Induction cooker

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  • Photowhit
    Photowhit Solar Expert Posts: 6,003 ✭✭✭✭✭
    #32
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    Re: Induction cooker
    niel wrote: »
    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.

    Okay, I hate to break the mold, I'm a poor guy with a couple acres, I even have maybe 200lbs of propane from my cabin, that could cook for the next 10 years perhaps... I think it has worked out very well for me and would for most in my situation.

    In the summer when I have abundant sunshine. I'm typically cooking while in float, and the rest of the year I don't use nearly the capacity of my system designed to run A/C in the summer. I have NOT been through a winter yet, but suspect there will be times I'll want to conserve and cook on the grill or side burner outside, but I've done 100% of my cooking for 3 months on electric.

    My system would be considered large in the past, but a 4Kw array (so far) and a 800Ah 24V battery I would put in the moderate size today. I think you might well be able to put a 4Kw system together for under $10K and in the US under $7K is realistic after the federal tax credit. While not with in reach of everyone, it's less than a new car.
    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.
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  • silvertop
    silvertop Solar Expert Posts: 155 ✭✭✭✭✭
    #33
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    Re: Induction cooker
    waynefromnscanada wrote: »
    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

    Electric Pressure cooker Wow! I keep looking for more ways to use my electricity and my better half happy!
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  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    #34
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    Re: Induction cooker
    niel wrote: »
    ... now you can't put a china cup on an induction plate. ...

    Sure you can. But nothing will happen. The induction won't start till there is a chunk of steel on the plate.

    And induction won't energize the sides of a pan. Only the bottom part in close contact to the transformer coil. If the sides heat up quickly, it's from thermal conduction.
    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 ||
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #35
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    Re: Induction cooker

    chris,
    your question is a valid one and maybe i'm not that positive what the typical og consists of nowadays as it is on the upswing in capability since pv prices started dropping. in any case i would not consider yours as a small install. my point is still valid that not all can come by as much or as fast as some have. you're right, it is expensive to do and that says it right there as it is not always an option for many people or comes very quickly. many don't just pick up and move as they own the place they're at and don't have many options available or available right away.

    i am not off grid, but i do have things in the works that may take a great deal of time to implement and will not come close to what many like you have done. i am limited in my land area and am not well to do or even middle class for that matter. just because you can do things does not mean everybody has the same abilities or circumstances. i am in a class of people you don't have a concept of, but i think others here know what i'm talking about as some are either in that same boat or used to be. some of those og people can't afford the power to run large electrical appliances like you and a few others can just to burn excess power you have available. the class of people i am in is far bigger than somebody like you could ever admit to.

    as far as about the induction cooktop goes this should be of some common sense here as it is a high powered electrical appliance creating heat and if you can't see that it isn't a case that everybody can do as you and a few others with nice setups can do with "excess pv power" then i feel sorry for you. i wanted to drop this, but you seem to think you know better and more so this thread will either straighten or get locked. your choice. not everybody has your choices or options so don't set yourself up as the standard for everybody else.

    that said if you have a desire to continue this with me you may pm me.
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  • waynefromnscanada
    waynefromnscanada Solar Expert Posts: 3,009 ✭✭✭✭
    #36
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    Re: Induction cooker

    Niel, I understand your points perfectly, and every day I really do appreciate how incredibly lucky I am compared to the vast majority of the world's population. While millions around the globe exist in states of poverty beyond our comprehension, and are literally starving to death in rags, even the majority of the poorest among us in the Western World, are rich beyond the wildest dreams of most alive today. While I'm far, far, far from what would be considered rich or well off in North America, I have all I need and really, all I want. So from that point of view, I am indeed rich.
    My mini-micro hydro has allowed the use of my system through the dark, short days of early Winter. Before hydro I had to basically shut down everything and use grid till the sun came back, but even then, if the sun happened to be shining and I hadn't run the batteries down, there was power for short periods of cooking. I learned to only use power when Nature decided to provide it, which is something very difficult for anyone living on grid to do or get used to.
    When I look around at my struggling neighbors, I'm very thankful for the brain, way of thinking, and physical abilities I've been gifted with. I know these things won't last, that like life itself they are fleeting, but am very thankful for them while I yet have them.
    Peace be with you my friend, I wish you well.
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  • ChrisOlson
    ChrisOlson Banned Posts: 1,807 ✭✭
    #37
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    Re: Induction cooker
    niel wrote: »
    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.
    niel wrote: »
    i wanted to drop this, but you seem to think you know better and more so this thread will either straighten or get locked. your choice. not everybody has your choices or options so don't set yourself up as the standard for everybody else.

