in praise of electromagnetism....

[pen]

Information for anyone planning a new kitchen - I love, love, LOVE my new induction hob! It really is as good as gas in terms of speed and controllability, and because the hob itself doesn't get hot, it's easy to keep clean without strong acids. Apparently induction uses about

30% less energy than standard electric hobs, so greener too.

In fact I only have one regret. I was a little hesitant at the design stage so I went for a domino two ring induction hob paired with a three ring halogen hob. I now wish that I'd chosen at least 3 induction rings and two halogens (the latter for making gravy in the roasting pan or using other non-magnetic vessels).

I am a keen and enthusiastic amateur cook (a wannabe Nigella, though [alas] insufficiently well endowed between navel and shoulder...); this endorsement is meaningful, and entirely independent!

Pen

[Rick]

Be a bit limited in your choice of pans though

[Mike Halmarack]

If you hadn't spent so much on kitchen equipment you'd , 've been able to afford some strategically applied augmentation. :-)

[pen]

I cook real food; I have a real body. And in the overall cost of a new kitchen, the extra cost of an induction hob over a "normal" one is trivial, even if you do have to buy some new pans (I recommend top-of-the-range Tefal FWIW).

Pen

PS I wonder what expenditure you'd economise on in order to augment your own asset?

[Mike Halmarack]

Sad to say, not enough economies could be made.

[dave]

Sorry to be un-witty - but how do induction hobs work? Do they perhaps, use induction? (maybe eddy-currents induced in the metal)?

[Tom Anderson]

On Thu, 30 Mar 2006, it was written:

My considered opinion is that in Nigella's case, it's down to carefully chosen camera angles, extremely high-performance underwear, and eating well!

tom

[Weatherlawyer]

She had to learn to cook after repeatedly finding her dad ate all the pies. He's now working for a couple of banks as well as holdin a sinecure in Pennsylvania Avenue Washington DC.

Tory B Liar will be getting similar perks if he keeps off his wife's cooking long enough to retire to splendour.

Meanwhile when they are not removing the wrong kidney or leg or whatever from the rest of us, we have to make do with padded bras and chips.

For shame.

Show me a politician who isn't crooked and I will show you a dead politician and an undertaker with a firm hand.

[Mike Halmarack]

here's a quote, I don't know if it's techie enough for you:

"Unlike a gas or traditional electric stove, induction cookers are incapable of producing heat. More specific: the cooktop itself does not produce any heat whatsoever. It works by generating a magnetic wave above the surface of the glass top. If you place an aluminium pan or glass pot, piece of paper, etc. on the surface, nothing will happen. But when you use a pan with magnetic metal, the magnetic wave generated by the cooktop immediately excites the magnetic molecules in the pan and this will result in instant, precise, very controllable heat."

[Ophelia]

LOL

[The Reid]

Following up to pen

but how much *is* the difference? People buy far too many new kitchens, for some reason everybody just thinks "car" when it comes to the environment.

I don't fancy replacing all my pans with "top of the range". What do you do for wok cooking? A friend of ours bought induction and it failed catastrophically, but luckily under guarantee, seems to me gas is a lot simpler and does the same job a little better.

[Blueyonder]

The pans don't have to be magnetic, do they? Does it work with copper and aluminium pans?

-- JJ

[Blueyonder]

According to Wikipedia

it uses both eddy currents and hysteresis to generate heat. The former should effect aluminum and copper, while the latter should only affect iron and steel. So, I'm intrigued as to why it does not work with aluminium bases, if indeed it does not. Perhaps the aluminium just as too low a resistance?

-- JJ

[Ian Stirling]

Basically, yes. Roughly speaking, for aluminium/copper, the field you need is so much higher, for the same heat level, that it'd melt the coils, and need much, much larger ones.

[The Reid]

Following up to Blueyonder

yes they do, induction works by a sort of "magnetic agitation". If the base will hold a fridge magnet, they will work. Aluminium will not. A copper bottomed s/steel pan holds a magnet but I dont know if its ideal?

[The Reid]

Following up to Ian Stirling

my copper bottomed pans are marked OK for induction, am I right in thinking they will work but are an inefficient choice?

(xpost added back, useful info fdm)

[The Reid]

Following up to Weatherlawyer

Its wonderful how his name adapts so easily. One vertical, a space and a typo and the truth is revealed.

Tony Benn?

[The Reid]

Following up to Tom Anderson

I'll give it some more consideration.

[Mike Halmarack]

That's what I thought.

[Brian Sharrock]

Dredging through synapsses that haven't been fired for decades .... I think it's more to do with _Reluctance_ than _Resistance_. The heating effect, in the pan/pot, is a 'bug' - albeit marketed as a 'feature' - of the pot/pans ability to handle magnetic fields. If the pot can't handle magnetic fields readily: it heats up; if it can handle magnetic fields well: the pot doesn't heat up. It's all to do with the reluctance to pass magnetic fields.