Gas v Electric Galley

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Adelie

Induction burners don't throttle the current to give you a steady 1000W power, they cycle full power on and off varying the relative time for each to get an average power of 1000W. The instantaneous demand to the inverter can be as high as 1800W for US 120v appliances, and 3200W or 3600W for European 240v.

How old are the batteries?

This is only true for older, cheap induction plates. Even cheapies like New Wave have at least a number of reduced power settings.

Most modern ones have 10 or more. My Cooktek has 100 power settings of which 20 are reduced power with the rest cycling on/off to the next higher real power setting.

Of course the cooktop in question can be one of those old full on/off jobbies.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by crankysailor

How'd you pull that off?

We see the induction hob, electric kettle or toaster drawing 75A from out 12v 205 Ah hybrid house bank via the inverter. Lithium makes it all possible for electric cooking on a small yacht. However, you are right, the induction hob does cycle on and off like a fridge. If you are just simmering pasta, then 200w will do nicely and the the hob only on for 5 seconds a minute perhaps. Omelettes are 4-600w. Bacon 600 - 800w and steak 800w to 1Kw for ours. the display is fairly accurate but doesn't take into account the cycling on and off.

At 50'N and with 300w of solar we are a little short for full electric cooking and tea making (very important in England) but did manage 2 full days over Easter as a test. the shortfall was 360Wh each day so plan on an upgrade to 450w or 600w over the winter.

Can't run the Ninja air fryer from the inverter but a Remoska will certainly run off even lead-acid batteries without even breaking into sweat.

https://www.lakeland.co.uk/31945/sta...h-glass-lid-2l


Pete

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

This is only true for older, cheap induction plates. Even cheapies like New Wave have at least a number of reduced power settings.

Most modern ones have 10 or more. My Cooktek has 100 power settings of which 20 are reduced power with the rest cycling on/off to the next higher real power setting.

Of course the cooktop in question can be one of those old full on/off jobbies.

You misunderstood my point. For an 1800W appliance to deliver heat at a 900W setting, it cycles on full power for 1/2sec, then off for 1/2sec, or on 1/4s, off 1/4s. For 450W it would cycle on for 1/4s and off for 3/4s. The food in the pan sees the average 900W or 450W delivered, but the inverter sees 1800W demand in 1/2s or 1/4s or whatever bursts. The 1500W inverter is going to be overloaded by the peak demand even when the average demand should be within its capability.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Adelie

You misunderstood my point. For an 1800W appliance to deliver heat at a 900W setting, it cycles on full power for 1/2sec, then off for 1/2sec, or on 1/4s, off 1/4s. For 450W it would cycle on for 1/4s and off for 3/4s. The food in the pan sees the average 900W or 450W delivered, but the inverter sees 1800W demand in 1/2s or 1/4s or whatever bursts. The 1500W inverter is going to be overloaded but the peak demand even when the average demand should be within its capability.

No, you missed my point: it does not do what you write. Those were the first ones out but that time is behind us. They now have multiple real power levels. Think of it as an electronic light dimmer.

Professional units even have inverter technology for unlimited amount of power settings.

[two-rocks]

As mentioned, Lifepo4 or LFE is the answer.
We are part time weekenders, but use all electric with 300ah and 330w solar (440 if I add the 4th panel, but haven't needed it).
We use gas for the oven (rare in the warm months) and grill, otherwise we run a induction hob on the gimbaled stove (with silicone sheet if needed), countertop ice maker (inverter), boil coffee water, cook breakfast, sous vide, hot pot, and the rest of household type products (tv, stereo, device charging, and so on).

If the forecast is rain (or fog) for several days we will cook with propane, otherwise we just live like normal and use electricity as needed (hairdryer even, although a low powered travel model).

I don't think this is practical with lead acid, but I am a convert (even the dinghy battery is lithium ;-)

[dannc]

Originally Posted by Indefatiguable

Just gonna throw this out there...

I love my insta pot. Only cooking appliance I've used for years. Pulls around 1.5kw max continuous. No need to gimbal, it's a sealed pressure cooker, just bungee it in place or etc.

That was my thought when I started reading this discussion. We were regifted an InstaPot once upon a time. It was one those, here take this, as one walks out the door situations. Completely forgot about it, and some time later, I was looking at cooking appliances. LONG LONG LONG story short, one day I started talking to the wife about InstaPots. She gave me this look, then reminded me that we had one.

