Induction hob or not? - solar PV

JKS5

Hi All,

Just want your thoughts on my best option for cooking and reducing my energy bills.

I have a 3kw solar PV system and currently an electric oven and gas hob. Usually use either the oven or hob most evenings, not so often together.

I'm considering replacing the gas hob for an induction hob, which I'm confidant will be cheaper to run when the sun is out, however as we do the cooking in the early evening and the nights are drawing in, gas should be the cheaper option.

The other option I have is to get a small 2 "ring" induction hob and install it next to the gas hob and be selective with usage.

Not too concerned with paying itself back, just would like to reduce monthly costs.

What do you think?

AndyPK

I'm not sure you can get 2 ring portable induction hobs, but if you find one let me know!

less energy is wasted in induction as all the heat is in the pan, (rather than a flame or heat source below the pan).

However due to the cost of induction hobs? and the special pans they require I don't think it would pay back. Let me know what cheap induction hobs you find as I am after one.

consumers_revenge

I can honestly say that buying an induction hob ( get the pans from Robert dyas, they are cheap and very sturdy ) was the best decision I ever made.


I love my induction hob, cook loads on it, and wouldn't go back to either gas or leccy ever. The thing so quick and easy to control.


CR

jellie

Induction hobs don't require 'special' pans, they just need to have a magnetic base, which plenty of them do. There's certainly nothing special about my pans.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Standard 4 Ring Induction Hob

I've had an induction hob for years, you do not need 'iron' pots, there are lots of the usual SS offerings with 'iron layered bases. Be warned the cost of an induction hob can be the cost of induction-compatible panware, in my case well over £1300 for a fissler set.

An induction hob works like a back to front microwave, it will 'do what it does quicker', today's electric kettles break quicker than a footballers fingernail. Pay £4 at ASDA or £60 elsewhere, they just break. A cheepo ferrous kettle will boil on an induction hob quicker than the most expensive electric kettle and will last forever. By the time the coffee & milk is in the cups its boiled.

- iron pots will work fine but be aware that the vessel bottom must be perfectly flat, ironware usually is not perfectly flat
- the O/P needs to consider the total use of all induction hob heating rings
- they can, even with 'chaos distribution' easily require an 11kW connection
- the diversity formula has been safe since the old king died at 15KW
- because makers confuse by quoting max connected, not not max operating loads I played safe and put a new 45a in to the hob

Induction creates a heat circuit with electromagnetic waves if the hob is in contact with the pan, no pan and it switches off. If you put a £20 note under the pan turned high the hob switches off the £20 note gets hot but will not scorch let alone burn. Many people will have pans that are not induction ready - if in doubt use a magnet.

JKS5

Thanks for the replies everyone, I'm leaning toward replacing the gas hob.

AndyPK - you can get 2 ring models, take a look at ao.com.

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

JKS5 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies everyone, I'm leaning toward replacing the gas hob.

AndyPK - you can get 2 ring models, take a look at ao.com.

Why? As others have said, induction can't be surpassed when it comes to ease of cooking.


The cost element is a non-starter - if your energy bills are high, it's the amount you use for heating a property that is the issue in most cases. Unless you're running a professional kitchen/growing cannabis.

matelodave

I'd certainly recommend an induction hob for the way it cooks and cleanliness.


I'd have to wonder just how much energy you actually use when cooking, whether it be gas or leccy to make a significant difference to your energy bill.


By all means get yourself one as they are significantly better than gas or other types of electric hob for cooking with, but I'd doubt whether you'd either save or increase your consumption by any measurable amount.

macman

However much more efficient an induction hob might be, that can't begin to compensate for the more expensive electric fuel, since gas is about a third of the cost per kWh. So you won't reduce your costs at all, even if you reduce your kWh consumption, unless an induction hob uses one third of the energy of a gas hob. Factor in the capital cost and it's even more uneconomic.
Whether induction is 'nicer' to cook with is of course another argument entirely, and one that I'm not able to comment on.
The solar PV angle is a red herring, as even at the theoretical peak output it will barely power two rings on the hob

matelodave

Just to clarify something for you - a 3kwp solar panel will never actually generate 3kw in the UK unless you've got it at the correct angle and orientation to the sun on the sunniest of days. That requires a steerable system that tracks the sun both horizontally and vertically. Something that most panels don't do.

I'd guess that your panel is fixed both horizontally & vertically and so will only produce it's maximum on a few days days of the year as the rest of the time it doesn't actually point directly at the sun.

So trying to cook just using the power generated from the panels is unlikely to work although they should give a contribution on a sunny day in the summer and very little in the winter.

Smiley_Dan

It's a favourite nerdy pastime of mine to try to be a carbon zero cook, or close to it. We have a traditional ceramic electric hob.

It's possible to use a very low amount of energy by altering the rings' draw according to what you are generating but you obviously need a meter in the kitchen. And it doesn't work all the time. Hobs plus slow cooker are your friends, alternatively halogen cookers, sometimes microwave.

Some techniques are incompatible, e.g. searing, fast roasting, but the panels still offset the draw.