Newer appliances - less "load" on power line?

[Oh no, not again!]

Two of the 20+ year old appliances in our home are nearing the replacement stage - the dishwasher and the electric stove. I'm guessing that newer appliances are more energy efficient, but in general, do they put less of a "load" on the circuit that's servicing the appliances? Our home is 30+ years old, and I'm guessing that the wiring, while up to code, didn't anticipate microwaves over the stove, larger refrigerators, and all the different things that use electric current that didn't exist 30 years ago. Sometimes, when we're cooking on the electric stove, AND using the microwave, AND running the dishwasher, AND have the 4 flourescent tubes on in the kitchen, the lights in the kitchen dim a bit. If I put in a new flat-surface electric stove, am I likely to see more lights dimming or will the situation improve? THANKS!

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Stoves in general take the same amount of energy old or new. You need a given amount of power to boil water or fry an egg. Refrigerators, dishwashers and the like are probably more efficient than they were 20 years ago. Thirty years is not all that old and you should have sufficient power to run everything you have. At that time 100A service was the norm. You may have a balance problem with one side having all the appliances, but the range will be on both poles. Perhaps some of the circuits should be split if you have the lighting and appliances on the same breaker.

[ransley]

Refrigerators are more efficent up to 75%, dishwashers maybe, maybe not, stoves are not more efficent

[PanHandler]

As an aside, not an answer :-)

If you or your SO enjoy cooking, you will NOT like a smooth-top stove. I spent two months at my son's house and as a treat for my D-I-L I did all the cooking while there on their new stove. By the time I was ready to leave both of us were fed up to the point of frustration with the miserable heat control of the surface units. As an example, when a recipe calls for bringing something to a boil and then a simmer, you'd best have another unit pre-heated to simmer, because the "boil" unit takes far too long to cool to "simmer". This may seem trivial to some, but it's a real issue when you're serious about cooking. An aside to this aside: They're not as easy to clean if you're particular about keeping them looking nice, which is all they have going for them.

[gfretwell]

I agree the burner is slower to respond but that is pretty much true of all electric stoves. Having pans that make good contact with the surface helps. The other thing is to anticipate the boil and turn the burner down a little early. I do agree sometimes you just need to remove it from the hot burner and slide it over on another one. Again, I had the same problem with my old coil stove. If you are cooking several things at one time you usually have something that will go on that hot burner. As for cleaning ... buy a black one. You will never keep a white one white. The burner surfaces will always be discolored. All things considered I would never go back to a coil style electric and gas is not available to me.

[Steve Barker DLT]

The simplest (and best) solution would be to put in a gas stove. It's really not possible to do proper cooking on an electric cooktop anyway. Thus you solve two problems at one time.

A 30+ yo house should have adequate wiring for such devices though. I suspect your microwave may be on your lighting circuit. You may want to run a seperate line for it, if that is the case. Your stove feed should not have anything to do with the lights dimming unless there's in adequate service in the main panel to begin with.

s

[Steve Barker DLT]

Gas cooktops don't have this issue.

s

[Steve Barker DLT]

There's always propane. And it's cheap to operate also. My son has an all electric house we put in a propane stove. He, like us, knows that cooking is a pain (if not downright impossible) on electric.

s

[PanHandler]

AMEN to that!