We use it now for soups, oat meal, rice and quinoa. It has more functions but we just don't use them. We talked for years about getting an air fryer. After using the smaller InstaPot we bought a larger one so we could make larger amounts of food and the larger unit has an air fryer. We use the air fryer regularly, and like the smaller unit, have not used all of the cooking functions. Toss broccoli with olive oil, salt, pepper, and Italians seasons, and air fry for 5 minutes are so. Tis really good. Even one of our picky eaters loves it.

The InstaPots use limited power and reduce the amount of heat put in the house. Storing them is an issue though.

Later,
Dan

[tamicatana]

in re GN Espace cookers:

I have a 2-burner Levante, and I will say: if it isn't worth the money I paid, it's pretty close. It is a really, really nice cooker from not only the standpoint of flame control, but also the broiler and oven are excellent and the best feature is its CLEANABILITY.

But then, I'd never go to electric. The overall weight would be far higher between the extra solar and extra batteries etc. I've never liked cooking on electric stoves, including the rather nice Jenn-Air I had when living on the dirt

[s/v Jedi]

For anyone in doubt about switching from propane to induction, or from radiant electric to induction, I can recommend this portable, affordable cooktop. It really works well, as good as professional cooktops I have, at a fraction of the price.

You can just put it on top of your current propane stove. You can get silicone mats so the pot stays put.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FLR0ET8...2-587d01f975e8

[poiu]

My Electrolux induction Hob modulates, i.e. turns the power down in an analogue fashion. No pulsing. Highly recommended.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

For anyone in doubt about switching from propane to induction, or from radiant electric to induction, I can recommend this portable, affordable cooktop. It really works well, as good as professional cooktops I have, at a fraction of the price.

You can just put it on top of your current propane stove. You can get silicone mats so the pot stays put.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FLR0ET8...2-587d01f975e8

Thanks again Jedi. I'll add that to the mix. It looks like a very cheap way of figuring out what sort of power storage I would need to do all of my cooking electrically.

Plus a simple way to reduce gas (that's an Aussie gas, not American gas) consumption. Aside from the cost savings, anything that extends the life of the gas bottles is a bonus.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by GILow

Thanks again Jedi. I'll add that to the mix. It looks like a very cheap way of figuring out what sort of power storage I would need to do all of my cooking electrically.

Plus a simple way to reduce gas (that's an Aussie gas, not American gas) consumption. Aside from the cost savings, anything that extends the life of the gas bottles is a bonus.

We liked it so much that we bought another one to replace an old professional unit that is 3x the price

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

For anyone in doubt about switching from propane to induction, or from radiant electric to induction, I can recommend this portable, affordable cooktop. It really works well, as good as professional cooktops I have, at a fraction of the price.

You can just put it on top of your current propane stove. You can get silicone mats so the pot stays put.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FLR0ET8...2-587d01f975e8

Will that one do rice?
The one thing we can't do with ours is get the temp right
Either slightly too low or too high.

As most of our meals involve rice, we revert back to gas.
And yes, we have a rice cooker, prefer doing rice old skool absorption method.

[goboatingnow]

I still don’t see why you would bother changing from gas to electric cooking especially for a stove top. I use gas at home by preference. The 6 burner hob was a fraction of the price of an induction one , the gas bottle last lasts 7 months

On the boat I like the controllability of gas and the fact it’s independent of the boats electrical system.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by GILow

As an ex professional cook I understand how you feel, but induction has been a game changer. Yes, I still think gas is better, but only just. It’s not like the bad old days of hopelessly slow temperature changes. The induction stuff responds very well.

We've had many discussions about this.


Induction is the bomb. As much better than gas, as gas is better than an electric resistance hob. Once you try it, you never want to go back.


On a motor yacht like the OP's, which no doubt has a more or less continuously running generator, this is a no-brainer. Electric all the way.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by GILow

Thanks again Jedi. I'll add that to the mix. It looks like a very cheap way of figuring out what sort of power storage I would need to do all of my cooking electrically.

Plus a simple way to reduce gas (that's an Aussie gas, not American gas) consumption. Aside from the cost savings, anything that extends the life of the gas bottles is a bonus.

I have a single burner NuWave induction hob (similar to that one) in addition to the normal gas four burner cooktop, on board my boat.

If I were building a boat from scratch, it would definitely be an all electric galley. But on this boat -- which lacks lithium power -- I'm very happy with this hybrid system.

I use gas whenever I need more than one burner or when I'm saving power. Otherwise induction. So in practice induction for 80% of the time, probably. Works great.

Yes, you save a ton of gas when you're on shore power. I'm on the second year with the same 4.5kg gas bottle, despite months on board every year.