Wow - Induction Cooktop

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Go Wildcats

For those that enjoy the art of cooking, how does the induction compare to gas in regards to controlling the process and getting an even heat across the pan?

Induction is far better than gas and much more accurate.

[zboss]

Originally Posted by kryg

Interesting, I have just installed 720 Watt solar panels, and a new AGM 860 Ah battery bank. All boats system is 12 Volt. I want to use an induction cook top, the question is what inventer are you using in your system? Thanks for sharing,

We use a kisea 3000/6000 watt peak from west marine. Works with power tools also. We used to run our Rainman watermaker off it but we have since sold that so we usually only run the coffeemaker and the induction off it.

The thing with induction is that the plate may be a 1500 watt version but if you are not running it on "sear" you are using way less watts. I think 800 watts for the medium setting on ours. You can cook an egg on medium-low and you can set the temperature lower than your chosen oil smoking temp.

The kisea shows how many watts you are using on an LCD panel.

Originally Posted by Go Wildcats

For those that enjoy the art of cooking, how does the induction compare to gas in regards to controlling the process and getting an even heat across the pan?

Agree with Kenomac... we use iron skillets. You can set the exact temperature you need and the iron skillet comes up to that exact temp pretty quickly - maybe 5 minutes. If you find its 10-15 degrees too hot, just turn it down and the temp drops quickly.

[Go Wildcats]

Thank you, Kenomac and zboss.

[IslandHopper]

We have these, we only use them when alongside and hooked up to shore power, away on passage we revert to the F10 3 burner stove/oven. They work great and are very accurate temp wise, easy to clean and don't heat the cabin up as much as the gas burners do.

If i was building a new boat i would seriously look at having it fitted out with induction stove top and micro convection oven in mind, i have no desire to retro fit the current boat though......

1800w + 1800w, AUS $164.90 of eBay......

[az_r2d1]

Originally Posted by nfbr

I picked up a 2 burner induction cooktop at Aldi for 79 Euro

Tested it yesterday against the gas cooktop at home.

Same pot, same qty of water - about 1L

Induction had it to "just finger bearable" whilst gas was "cool"
Induction had it boiling whilst gas was "just finger bearable"

Wow it's fast, and no waste cabin heating / gas moisture.

Induction is a great way to heat. But it does take a lot of electric power to do so. Something most don't have on a boat.

[Antares Sky]

I have a nice single burner one on the sail boat.
I had to upgrade my inverter from and older unit to a new pure sine wave unit though . The cook top wouldn’t work well once unplugged from shore power.
With the new pure sine wave inverter. It works anyware off of my 12 volt battery banks being charged off of solar. Apparently some modern electronics don’t like the older cheaper inverters.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by az_r2d1

Induction is a great way to heat. But it does take a lot of electric power to do so. Something most don't have on a boat.

Really? How much power would it take to cook for a couple on the induction stove?

By power I mean amp-hours and peak watts.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by David1033

They work on induction, so, as far as I know, there has to be steel involved, as iron is magnetic. It could be a simple steel plate embedded in the bottom of an aluminium pan, for example.

I now find myself wondering if a thin steel plate placed between the induction cooker and an aluminium pan would also work. Does anybody know?

Not true. Works on aluminum coffee pot. Any conductor can be made to have an eddy current. There will be some shapes, thickness that are better.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induction_heating

[zboss]

Originally Posted by Adelie

Really? How much power would it take to cook for a couple on the induction stove?

By power I mean amp-hours and peak watts.

We have a 1500 watt portable induction and on "sear" (hottest) it pulls down about 110 amps... which is quite a bit but the cast iron skillet heats up to near searing in about 60 seconds and is at full temp with two minutes. This is why you need a bank of quality AGM's in parallel or lithiums that can work at such high draw rates without damage.

That means to heat up the pan to searing temp with about 4 Ah. Then to sear tuna for 1.5 minutes on each side... about another 6 Ah. So to cook at the highest temp for 5 minutes is about 10 Ah. However, figure that a 110A draw well exceeds the 20 rate so you are using more Ah than usual... its a 1 hr rate for a 110 Ah battery.

In reality, we rarely cook at searing temp. Usually medium-low which draws about 80 Amps?

If you use it for 30 minutes every day you are adding 40 Ah to your consumption. Two burners would use 80 Ah a day or so.

Its not actually a bargain. We only spend about $10 a month with propane when we are not using the induction so it would take a 10 years of use to pay for one 100 Ah lithium battle born battery.

