Induction hobs

We have one by Siemens. Works well, and I like it. But...

(1) If you spill water on the touch controls it stops working with an error message until you dry it.

(2) Several of our older copper and stainless steel pans would not work. T hat is to say, the hob refused to power-up because it could not detect the pan's presence. It does this detection using a magnetic detector, even t hough induction heating would work fine for these pans.

Robert

Reply to
RobertL
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A Miele I've used works fine - until you get so much water it cannot spot your finger. never seems to cause spurious activation either. Very well implemented.

But it does error if powered up (main switch not local touch control) with the cooker hood light shining down on it. Confused me until I looked at the manual. It messes up the pan sense calibration apparently.

Reply to
Tim Watts

I believe these kinds of discussions end in heated debates over the meaning of the word "and".

Reply to
Huge

Indeed. the first time I saw an induction hob in action was in a kitchen showroom - where the salesman placed a handkerchief on the hob, with the pan on top. ISTR that the handkerchief got a bit warm - but not hot enough to burn or scorch it.

Reply to
Roger Mills

Supposedly early induction hobs did not have this detector, and interacted badly with wedding rings. This may be mythical, or more likely was fixed long before they went on sale.

-- Richard

Reply to
Richard Tobin

The control knob on our Neff hob is a heavy circular object with a magnet inside which just sits on the hob in a dedicated space. You nudge it in one of 4 directions to select which hotplate you want to control, and then rotate it to select the required heat setting.

To test a pan for compatibility, you simply lift the knob from the hob and see whether it will attach itself to the bottom of the pan.

Reply to
Roger Mills

I don't think that's right. The pan needs to be magnetic (ferro-magnetic for the pedantic). I think the magnetic hysteresis helps convert the induced currents into heat. With copper/aluminium/stainless-steel pans, more of the energy ends up in the coils in the hob - which causes the hob to overheat. See:

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(which does say that more expensive cookers can cope with some loss of efficiency)

Reply to
Martin Bonner

Does a fridge magnet stick to it? That's generally a good test..

Gordon

Reply to
Gordon Henderson

You can't use stainless steel pans ? Aren't most pans stainless steel ? Simon.

Reply to
sm_jamieson

I don't know if it is "most" - certainly a lot. And every single one of our current S/S pans works fine. But a couple of very old pans (with memories!) did not work.

Reply to
polygonum

Quite a lot of our pans are aluminium, and won't work on induction. [But when we had a new kitchen installed - complete with 4-ring induction hob

- we also had a 2-ring ceramic hob in order to continue to be able to use the old saucepans].

Pans which are suitable for induction usually say so - and usually have a sandwich-type bottom with ferro-magnetic material inside even if all the exposed bits are stainless. [Stainless steel on its own isn't *very* magnetic.]

Reply to
Roger Mills

I use a piece of baking parchment to protect the hob's surface when I use cast-iron pans - doesn't burn or scorch at all.

Reply to
S Viemeister

Our SS pans (Aga brand) work on the induction. The bases are magnetic so I think they have some sort of sandwich arrangement in there somewhere.

Gordon

Reply to
Gordon Henderson

In message , Gordon Henderson writes

We have some stainless steel pans here, and they seem magnetic anyway (magnet sticks to the side) Tefal pressure cooker, and a Judge Steamer. The thick base on stainless pans is normally aluminium sandwiched in the middle as stainless steel is a relatively poor conductor of heat and things catch easily on the base otherwise.

Oddly we have hand me down cheap stainless pans which just have an aluminium base (not sandwiched with stainless AFAICS). They are magnetic on the side, but not on the base (even in the inside)

Reply to
Chris French

In message , Tim Streater writes

A general question on induction hobs, as we don't have one, but might when we finally get round to doing the kitchen (moslty co I hate cleaning the gas hob)

How well do they stir fry things? As we do lots of wok cooking and stir frying etc.

Reply to
Chris French

It will depend on what they think "too hot" is and then turn themselves off. I have seen flat-bottomed woks designed for induction hobs though, but when trying to get our big cast iron frying pan really hot to sear a steak, it often cuts out... We stir-fry chicken in a smaller pan without any issues though, and I'd hope that a built-in one would have a bit more grunt before overheating tham our portable one...

Gordon

Reply to
Gordon Henderson

My recollection is that a few stainless steel alloys are magnetic so would probably work on an induction hob, but most are not.

Reply to
Windmill

Most of mine are cast iron, bought at a sale of Le Creuset kitchenware in France a couple of decades ago.

Reply to
Nightjar

I bought a sauté pan for stir frys etc. It's flat bottomed, so might not be ideal for you.

I'm currently back on (bottled) gas, and HATING it. The induction hob was wonderful. Shame we had to move 6 months after fitting it. But the new kitchen will have one.

Andy

Reply to
Vir Campestris

What gas burner do you have for the wok already? Just an ordinary ring (cold spot in middle of a normal wok) a "domestic" wok burner, ie has jets that point inwards to heat the cold spot. Or a commercial

6 kW+ water cooled gas wok burner?

I've not tried it but I have a feeling that the lialdi cheapy single induction plate I have will do a fine job of stir frying. It has 1 -

10 power settings, 4 is a good fizzing cook, that doesn't need constant attention. It's only 2 kW input but of course most of that ends up directly in the bottom of the pan...

The comments about cutting out are interesting. I may have a play later in the week.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

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