    This thread is about somebody who bought an induction cooker for their off-grid home. And we're going to lock the thread because some people break from the propane stereotype?

    I think this is the reason that energy efficient appliances like induction cookers are mainstream in Europe and less than 1% of Americans use them. Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt is spread by the people who fear change to better things. I sense that the old myth about propane being the "only way" to cook off-grid is starting to fall apart. So rather than accept something new that's efficient and clean we'll just lock it so we can continue preaching that propane is the "only real way"? It's ironic that we would push propane over clean electricity for cooking on a solar forum :confused:

    In the next 10 years induction cooking in the US will become mainstream just like it has in Europe. You can either accept change or go out fighting it tooth and nail. Either way, it's going happen.
    --
    Chris
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  • Photowhit
    Photowhit Solar Expert Posts: 6,003 ✭✭✭✭✭
    #38
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    Re: Induction cooker
    ChrisOlson wrote: »
    I sense that the old myth about propane being the "only way" to cook off-grid is starting to fall apart. So rather than accept something new that's efficient and clean we'll just lock it so we can continue preaching that propane is the "only real way"? It's ironic that we would push propane over clean electricity for cooking on a solar forum :confused:

    I don't think it is ironic at all! It's mainly the evolving of cheap photovoltaics. I certainly only cooked with propane when solar was $4-5 a watt, I'm near or under $1 a watt for my up and running 4Kw array (less the CC's) This would not have been with-in my greatest aspirations 13 years ago!
    ChrisOlson wrote: »
    In the next 10 years induction cooking in the US will become mainstream just like it has in Europe. You can either accept change or go out fighting it tooth and nail. Either way, it's going happen.

    It may happen, but the almighty dollar seems to run our public demand, so I don't expect a change in 10 years. I think Wayne had the answer before you posted the theory...
    waynefromnscanada wrote: »
    I learned to only use power when Nature decided to provide it, which is something very difficult for anyone living on grid to do or get used to...

    While you can flip a switch and run things reasonably cheaply, there will be little demand. Those of us who live off grid have learned the value of the dollar and cost of electric, and particularly those of us who have looked for uses of electric when our systems have topped off are the pioneers, and it is largely the cost in energy that is driving our choices.

    We live in a blessed time and place!
    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.
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  • ChrisOlson
    ChrisOlson Banned Posts: 1,807 ✭✭
    #39
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    Re: Induction cooker
    Photowhit wrote: »
    While you can flip a switch and run things reasonably cheaply, there will be little demand. Those of us who live off grid have learned the value of the dollar and cost of electric, and particularly those of us who have looked for uses of electric when our systems have topped off are the pioneers, and it is largely the cost in energy that is driving our choices.

    There's a misconception here that induction cookers are high draw, high energy appliances. They're not. They're so amazingly efficient that even very small off-grid systems can run one with ease. We have a small induction "plate" like the one silvertip posted about, in our 5th wheel camper. We have two Sharp 80 watt solar panels on the camper with two 4D batteries and a 3,000 MSW inverter in the camper. We go fishing up in Canada in the fall and live off-grid in that camper for 10 days. We use the induction cooker instead of the propane range in the camper and it uses so little energy for our cooking that it's pretty much negligible.

    It's the same thing with the big induction cooktop on our range in our house. Even though our system may be larger than most, it runs it with ease. It's very efficient. I may grab the little induction plate out of the camper, put a watt-hour meter on it and do an analysis of how much energy it uses to cook breakfast just to show folks how amazingly efficient they are.
    --
    Chris
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  • waynefromnscanada
    waynefromnscanada Solar Expert Posts: 3,009 ✭✭✭✭
    #40
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    Re: Induction cooker
    Photowhit wrote: »
    It's mainly the evolving of cheap photovoltaics. I certainly only cooked with propane when solar was $4-5 a watt, I'm near or under $1 a watt for my up and running 4Kw array (less the CC's) This would not have been with-in my greatest aspirations 13 years ago!
    We live in a blessed time and place!