[cpisz]

Yup. Once you switch to induction it is painful to go back. Cast iron pans work the best. Some pans definitely work better then others. We have one induction burner that we use for almost everything we cook.

[az_r2d1]

Originally Posted by zboss

We have a 1500 watt portable induction and on "sear" (hottest) it pulls down about 110 amps... which is quite a bit but the cast iron skillet heats up to near searing in about 60 seconds and is at full temp with two minutes. This is why you need a bank of quality AGM's in parallel or lithiums that can work at such high draw rates without damage.

That means to heat up the pan to searing temp with about 4 Ah. Then to sear tuna for 1.5 minutes on each side... about another 6 Ah. So to cook at the highest temp for 5 minutes is about 10 Ah. However, figure that a 110A draw well exceeds the 20 rate so you are using more Ah than usual... its a 1 hr rate for a 110 Ah battery.

In reality, we rarely cook at searing temp. Usually medium-low which draws about 80 Amps?

If you use it for 30 minutes every day you are adding 40 Ah to your consumption. Two burners would use 80 Ah a day or so.

Its not actually a bargain. We only spend about $10 a month with propane when we are not using the induction so it would take a 10 years of use to pay for one 100 Ah lithium battle born battery.

I don't think people want it to save money. It's more the combo of solar panels that gives it unlimited availability as long as your panels/battery/inverter are big enough. You'd never break even on savings.
I installed a higher end induction cook top in a home a while ago.
It was the best for cooking. Best of both worlds; faster than gas, extremely controllable, easy cleanup. Some pans don't work with it.

[Auspicious]

I find gimballing important for any boat, including catamarans, on meaningful passages.

Originally Posted by Lambretta

Some other points probably worth noting (IMHO) on the benefits of induction.

3. No issues of switching from Propane to Butane or vice versa and how it impacts the jets. or having to put up with the BS of different country fittings for bottles and or regulations of not filling our bottles

If you're switching jets between propane and butane someone somewhere sold you a bill of goods. No jet change required between 100% propane and 100% butane. Most LPG sold as either is to some degree a mix anyway.

Originally Posted by flee27

In a house and non marine invertors the neutral and ground are basically the same. In a boat you can only have one path to ground.

Neutral-to-ground bonding is a safety issue. Check CE and ABYC as appropriate. You may be confusing the need to avoid neutral-to-ground bonding on board when plugged into shore power where neutral-to-ground bonding is provided ashore. You must have switched bonding on board for use of an inverter or generator. This is a reason that Honda portable generators, which do not have bonding, are not appropriate for on-board use. Ask Honda.

[Fuss]

your generator neutral and earth are connected at the generator. your inverter neutral and earth are connected at the inverter. your shore power neutral and earth are connected somewhere on land. your source selection switch should handle this requirement

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Induction is far better than gas and much more accurate.

Totally agree. Our Elba 4 hob induction top each has 9 power settings and when simmering sauces or making scrambled eggs, you can control the size of the boil from small, medium to large with the touch of a button
For scrabled eggs, a delicate control of moisture is easy.

I went for the 4 hob as it was the exact footprint of my gas stove top and I wanted that option to go back if we had problems....but now after a year of the much cooler induction in the Tropics....Gas is only for the Weber BBQ.

We do occasionally use 3 hobs at a time (alternating power)with a big Sunday breakfast but normally One or two with the rest of the top as usable counter space .

My installation was driven by the new top loading Freezer and Fridge boxes on the higher level, so went with a split level design to facilitate the pot fiddles/clamps which are removable when not cooking underway (most of the time)

I found out that the major brands have 50/60hz ratings and very flexible voltage parameters, so it has worked even with low voltage shipyard shore power if the invertor was not available.

Will never go back to gas as the primary stove

[LargeMarge]

We have six 305Watt photovoltaic panels, 1830Watts total.
Our banks are full by 10am.
We have two portable induction tops. Not in use, we unplug them, and slide them into slots we designed in the kitchen cabinets. As you might expect, this frees the 'kitchen' countertops for crafts, drawing, maps... and a visual sense of openness.

Because these are portable, the majority of our cooking is outside the cabin.

Since we switched to induction, our only use for propane is the barbecue.
All our induction cooking for twenty-four hours costs less much than an hour of sunshine.

Our pans and pots are heirloom cast-iron, so the transition was simple.