts. The Max Burton has a temperature control and timer ( worthless ). Like all appliances, there some things they do better and others, not so much. If your heating something out of a can, they are great, quick and very little mess. The do take up room on the counter top. We leave ours sitting on the stove top and use it daily.

    This one is great and I got it on sale at newegg.com for $49.00 with the pot & free shipping. Even at $64, I'd buy it again.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16896112056
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    ok. now i see a thermostat on it good to 430 degrees, but what good is that as boiling water will want to stay at the boiling point temp of 212 degrees? it won't go higher and is what i meant about the time in cooking with this won't be improved, but it may, if you say it is more efficient, be able to be reduced in power to maintain a boil. is this the case? give us some more facts and comparison to a microwave oven as most of us are familiar with that.
  • Blackcherry04
    Blackcherry04 Solar Expert Posts: 2,490 ✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    I haven't found the temperature control to be workable. It's located somewhere under the glass top and I didn't think it worked at all detecting the food temperature. I wouldn't call it something you'd want to turn on and leave. I once left it on after I emptied the pot and it got real hot and burnt up the pot just like a stove burner would. That is why I said, if your paying extra for the Temperature control, you might be wasting your money. If it had a probe you dropped in the pot, that might work.
  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker
    niel wrote: »
    ok. now i see a thermostat on it good to 430 degrees, but what good is that as boiling water will want to stay at the boiling point temp of 212 degrees? it won't go higher and is what i meant about the time in cooking with this won't be improved, but it may, if you say it is more efficient, be able to be reduced in power to maintain a boil. is this the case? give us some more facts and comparison to a microwave oven as most of us are familiar with that.

    Microwave ovens have a big cooling fan, and a lot of efficiency losses, a 1KW oven, may only put 700W of heat into the food.

    Induction needs a ferrous (magnetic) pan, as the pan itself becomes half of the transformer. But the pan is really lossy, and so it heats up. It's about a 95% efficient system, just a small cooling fan for the switcher circuit. The coils heat the pan, and the pan heats the food. No gas flame spilling over the sides of the pan, no glowing coils that heat the room.
    Some aluminum pans have a steel plate bonded internally so they can be used on induction cooktops.
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,

  • Slappy
    Slappy Solar Expert Posts: 251 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    Have 2 Max Burton. Using for over a year. Love 'em. Temp is accurate no heat put off in kitchen. Stove unplugged plywood on top with induction sitting in top of that. Very low setting will run off my 600 Watt inverter with no problem heat coffee that way when grid is down. ( up grading later) .
  • silvertop
    silvertop Solar Expert Posts: 155 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker
    Slappy wrote: »
    Have 2 Max Burton. Using for over a year. Love 'em. Temp is accurate no heat put off in kitchen. Stove unplugged plywood on top with induction sitting in top of that. Very low setting will run off my 600 Watt inverter with no problem heat coffee that way when grid is down. ( up grading later) .

    That's kind of funny, my wife had me cut plywood for the top of our stove ( electric ). With the induction burner and our counter top toaster oven Both that can be used with our solar , I don't see us using the stove. I would like add a propane stove later to be flexible with the batteries......
  • Windsun
    Windsun Solar Expert Posts: 1,164 ✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    Induction cooking has been around for quite a while - at least 15 years. It is more efficient, but has some limitations. It is not very versatile in the type of cooking utensils you can use for one thing, and also tends to concentrate too much heat in the bottom. I saw a local demo a few months ago of what looked to be the same as the picture posted here, and quite honestly I thought it was a piece of crap. On the other hand, my Zojirushi IH rice cooker is the best rice cooker ever - but it was designed from the ground up for full heating on all sides.
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    i do know the induction cooking has been around since i was in my 20s many moons ago as my mother assembled them for westinghouse for a few years. i am thinking they couldn't have been that great as she never insisted on getting this even though my aunt had one. now they had electric burners and i've always had gas burners since leaving home in the mid 70s. my personal experience with them is nil as i said, but it's not that i had no knowledge of them existing. i was merely trying to put this into a perspective as far as energy conservation goes and although more efficient than a regular electric burner, it still falls short on being good in the big scheme of things where one could need to conserve. it may, however, work out better for some who have no natural gas and propane may be difficult to obtain or high in cost.
  • ChrisOlson
    ChrisOlson Banned Posts: 1,807 ✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    We have an Electrolux electric range with a full induction cooktop on it:

    Attachment not found.