    My first panels were over $7 per watt. The last ones I got ended up being 59.3 CENTS per watt before taxes. An awesome deal on panels left over from a big job. Propane in my part of the world costs us roughly $30 + tax to fill the regular little so-called 20 pound BBQ cylinder, and we don't have NG. So most definitely, if the sun is shining - - - -
    And seriously, my 2000 watt system (until recently just 1000 watts) is rapidly becoming the average, and in fact may now be below the average size of NAWS customers and forum users.
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  • ChrisOlson
    ChrisOlson Banned Posts: 1,807 ✭✭
    #41
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    Re: Induction cooker
    waynefromnscanada wrote: »
    My first panels were over $7 per watt.

    That's why I started building wind turbines one right after another way back when. We could not afford to buy more than 3 123 watt solar panels (the first ones we ever bought). Cheap solar has changed everything for off-grid folks. It's still not cheap to live off-grid. But you can do it pretty comfortably nowadays without breaking the bank.
    --
    Chris
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  • Photowhit
    Photowhit Solar Expert Posts: 6,003 ✭✭✭✭✭
    #42
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    Re: Induction cooker
    ChrisOlson wrote: »
    There's a misconception here that induction cookers are high draw, high energy appliances. They're not.

    I have NO misconception! Both of the units I have draw 800+ watts to cook above 240degrees and can run 1500watts on sear according to my Kill-A-Watt meter. The draw is similar to a regular hot plate, but the are ready to could in the time it takes to turn around. So they are a high energy draw, I have only a few items that draw as much and non that draw more. They do run for relatively short periods of time, If I make a big breakfast of eggs and a couple pancakes it takes maybe 15 minutes.

    For 6 years I didn't have an inverter that would run this at max power! but had a fridge and a microwave that would run!

    Love to know what your table top model uses, and if it is significantly less would consider purchasing, but these are my real world experiences!
    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.
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  • ChrisOlson
    ChrisOlson Banned Posts: 1,807 ✭✭
    #43
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    Re: Induction cooker
    Photowhit wrote: »
    I have NO misconception! Both of the units I have draw 800+ watts to cook above 240degrees and can run 1500watts on sear according to my Kill-A-Watt meter.

    I should've termed that differently. I meant energy consumption. Deep well submersible pumps are a high power draw device, but they have low daily energy consumption compared to an A/C unit because they don't run very much. Induction cookers are the same type of deal. Their energy consumption to cook the food is less than propane. Just a different, more efficient form of energy - electricity vs a combustible fossil fuel.

    The high end cooktops like we have in our range have Litz coils with multiple windings. And it has infrared sensors in the cooktop that sense the temperature of the cooking vessel. You set a temp setting on the WaveTouch controls and the computer in the range automatically, and very precisely, maintains that temperature. It also senses the size and magnetic mass of the cooking vessel so it adjusts the magnetic field to fit it. With high end magnetic stainless cookware with low thermal mass, it can adjust the temperature from, say, 150C to 60C within seconds. And if you remove the pot from the "element" it immediately drops to just the parasitic draw of the electronics in the unit, which is less that 25 watts even with our big range.

    All of this combined saves some serious amounts of energy input. The heating of the vessel is instantaneous when you place it on the induction zone. It goes from room temp to 150-200C, or whatever you have the temp set at almost faster than you snap your fingers. Hanging onto the handle of the pot you can feel the slight vibration from electricity flowing in the pot due to eddy currents in it.

    Induction has been around for 70 years. The addition of high tech electronics to control it has made so efficient for cooking that it's almost beyond belief. And I think that's the problem for somebody that zero experience with it - the Disbelief Factor. You can heat a 15 quart pot of water to a boil for boiling potatoes so fast that there is no microwave or convective heating burner that can match it. It's not "magic". It's thermodynamics and efficient transfer of heat to the food with minimal convective losses. My wife cooks with paper towels under her pots all the time to prevent splatters on her cooktop. My mom sees her do that and she's very suspicious of it. She thinks there's some strange alien radiation or something in it, or it's the "work of the devil". But nope - it's simply high technology at work is all it is.
    --
    Chris
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  • ggunn
    ggunn Solar Expert Posts: 1,973 ✭✭✭
    #44
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    Re: Induction cooker
    ChrisOlson wrote: »
    We have an Electrolux electric range with a full induction cooktop on it.

