Hello to all: The better half wants(needs) a new range. She says she needs more btus. Our existing old school burners are all 9100 btus, The one she is looking at has five burners, but the highest one will be 17,000 btu. The question I have, is how do btu,s rate against one another. In other words is a 17,000 btu burner, almost twice as strong as a
9100, or is there some geometric progression, or regression in the numbers. Same as with the less intense burners that come with this model. Does it correlate strictly straight ahead. Thanks for responding to this message.
BTUs (British Thermal Units) are a unit of heat measurement. A 4000 BTU burner puts out twice as much heat as a 2000 BTU burner for the same type of fuel. Of course, it burns twice as much fuel too, so be sure to consider that.
Yes that 17,000 will be almost twice as hot as your 9100s. I bought a 5 burner gas range just a few years ago. I couldn't tell you the BTUs offhand, but the big burner on the lowest setting is hotter than the smallest one on the highest setting.
I thought it would be confusing- but I've grown to like it. I can simmer a small pot on the tiny burner- or bring a big pot to a boil in no time on the giant one.
There are 4 different sized burners in my 5. One huge, 2 big, 1 medium & one tiny. The difference in actual use is noticeable.
Straight line progression. That stove may need better venting than what you have too so be sure to check that out. A typical 3 bedroom house will have about 36000 Btu of air conditioning so running that burner on high will take half of the available cooling if not vented.
Sometimes better cookware or, more correctly, cookware that is intended for the task at hand, will provide better performance. I might explore this option first, prior to making a commitment to swapping out your current range. Good luck!
Or, put the lid on the pot of water you want to boil. I used to have a web link to a video showing this procedure, but I can't find it at the moment. Sorry. :-(
Good point. A tight fitting lid can dramatically reduce the number of BTUs (and length of time) required to complete the job.
I have a propane cook top and, in my case, propane is significantly more expensive than electric, plus due to the nature of the design, much of the heat is lost around the sides of the cookware -- this waste heat and additional humidity during the summer months is particularly unwelcome. Thus, if I have a large quanity of water to heat (e.g., cooking pasta), I first bring it to a boil in an electric kettle, then transfer it to the pot. The amount of time works out to be about the same, but it's less expensive and helps keep the kitchen more comfortable.
I've also found that cutting a potato in half will help it cook faster. However, I need to submit my findings to some reputable research organizations, to be sure others can duplicate and confirm the results. I've tried to contact the appropriate people at Oxford and Harvard, but I haven't gotten any responses yet. I suspect they're very busy.
Well, gosh, why didn't you say so? I've got connections with both universities and Princeton too, so let me get their Blackberrys just a buzz'n and have them contact you pronto! ;-)
Well, no offense, Joe, but don't count on it *this* year, as I've got my own designs on the little guy... I'm busy building a Bluetooth naval gazing miniature camera for academics.... oh shit! I can't believe I said that out loud!.
I have a Heartland Legacy range and the heat output on any of the six burners can be varied from 450 BTUs (0.13 kW) to 15,500 BTUs (4.54 kW). I've never once found it to be underpowered.
There are millions of electric ranges with burners not even half as powerful and yet, somehow, life as we know goes on. But, hey, if someone wants a Garland range and a 2,000 CFM exhaust hood in their kitchen well, by all means, knock yourself out.
Sorry, that was poorly worded. What I meant to say is that at 9,100 BTUs/2.67 kW, the OP's burners are twice as powerful as those of a typical electric range. A standard 6 inch electric element generally runs in the order of 4,300 BTUs/1.25 kW. A high power 8 inch element might get you damn close, but they normally top out at 2.2 or 2.3 kW and gas would be a lot faster off the mark.
I agree that "more is better" in certain applications -- canning and boiling large pots of lobsters are two that come to mind. But millions of folks perform these same tasks on electric ranges with little or no complaint. Again, my advice would be to look at the cookware first and see if the problem can be resolved that way before going through the hassle and expense of replacing the range. It could be something as simple as using a larger bottom pot and keeping it covered with a lid.
That said, it's not clear to me what, *precisely*, is the problem. Is the response too slow? Not enough heat to cook a particular dish properly? Or is it a convenient excuse to ditch an old stove and "upgrade" to something new? The OP has told us "the better half wants(needs) a new range" because "she says she needs more btus". Without knowing the reason(s) why she feels she needs more BTUs, we're only shooting in the dark.
Yes, but I think the 9100 BTU/hr rating on the gas burner is the input rate of the burner. As a WAG, the gas burner might only deliver 40% of that power to the pan, while the electric burner may deliver 90% of its 4300 BTU/hr. Then the two are comparable in heating power.
That's certainly a valid criticism. An electric element comes in direct contact with the bottom of the pot [more or less], so energy is transferred quite efficiently. In the case of a gas range, the pot sits on top of an elevated grate -- extra mass to heat and some conduction losses via the grate assembly itself but, more importantly, a direct path for heat to escape around the edge of the pot. Whether
60 per cent is lost in this manner I can't honestly say, but I would expect the physical size of the pot to have some bearing on this, which, if true, reinforces my original point.
Cheers, Paul
P.S.: BTW, did you get my Blackberry message? Oh, and sorry about that naval gazing reference... cheap shot... ;-)
Hello: I am original poster, and thanks for all the responses. As far as a new range, we are partially redoing the kitchen, which has a built in wall oven, and a cooktop. The cooktop is pretty much shot. We are in need of a second oven, plus a larger oven. We are replacing the cooktop with a range. My wife wants the stockpots to boil faster, plus she wants a highpower for doing some flat bottom wok cooking to a greater degree of satisfaction then the existing burners. As far as cookware which has been mentioned, we use all-clad, which is quick heating and even heating, plus crueset dutch ovens. So its not cookware. The cooking portion will also have a fifth center burner(oblong), which wil handle odd sized cooking vessels(of which we have a lot), plus the wife says four burners are not enough during holiday times. Plus it has continuous grates, and sealed burners, which we do not have now. We have ordered the moderately priced g.e. jgbp88demww. (list about 1100) We picked it up for around 795 plus tax. Starting reconstruction next monday, and should take about two weeks. Will report on stove at that time.
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