    My wife absolutely loves it. She bought a full set of new magnetic stainless cookware to go with it. She is from Sweden and had the range imported to the US from Sweden. She bought her cookware in Denmark. It uses roughly 75% of the energy that our old electric range used with conventional electric "burners" to do the same thing. And it is twice the efficiency of gas cooking (figured by BTU input vs heat transferred to the food for cooking).

    Someone mentioned that induction only heats the bottom of the cooking vessel. Not true. Maybe the smaller induction plates do that. But the high tech cooktops like my wife has sense the size and mass of the cooking vessel you put on it, and it adjusts the magnetic field accordingly so eddy currents flow in the entire cooking vessel. The premium magnetic stainless cookware my wife imported from Denmark has non-magnetic stainless handles so they don't get hot except by convection from the cooking vessel itself. I made a video demonstrating this once and had it on YouTube for awhile - if you put like a fry pan on the induction element set on a high power setting, within 3 seconds the entire pan is hot enough to make water sizzle on it - even on the sides. The temperature control with induction is instant if you have premium induction cookware with low thermal mass.

    The full electric range with induction cooktop is no problem to power with our off-grid system.
    --
    Chris
  • silvertop
    silvertop Solar Expert Posts: 155 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    Very nice Chris my wife wants to look into an Electrolux !
  • ChrisOlson
    ChrisOlson Banned Posts: 1,807 ✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    Induction cooking in Europe is mainstream. In North America it is considered a novelty. So appliance stores in the US do not usually stock ranges with a full induction cooktop because they can't sell them and they are very expensive. Like most other things, the US is about a decade behind Europe in adopting energy efficient technology. In the US you can buy induction "hot plates" from Walmart and so on, made in China. And even a few two or three "burner" induction cooktops that are inset in the countertop.

    But few people will buy a full range with one on it because of mis-information, suspicion of things they do not know about, and (usually) expense. Not a single appliance store within 100 miles of here stocks a range with induction cooktop. They have to be special ordered. When my wife went shopping for one here in the US, about 3/4's of the appliance stores she went to did not even know what one is - and three of them told her it does not work. So she went to Sweden and bought one, and Electrolux put a 120/240V transformer in it for her for export to the US. It took 6 weeks to get it thru Customs. Her parents and sisters, and about 70% of the people in Europe have them. If you cook with gas in Europe you are considered Stone Age.
    --
    Chris
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    chris,
    i am not surprised that salespersons didn't know anything about them as we live in an age when auto mechanics can't tell you what's wrong with your car by its symptoms as they have to plug it into a computer.

    as far as what europeans think is stone age, i couldn't care less. yes, we are so backward that there are still people that even cook on wood stoves. gee, that's just one up from a campfire now isn't it?:p next thing you'll tell us is their little pinkies are extended when drinking while simultaneously putting their noses are in the air.:roll::p
  • waynefromnscanada
    waynefromnscanada Solar Expert Posts: 3,009 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker
    ChrisOlson wrote: »
    Induction cooking in Europe is mainstream.

    Don't they realize that all that magnetic radiation will make lumps grow on their brains? It's worse than cell phones and GMO foods!
    Hahahahaha
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    maybe they mistook induction as meaning intuitive deduction.:p
  • ChrisOlson
    ChrisOlson Banned Posts: 1,807 ✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker
    niel wrote: »
    as far as what europeans think is stone age, i couldn't care less. yes, we are so backward that there are still people that even cook on wood stoves. gee, that's just one up from a campfire now isn't it?:p next thing you'll tell us is their little pinkies are extended when drinking while simultaneously putting their noses are in the air.:roll::p