    ...it is twice the efficiency of gas cooking (figured by BTU input vs heat transferred to the food for cooking).
    How does its efficiency stack up to natural gas economically?
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  • ChrisOlson
    ChrisOlson Banned Posts: 1,807 ✭✭
    #45
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    Re: Induction cooker
    ggunn wrote: »
    How does its efficiency stack up to natural gas economically?

    For BTU input is more efficient than any gas cooking.

    On economics, electric has historically been priced higher per BTU (3412 BTU/kWh) than fossil fuel gas. There are various reasons for that - government subsidies and tax breaks for oil companies that electric utilities don't get (the government makes a LOT of money off oil companies), and the expensive mining and drilling for the fuels to make electricity along with the expensive infrastructure required to get electricity to your house.

    However, when you generate the electricity from renewable sources on your own site, there is no comparison to economics with gas. You get electricity for free once you own the equipment to harvest it. You have to buy gas.
    --
    Chris
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  • NorthGuy
    NorthGuy Solar Expert Posts: 1,913 ✭✭
    #46
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    Re: Induction cooker
    ChrisOlson wrote: »
    However, when you generate the electricity from renewable sources on your own site, there is no comparison to economics with gas. You get electricity for free once you own the equipment to harvest it. You have to buy gas.

    Not all of it is free. Sometimes you need to buy gas for the generator. You use dieasel, not natural gas, but if you used natural gas, it would be more efficient to use it for cooking directly, as compared to running a generator, producting electricity, and then using it to run induction range.
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #47
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    Re: Induction cooker

    You never get the electricity for free.

    Nor anything else for that matter.
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  • ChrisOlson
    ChrisOlson Banned Posts: 1,807 ✭✭
    #48
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    Re: Induction cooker
    NorthGuy wrote: »
    Not all of it is free. Sometimes you need to buy gas for the generator. You use dieasel, not natural gas, but if you used natural gas, it would be more efficient to use it for cooking directly, as compared to running a generator, producting electricity, and then using it to run induction range.

    Yes, but it's the economics of scale. The ComBox shows that 94% of our power came from renewable sources for the month of August. Only 6% from generators. So the out-of-pocket cost of our off-grid electricity is only a tiny portion of what somebody on grid power pays if we don't amortize the cost of equipment to harvest it.

    For the month of July the generator percentage was much higher. But that was to run our A/C unit during hot weather, not for cooking.

    When it comes to amortizing the equipment cost, we had a choice - spend $60,000 on off-grid power equipment, own the equipment, maintain it, and replace it as it wears out. Or spend $168,000 (and that was 12 years ago) to get powerlines and have a monthly bill. Using electricity, whether it comes from solar/wind, or generators, is a no-brainer for us instead of buying gas or paying for the infrastructure to get commercial power.
    --
    Chris
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,446 admin
    #49
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    Re: Induction cooker

    You can use this fuel cost calculator... and enter different efficiency numbers (85% for induction and 40% for natural gas?).

    Fuel Cost     Comparison Calculator - Hearth.com

    You could do your own efficiency calculations--1 lb of water increasing 1 degree F is 1 BTU... 1 W 3.412142 BTU/hr

    Your gas stove burner is probably somewhere around 8,000 to 15,000 BTU per hour.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • ChrisOlson
    ChrisOlson Banned Posts: 1,807 ✭✭
    #50
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    Re: Induction cooker
    Cariboocoot wrote: »
    You never get the electricity for free.

    Nor anything else for that matter.

    No, you have to buy the equipment to harvest it. But until they figure out how to charge for sunlight and wind, the fuel to make it is as free as it comes.
    --
    Chris
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #51
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    Re: Induction cooker
    ChrisOlson wrote: »
    No, you have to buy the equipment to harvest it. But until they figure out how to charge for sunlight and wind, the fuel to make it is as free as it comes.
    --
    Chris

    Don't give them any ideas!
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  • solar_dave
    solar_dave Solar Expert Posts: 2,397 ✭✭✭✭
    #52
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    Re: Induction cooker
    Cariboocoot wrote: »
    Don't give them any ideas!

