Induction v halogen

[Sam Vimes]

I must admit that I like induction but a bad experience with our home range cooker put me off them. When we fitted out the kitchen we got a top end range cooker with 6 induction burners. Very nice to use while it lasted.

True to form a couple of months after the warranty expired there was a loud crack from the cooker and the circuit breakers tripped. In the hob were three control units, one for each pair of burners. One control unit had literally gone up in smoke.

I got a replacement at about £400 and fitted it myself. A bit tricky but do able. It didn't work for very long before giving an error code..... reboot and it would work for a while. I managed to get hold of one of the engineers at the manufacturers who confirmed that the error code indicated it was dead and would arrange for me to get a replacement f.o.c. I fitted that and all was well - for a few months.

A few months later another control unit went the same way. Not prepared to spend more money on something that wasn't going to last we replaced the whole cooker, this time with gas burners. Sure it cost a lot more than the control unit but its still working after several years. A lot simpler than induction.

Maybe I was just unlucky.

 

[Buckman]

I must admit that I like induction but a bad experience with our home range cooker put me off them. When we fitted out the kitchen we got a top end range cooker with 6 induction burners. Very nice to use while it lasted.

True to form a couple of months after the warranty expired there was a loud crack from the cooker and the circuit breakers tripped. In the hob were three control units, one for each pair of burners. One control unit had literally gone up in smoke.

I got a replacement at about £400 and fitted it myself. A bit tricky but do able. It didn't work for very long before giving an error code..... reboot and it would work for a while. I managed to get hold of one of the engineers at the manufacturers who confirmed that the error code indicated it was dead and would arrange for me to get a replacement f.o.c. I fitted that and all was well - for a few months.

A few months later another control unit went the same way. Not prepared to spend more money on something that wasn't going to last we replaced the whole cooker, this time with gas burners. Sure it cost a lot more than the control unit but its still working after several years. A lot simpler than induction.

Maybe I was just unlucky.

Oh dear we have a Range cooker, but it is only about 2 years old. Our Beko stove lasted about 8years before it gave up the ghost.

 

[Sam Vimes]

I think I was just unlucky. Failure rates are based on statistical evidence and like buses you can get three come along quickly then nothing for years.

 

[otherclive]

Three years ago not long after moving into the house we had a new kitchen, out went the Range and we discussed all of the variations from electric, gas high level etc. I the end we opted for an AEG free standing cooker with gas hobs, ovens but an electric grill. Basically because we had used gas cookers ever since we got married and they had never given any trouble , the AEG came with 5 year warranty and gas was cheaper to run than electric. In parallel we had a new kitchen fitted in our daughter’s house. She opted for electric cooking appliances and the hob was induction. She’s had a few problems which now seem to have been resolved. Nuff said, or should it be Neff said😂

 

[Dustydog]

Back to the OP.
These can be used in the caravan but are very power hungry.
Bear in mind the pots and pans needed are also very heavy and will erode your pay load margin.
Realistically imo stick with all gas hob or 3 gas 1electric ring in the caravan. At home is totally different and something for discussion on a new page. I’m up for that Clive 😉

 

[IanB1485]

Re finger ( and other places these days) rings, they should not be placed near the induction hob , lovely way to lose a finger ( as an apprentice I used to use RF induction heater to activate barium getters in CRTs - 20 to 600 Deg c in 3 seconds - scary) they are now available to heat up rusty nuts on old cars

 

[Jcloughie]

Re finger ( and other places these days) rings, they should not be placed near the induction hob , lovely way to lose a finger ( as an apprentice I used to use RF induction heater to activate barium getters in CRTs - 20 to 600 Deg c in 3 seconds - scary) they are now available to heat up rusty nuts on old cars

Not heard that warning before or had a problem, probably due to gold rings.