    That's usually the attitude that Americans have, unfortunately. But Europeans live a much more energy conscious lifestyle than North American folks do - simply because energy costs easily double in Europe what it does here. So Europeans are fast to adopt energy efficient technology, while Americans go "I'm going to drive my gas-suckin SUV just because I'm American and it's my right to live in an country with the highest per capita energy consumption on earth".
    --
    Chris
  • Photowhit
    Photowhit Solar Expert Posts: 6,002 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    I now have 2 different induction cook tops, a Tatung from Newegg and a NuWave. It would be interesting to see if a microwave could boil a cup of water faster than the induction cook top. The induction would likely beat it, but I have a small microwave (900 watt). I find most of the energy savings is in how fast it heats up a pan, which is as others have noted basically instant.

    I find both cooktop types, I have, have a reasonably small field, even a 9" cast iron frying pan has colder spots around the outer edges, the NuWave might be slightly smaller area than the Tatung but I haven't done a side by side. I might, someday be interested in finding a cooktop with a larger field.
    Home system 4000 watt (Evergreen) array standing, with 2 Midnite Classic Lites,  Midnite E-panel, Magnum MS4024, Prosine 1800(now backup) and Exeltech 1100(former backup...lol), 660 ah 24v Forklift battery(now 10 years old). Off grid for 20 years (if I include 8 months on a bicycle).
    - Assorted other systems, pieces and to many panels in the closet to not do more projects.
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker
    ChrisOlson wrote: »
    That's usually the attitude that Americans have, unfortunately. But Europeans live a much more energy conscious lifestyle than North American folks do - simply because energy costs easily double in Europe what it does here. So Europeans are fast to adopt energy efficient technology, while Americans go "I'm going to drive my gas-suckin SUV just because I'm American and it's my right to live in an country with the highest per capita energy consumption on earth".
    --
    Chris

    sorry chris as you can't shove lng into the same category as gasoline. lng is still relatively cheap here and is usually the better way to go compared to electric of any sort with a few exceptions where electric is still dirt cheap.

    the one thing we have been saying here for the longest time is that we don't recommend using electric for heat generation. cooking with electric is still the use of electric to generate heat. even the concentrating of the heat effort by microwaves or induction is still relatively a bad idea even though they are improvements over the older conventional ways of using electric to cook with.

    photowhit,
    i'd be interested in the result of your comparison. now you can't put a china cup on an induction plate. you also can't put a metal cup in a micro either.
  • techntrek
    techntrek Solar Expert Posts: 1,372 ✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    Considering the whole non-renewable fuels problem, eventually we'll have to create heat via electric.

    One problem with those high-end induction cooktops. A friend of mine had a nice one which fried in a lightning strike. It ended up costing nearly as much to replace the control board and other parts as it originally cost.
    4.5 kw APC UPS powered by a Prius, 12 kw Generac, Honda EU3000is
  • silvertop
    silvertop Solar Expert Posts: 155 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker
    niel wrote: »
    sorry chris as you can't shove lng into the same category as gasoline. lng is still relatively cheap here and is usually the better way to go compared to electric of any sort with a few exceptions where electric is still dirt cheap.

    the one thing we have been saying here for the longest time is that we don't recommend using electric for heat generation. cooking with electric is still the use of electric to generate heat. even the concentrating of the heat effort by microwaves or induction is still relatively a bad idea even though they are improvements over the older conventional ways of using electric to cook with.

    photowhit,
    i'd be interested in the result of your comparison. now you can't put a china cup on an induction plate. you also can't put a metal cup in a micro either.

    I think you are missing the point; this cooktop using electric I make is replacing propane that I would need to buy. Not all days are sunny but I am looking to be as energy lean as I can, and this will help. I tried to find a Samsung 18 cf. refrigerator locally and all you can find is BIG SUV size refrigerators locally so we bought online. I find this to be true with everything in the USA. Nobody cares about energy savings; take a look at trucks; you could put my Dodge Dakota in the bed of my son's jacked-up diesel. This is the way we all live as a culture sooo saaad!........
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    ok, is it cheaper than you buying the propane or is it just more convenient?