    He must have been talking to APS!
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  • ChrisOlson
    ChrisOlson Banned Posts: 1,807 ✭✭
    #53
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    Re: Induction cooker
    BB. wrote: »
    You could do your own efficiency calculations--1 lb of water increasing 1 degree F is 1 BTU... 1 W 3.412142 BTU/hr

    Bill, on efficiency there is no comparison. The comparisons and calculations have been done by the US DOE, and many different labs, etc.. If you have no experience with induction cooking you have to try it hands-on before you will believe. This is a good comparison on a 1200 watt 240V Princess conventional electric ceramic cooktop vs a 1300 watt 120V Mr Induction heating the identical amount of water to boiling. The energy consumption of convection is over double on water heating

    [video=youtube_share;b8zXdPA9E6s]http://youtu.be/b8zXdPA9E6s[/video]

    In our own home, over the long term compared to our conventional electric we had before, the induction uses about 75% of the energy that the conventional did. Gas is less efficient yet based on BTU input to the burner vs heat to the food. It is a known fact that has been tested and documented over and over.
    --
    Chris
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,446 admin
    #54
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    Re: Induction cooker

    Chris, I was only supplying a fuel cost calculator... Comparing Induction to Resistive cook tops--I am sure Induction is way more efficient.

    Using the fuel cost calculator for my area:

    Elect. $0.20 per kWH @ 90% efficiency
    Natural gas at $1.30 per therm (100,000 BTU or ~ 1 gallon of gasoline) @ 40% efficiency...

    It tells me that:

    $32.50 per Million BTU of Heat delivered to home for Natural Gas
    $65.11 per Million BTU of Heat delivered to home for Electric

    So--At this point, with retail energy rates for my area, Natural gas is about 1/2 the cost of electricity (90% induction eff vs 40% natural gas eff).

    If I had A/C--Then the cost of cooling the kitchen would come into play.

    The fact that I have 3.5 kW of solar panels and, at this point , have hundreds of dollars worth of solar credits in the electric bank account (use it or lose it after 1 year net metering program)--Says that I should be using a lot more electricity at this time for cooking (it is "truly" free, or at least, already paid for with my GT solar installation of 8+ years).

    I have a Burton induction "hot plate"... I don't think it boils nearly as fast as my gas range (something like 15-20kBTU burners). But "free is free".

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • vtmaps
    vtmaps Solar Expert Posts: 3,741 ✭✭✭✭
    #55
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    Re: Induction cooker
    Cariboocoot wrote: »
    You never get the electricity for free.

    Nor anything else for that matter.

    Nonsense! Some things are free, like the advice on this forum. --vtMaps (pedantic)
    4 X 235watt Samsung, Midnite ePanel, Outback VFX3524 FM60 & mate, 4 Interstate L16, trimetric, Honda eu2000i
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #56
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    Re: Induction cooker
    vtmaps wrote: »
    Nonsense! Some things are free, like the advice on this forum. --vtMaps (pedantic)

    You just haven't noticed your 'Karma bill'; you've been handing out free advice yourself (and very accurately I might add). See? :D

    One thing about cooking with gas; you can change the heat level instantly. This does not work with conventional electric elements (which have quite a bit of fluctuation to maintain an 'average' temperature). I wonder how good it is with induction.

    But not enough to shell out the $$$ they cost here and convince the professional chef to try it. ;)
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,446 admin
    #57
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    Re: Induction cooker

    From the "instant" heat change point of view--The Induction changes "heat" just as fast as natural gas (if not a tiny bit faster as the induction unit heats the metal of the pan and not just the outside surface like gas does).

    The pan is "just the other winding" of the induction cooker "transformer" pair.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • ggunn
    ggunn Solar Expert Posts: 1,973 ✭✭✭
    #58
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    Re: Induction cooker
    ChrisOlson wrote: »
    For BTU input is more efficient than any gas cooking.

