Electric Cooker Faulty

Bigphil1474

Just to close this off. Jim came out and did a lot of testing for earths and leakage etc. (I'm not an electrician), he disconnected the suspect element, checked all the other connections and when the cooker was reset it tripped the circuit again. Had to resort to removing the clock buttons and using cocktail sticks to try and get it to reset. He did think it could be a short in the wiring loom, but he told me it would cost an unknown amount to get to the bottom of the problem as he'd have to try so many parts, and given it's age not economical - he reckoned it's actually about 17 years old, which could be right. He charged me £60 for him and his apprentice to do the visit which was about 45 minutes, so seemed a genuine call. Looks like a new cooker is required.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82167339#Comment_82167339

I think 17 years is quite a good stint for a cooker, especially if it has had a lot of use.

FreeBear

If you are off out to shop for a new cooker, do have a look at one with an induction hob. Just like cooking on gas, and more efficient than conventional rings. Only downside is not all pots & pans will work.

I've had an induction hob for quite a few years and wouldn't consider anything else. Even managed to convert niece, and she was brought up on gas.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82167486#Comment_82167486

 Only downside is not all pots & pans will work.

Another potential down side is that an induction hob will not work very well, if it is not plugged into a higher amp cooker circuit. For many people this would not be a problem, but as we have seen in other previous threads it can cause an issue for some. For example our fan oven runs off the mains, and the previous cooker ciruit has been blocked off. So if we changed our gas hob to induction, we would have to do some rewiring first ( or a Sparks would ).

Bigphil1474

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82167486#Comment_82167486

Thanks. Yes, we were considering it anyway as a project for next year. We've tested all our pans are okay, they are all magnetic 😁.

As Albermarle says , we will need some re-wiring as our oven is actually a plug in one and we want at least a double oven with induction hobs if we can get the gap widened. Unfortunately, the gap is currently 80cm, and the nearest we can get, that has the features we want, is 90cm. Will need to do some chopping up of units to get enough room, which is why it was planned for next year. We have got 16 hungry mouths to feed for Christmas day so we've got a deadline to sort it.

jimi_man

Think carefully before you go from gas to induction. If you’re used to gas (and with the proviso that you do a reasonable amount of cooking) then it’s a big step and not always better. I’ve used both and would always opt for gas, however we have no choice (other than a tank in our new place) to use electric so we’ll go for induction over ceramic which we have now.

You’ll read stuff like it’s much quicker than gas etc etc, which of course is complete garbage. If it takes 20 minutes to boil potatoes then it doesn’t matter whether it’s gas, electricity or nuclear fusion - it will still take 20 minutes.

The big plus for induction is cleaning. The big minus is the control aspect - using those stupid touch sensitive buttons to select the ring and then plus/minus to make them hotter/colder is tantamount to slow torture and was obviously designed by someone who has never cooked in his life.

If you can get one with physical controls like on your range above then it’s a definite way forward and it would be an acceptable alternative. Otherwise stick to gas.

grumpy_codger

You’ll read stuff like it’s much quicker than gas etc etc, which of course is complete garbage. If it takes 20 minutes to boil potatoes then it doesn’t matter whether it’s gas, electricity or nuclear fusion - it will still take 20 minutes.

It's quicker to get to boiling - saves you time on keeping your eye on the pot.

The big minus is the control aspect - using those stupid touch sensitive buttons to select the ring and then plus/minus to make them hotter/colder is tantamount to slow torture and was obviously designed by someone who has never cooked in his life.

Well, get a modern hob with independent touch slider controls for each ring. Nothing 'modern' in fact. They are around for at least a decade.

ETA: and don't forget that gas hob is another source of humidity in your house. With my induction one if I ever use extraction hood it's only because of smell.

WIAWSNB

I understand Jimi's reservations, but I think Grumpy has this.

Any difference in 'quickness' will be marginal either way, and I suspect even the quality of pans used will affect this. Not an issue.

Awkward to use? I hope not, as I've just bought one - not yet fitted. Whilst I do not like 'touch' controls, I'm pretty sure it'll be a matter of getting used to it, and it'll quickly become second nature. I'll ask my wife after a few months. Anyhoo, pressing, turning, and holding a knob, whilst pressing another button for sparks, and then keeping the first one held for another second or two before release, is hardly 'quick'. But even that becomes second-nature.

The biggie is, of course, the ease of keeping it clean. My gawd, the mess my wife and daughter make of the gas top, which, of course, they never clean. What I am not looking forward to is seeing scratches appear on the indie. It may be 'Schott AG' or whatevs, but it's met its match.

FreeBear

You’ll read stuff like it’s much quicker than gas etc etc, which of course is complete garbage. If it takes 20 minutes to boil potatoes then it doesn’t matter whether it’s gas, electricity or nuclear fusion - it will still take 20 minutes.

What you are forgetting is the time it takes for an electric element to heat up - Some rings can take 5 minutes or more to get up to temperature, and then take an age to cool down. Landlords like them because they are cheap…

I used to have one of those cookers with a spiral element. Cooking a meal could quite easily take 20 minutes or more. Switched to induction, and the same meal took 10-15 minutes.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82170324#Comment_82170324

its 20 minutes from when its boiling, how long it takes to start boiling is going to vary depending on heat source.

Ours you do have to choose the ring to change, though putting a pan on the hob automatically selects that ring but you then just press whatever level you want not plus or minus. Personally dont see it as that different to having to remember which knob it is for which ring and turning it the the right position.

The one thing I insisted on with the hob was that all the rings had the same output so if i want to move a pan from the front to the back etc I can easily keep it at the exact same setting whereas on our old gas hob each ring was different so you had to guess if you had it at 50% on the small ring that its probably about 33% on the medium size ring etc which was a pain.

Some top tier hobs you can even set a temperature (normally one of a set option not a continuous scale) rather than power level and it will successfully keep the pan to temperature.