    the thread isn't about that people don't conserve as we already know most don't, but many here do and it really depends on circumstances and what one is willing to sacrifice. i will not say that it is wrong to use an induction cook top as that's your choice if you do, but it often isn't the best choice.
  • silvertop
    silvertop Solar Expert Posts: 155 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    We use electrical opportunity loads and conserve whenever we can. With the arrays at 4.8 KW (soon to be 6.4 KW) we have surplus most of the year. Why buy any propane if you don't need to?
  • ChrisOlson
    ChrisOlson Banned Posts: 1,807 ✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker
    silvertop wrote: »
    I think you are missing the point; this cooktop using electric I make is replacing propane that I would need to buy

    Exactly, and silvertop I think you "get it". Our solar panels and wind turbines make electricity, not propane. We can run our range and water heating on off-grid power on energy we produce here on-site. Can't do that with propane.
    --
    Chris
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    ok, i'll agree with the 2 of you for your circumstances as it is convenient, but this is not the case for many other off gridders who don't have such abundant re power.
  • waynefromnscanada
    waynefromnscanada Solar Expert Posts: 3,009 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    I use "free" surplus electricity for all my cooking when I don't use the BBQ, and a couple months ago came across what turned out to be an awesome product. An electric pressure cooker. Far more efficient than I ever guessed it would be. No, it doesn't waste energy blowing off steam. It monitors internal temperature, knowing a certain temperature = proper pressure, and cycles the 900 watt element to hold that temp. Definitely the best cooking item I've ever came across.
    I don't use it for "browning", I have an electric frying pan for that, but for everything else, I give it 10 stars for off grid use!
    Oh, and I found it on sale 1/2 price.
    http://www.amazon.com/Big-Boss-Stainless-Electric-Pressure/dp/B0092YSRVY
  • ChrisOlson
    ChrisOlson Banned Posts: 1,807 ✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker
    niel wrote: »
    ok, i'll agree with the 2 of you for your circumstances as it is convenient, but this is not the case for many other off gridders who don't have such abundant re power.

    Niel - it's not only convenient and clean - it's very efficient. When you can produce the electricity yourself, why buy propane just to fit into the "off-grid typical way of doing it"? Even smaller off-grid systems can easily run one of these small induction "hot plates" or cookers that run on 120V power. I mean if you look at it from a practical standpoint, say you get up in the morning and you're going to cook some eggs and sausage and hotcakes. It takes maybe, what, a half hour to cook breakfast? Your induction cooker uses maybe, what, 400-500 watt-hours for that?

    How much solar panels does it take to produce an extra 400-500 watt-hours a day instead of buying propane the rest of your life?
    --
    Chris
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    my point is many do not have it for whatever reason. off grid is tougher to come up with lots of electricity until and unless you buy it in pvs or whatever other sources----if you have the room and cash for that much. you guys assume much as most do not have it to the point they can easily run electric appliances like that. some forget not everybody has umpteem acres with lots of cash.

    even you wayne wouldn't have been able to do it without that constant hydro and yet you bought more in pv. you've got quite allot of generated power as does chris. do you guys think everybody can duplicate that easily? for many it is not possible or will take a great deal of time to get. you guys are not the typical off gridder.
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker

    i will concede that if you are going to use electric, even if it isn't the cheapest way of achieving an end, that you are making efforts to minimize the losses in using it. it is a choice and/or a convenience that is made and i have no problem with you guys doing that.

    this has gone on too far i think and i'll let my points stand so as to not deter from the thread further. in conclusion, i think you guys can dig for and present comparisons and facts that can further confirm your choice as a good one and such would benefit the membership.
  • ChrisOlson
    ChrisOlson Banned Posts: 1,807 ✭✭
    Re: Induction cooker
    niel wrote: »
    you guys are not the typical off gridder.

    Niel - what is the "typical off-gridder"? Is there a stereotype for this?

    Living off-grid is not cheap, so why do it in the first place? If you live off-grid full time, and have been doing it for over a decade like we have, if there's a woman in the house you are not going to live a Spartan lifestyle for very long. You're either going to get with the program or move back to town.

    So what is the off-grid stereotype?
    --
    Chris
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