John

 

[trevormonty]

Back to the OP.
These can be used in the caravan but are very power hungry.
Bear in mind the pots and pans needed are also very heavy and will erode your pay load margin.
Realistically imo stick with all gas hob or 3 gas 1electric ring in the caravan. At home is totally different and something for discussion on a new page. I’m up for that Clive 😉

Only need max power to get pot of water boiling(2min) after that reduce power/setting to few hundred watts, no different than normal electric hob.

My non stick frying pans are lot lighter than old non compatable copper&stainless ones. Didn't need to change pots which aren't overly heavy.

Once you've used induction there is no going back and it is lot quicker than gas to boil pot of water. Also don't have to worry about gas fumes in confined space. In saying that I'd still be venting kitchen if cooking just for steam and smells.

I bought touch control hob for house as its easier to clean. Down side is odd water spillage can upset it along with wet finger. Knob control one next time.

 

[Buckman]

I think I was just unlucky. Failure rates are based on statistical evidence and like buses you can get three come along quickly then nothing for years.

We are in the queue behind you! LOL!

 

[ProfJohnL]

Back to the OP.
These can be used in the caravan but are very power hungry.
Bear in mind the pots and pans needed are also very heavy and will erode your pay load margin.
Realistically imo stick with all gas hob or 3 gas 1electric ring in the caravan. At home is totally different and something for discussion on a new page. I’m up for that Clive 😉

The one I have was an Aldi 2kW (peak) special buy at about £30 a number of years ago, still going strong. Only problem I used a frying pan on it, and th eedge of the pan slipped across some of the plastic surround and started to melt.

 

[ProfJohnL]

We are in the queue behind you! LOL!

Oh no! You're leading at the front

 

[Buckman]

Oh no! You're leading at the front

In the past 24 hours definitely at front of queue! Internet went down last night, no VOIP and no mobile calls. Did come back on, but keeps dropping out.

 

[Beachball]

When we put our new kitchen in nine years ago we went with induction and so far no problems .

 

[Sam Vimes]

In the past 24 hours definitely at front of queue! Internet went down last night, no VOIP and no mobile calls. Did come back on, but keeps dropping out.

Is this when you switched on your induction hob.

PS: I thought you had battery back up for your internet.

 

[Yddraig]

1) Go with infra red, running cost similar to induction, no new pans needed, and safe to use..
2). Ceramic and hot plates expensive to run but, new pans not needed,
3). Induction not good for folks with health issues. and I’m not buying new induction capable pans. Also power hungry on start up and done work on some European campsites, that run 6 amp supply’s.

Been proven on which magazine. Infra red is way forward

 

[ProfJohnL]

1) Go with infra red, running cost similar to induction, no new pans needed, and safe to use..
2). Halogen expensive to run but, new pans not needed,
3). Induction not good for folks with health issues. and I’m not buying new induction capable pans. Also power hungry on start up and done work on some European campsites, that run 6 amp supply’s.

Been proven on which magazine. Infra red is way forward

Cooking with electric hobs has evolved. Where as the oldest form of electric hob used resistive heating elements buried in either coiled sheath, solid hot plate, which slowed the heat up and cooling times of the plate, and made regulating temperatures for simmering quite difficult, the advance to halogen or infrared heating elements helped with their more rapid warm up and cooling which you could see, neither is as rapid a an induction hob, where the heat is only generated in the base of the cooking pan, and changes of the input control can be seen within a few seconds rather than tens of seconds. You can catch milk at its boiling point before it overflows. - even faster than working with gas cookers.

Whilst induction hobs do need pans with a ferrous(Magnetically attractive) base to work, as the popularity of induction has increased many pots and pans purchased recently may already be induction compatible. many aluminium pans now include ferrous materials in their base to enable cooking on induction hobs. You can check your pans with a magnet, if the magnet does not get attracted - they wont work on induction hobs.

Costs of operation will depend on a lot of factors, but theoretically becasue of the way induction hobs only heat the ferrous base of the pan, there is less wastage heat passing up the sides of the pan, thus any inefficiencies of running the emitter, are broadly offset by not unnecessarily heating the hobs surface and surrounding structure, or the air around the hob surface.