    On economics, electric has historically been priced higher per BTU (3412 BTU/kWh) than fossil fuel gas. There are various reasons for that - government subsidies and tax breaks for oil companies that electric utilities don't get (the government makes a LOT of money off oil companies), and the expensive mining and drilling for the fuels to make electricity along with the expensive infrastructure required to get electricity to your house.

    However, when you generate the electricity from renewable sources on your own site, there is no comparison to economics with gas. You get electricity for free once you own the equipment to harvest it. You have to buy gas.
    --
    Chris
    Of course, but since my wife and I are sort of in the market to replace our gas stove, I am wondering whether for someone on the grid an induction range would be cheaper or more expensive to operate than a gas stove. And what sort of oven does an induction range have?
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  • ChrisOlson
    ChrisOlson Banned Posts: 1,807 ✭✭
    #59
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    Re: Induction cooker
    ggunn wrote: »
    And what sort of oven does an induction range have?

    Ours has a convection oven in it. The oven draws about 4,500 watts continuously on preheat. Once it is up to temp it draws 3,900 watts on heat maintain. The heat maintain comes on as necessary to maintain the temp in the oven as the fan circulates the heat in there. There is one exposed element in the top of the oven that comes on for browning stuff. Only wife knows how to turn that on. I've looked at the controls and never been able to figure out how to get it to come on, and I've never been right there to measure how much power that "browning element" pulls when she uses it.

    On the cost analysis that Bill mentioned, grid electricity is more expensive per BTU than gas. So how this factors out for somebody on grid power, I don't know. I only know that people that live off-grid and that got primarily the little induction "plates" love them. I know quite a few that use them and it's nice to see that at least some folks here have found out about them.

    This is our little induction cooktop out of our camper.:

    Attachment not found.

    It goes to to 1300 watts and has an infrared sensor in it like our big cooktop on the range that precisely sets and holds the temperature in 10 deg increments. Typically, when we use this thing to cook breakfast for two (hotcakes, eggs and sausage or ham) Kristin runs it on the 275-300 degree temperature range and it draws about 800 watts. She'll have it running for maybe 15 minutes to cook breakfast for two. So I would estimate it uses roughly 200 watt-hours for that.

    We have run it with a 3,000 watt AIMS inverter and a single 12V Group 29 marine deep cycle battery before with no problem at all, along WITH running an electric coffee maker. If the battery is fully charged it will "sag" to about 11.7 volts while she's cooking and coffee is brewing. But as soon as she turns it off the battery recovers right away and if the sun is up the solar panels on the camper got the battery voltage back where it was before she starting cooking breakfast within an hour and a half. And that's just with two 80 watt 12V Sharp solar panels.

    We have stayed in Canada on a 10 day fishing trip before, totally off-grid and with no generator, using that little induction cooker every day. And never ran the batteries down below 50% for the whole 10 days. Although we do put in two big 4D's in the generator compartment when we go to Canada with it.
    --
    Chris
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #60
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    Re: Induction cooker
    ggunn wrote: »
    Of course, but since my wife and I are sort of in the market to replace our gas stove, I am wondering whether for someone on the grid an induction range would be cheaper or more expensive to operate than a gas stove. And what sort of oven does an induction range have?

    in looking over some i see they use the standard electric heating elements. you already know my opinion comparing natural gas (not propane) to electric.

    i guess i should add that if you have that much in excess pv production then the comparison is moot as excess power is there already, but for straight usage the natural gas is cheaper. it should be said that those with the excess power did invest $ to produce their extra power to one degree or another. if going with buying many more pvs to produce the power you'd need to operate the range it doesn't make sense unless you will be losing the utilities altogether, ie no electric or natural gas. it is an individual choice of course for you can use whatever you like, but i'm talking economics here to a great extent.

    another factor may be the burning out of the elements which does not happen on natural gas.
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  • Slappy
    Slappy Solar Expert Posts: 251 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    #61
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    Re: Induction cooker
    Cariboocoot wrote: »
    Don't give them any ideas!

    Spain is already doing it taxing the sun for solar harvest. Google search Spain taxing sun. :) what's next their is a woman that owns the sun so does Spain need to pay her from the taxes they collect from sunshine??? Just thinking from top of my head with air between the ears :)
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