The only health concern I am aware of regarding Induction is for those people who have heart pacemakers, and the risk is actually quite low unless you unusually close to a working emitter. So its fairly specific health conditions not as widely hazardous as implied by your comment.

As for power consumption, that will depend on the exact model of induction hob you choose. Some can operate at about 1kW or 4A. But that will depend on how the control circuit is implemented.

Whilst there are a number of mainly continental sites that only offer 6A EHU, the camper/caravanner will probably be aware of they when they book and should already be ensuring they shed load where possible to avoid tripping the excess current breakers.

This might look as though I'm proposing induction hobs, but its more the case I dislike seeing information being misquoted or skewed without a balancing argument or explanation being made.

I don't recall Which? doing a halogen vs Induction comparison, and I couldn't find a link to such a report on their website. Can you identify year and month of the report please.

 

[Yddraig]

Cooking with electric hobs has evolved. Where as the oldest form of electric hob used resistive heating elements buried in either coiled sheath, solid hot plate, which slowed the heat up and cooling times of the plate, and made regulating temperatures for simmering quite difficult, the advance to halogen or infrared heating elements helped with their more rapid warm up and cooling which you could see, neither is as rapid a an induction hob, where the heat is only generated in the base of the cooking pan, and changes of the input control can be seen within a few seconds rather than tens of seconds. You can catch milk at its boiling point before it overflows. - even faster than working with gas cookers.

Whilst induction hobs do need pans with a ferrous(Magnetically attractive) base to work, as the popularity of induction has increased many pots and pans purchased recently may already be induction compatible. many aluminium pans now include ferrous materials in their base to enable cooking on induction hobs. You can check your pans with a magnet, if the magnet does not get attracted - they wont work on induction hobs.

Costs of operation will depend on a lot of factors, but theoretically becasue of the way induction hobs only heat the ferrous base of the pan, there is less wastage heat passing up the sides of the pan, thus any inefficiencies of running the emitter, are broadly offset by not unnecessarily heating the hobs surface and surrounding structure, or the air around the hob surface.

The only health concern I am aware of regarding Induction is for those people who have heart pacemakers, and the risk is actually quite low unless you unusually close to a working emitter. So its fairly specific health conditions not as widely hazardous as implied by your comment.

As for power consumption, that will depend on the exact model of induction hob you choose. Some can operate at about 1kW or 4A. But that will depend on how the control circuit is implemented.

Whilst there are a number of mainly continental sites that only offer 6A EHU, the camper/caravanner will probably be aware of they when they book and should already be ensuring they shed load where possible to avoid tripping the excess current breakers.

This might look as though I'm proposing induction hobs, but its more the case I dislike seeing information being misquoted or skewed without a balancing argument or explanation being made.

I don't recall Which? doing a halogen vs Induction comparison, and I couldn't find a link to such a report on their website. Can you identify year and month of the report please.

Came across that article on ( which magazine online ) last year, when we were replacing our Gas hob to go to electric. Infra red was 80 % efficient no health issues and no new pans. and induction was 90% efficient but magnetism causes health issues, the old hot plates was 40% efficient.
I didn’t save it sorry.
Induction is Same as they used to say diesel cars were the cleanest around, Oooops now they are the devils fuel. Diesel particles are dangerous
Infra red is same as sunlight, just don’t stair at the light.
Induction is magnetism why do they don’t want you in mri or ct scanner to much, magnetism affects the body.

 

[Jcloughie]

1) Go with infra red, running cost similar to induction, no new pans needed, and safe to use..
2). Ceramic and hot plates expensive to run but, new pans not needed,
3). Induction not good for folks with health issues. and I’m not buying new induction capable pans. Also power hungry on start up and done work on some European campsites, that run 6 amp supply’s.

Been proven on which magazine. Infra red is way forward

By infra-red do you mean ceramic? I cannot find a mention on Which, and Google brings up Ceramic.

We had a ceramic many years ago and hated it. Very slow to heat up and hard to clean. But that was a long long time ago. The may well have improved in both respects.

John