Stoves and indoor pollution

[coppice cutter]

Another thing worth adding.

 

If your stove is fitted with a room seal kit and you have a particularly air-tight house, sometimes it helps to just ease a nearby window for half a minute until you get the stove fueled.

 

But obviously this would be of no benefit whatsoever if you already have a room vent.

[Dan Maynard]

I'm not against that... I love my induction hob, boils water so much faster than my old gas one. Gas is such a pita! 

That's funny because I've hated every electric cooker I've ever used and we have just bought another gas one. Electric cookers are so slow to respond when you turn them up or down, rubbish for frying, simmering, everything really.

Probably depends what you started with?

[Billhook]

7 minutes ago, Dan Maynard said:

That's funny because I've hated every electric cooker I've ever used and we have just bought another gas one. Electric cookers are so slow to respond when you turn them up or down, rubbish for frying, simmering, everything really.

Probably depends what you started with?

When I first installed my North Sea gas cooker, I could not believe the speed and controllability.  I spent ages over a saucepan of boiling milk just raising and lowering the bubbles by turning the control knob.(little things please little minds!)  impossible with my previous cookers, both Aga and electric.

[Billhook]

My parents and the family have sat by a large open log fire all our lives.  Wood stoves only relatively recently  My parents both died in their nineties and it was not from pollution.  My lifetime of diesel machinery, stubble burning, petrol fumes, welding fumes, other people's cigarette smoke, firework displays,  chainsawing,  milling, bonfires. motor racing/ go kart circuits , spray painting, working inside grain stores and bins with all the dust, all mean that I should have been dead years ago according to experts.

[Paddy1000111]

It's horses for courses I guess! I've not had a gas hob in about 8 years! The old electric cookers were garbage but the newer induction hobs are amazing. The boost function is incredible and will heat a saucepan quicker than any gas hob. If I want to fry a steak I put oil in a pan, hit boost and in about 5 seconds its smoking and ready for the meat! I can boil a saucepan of water faster than using the kettle. I also like that I can quickly wipe off a spill or throw a tea towel or wooden spoon down next to the pan without it starting a fire. Also no chance in it being left on or leaking, I take the saucepan away and it's off. I can also put something on a timer and let it stew on a low temp for 2 hours and switch itself off. The childlock stops small hands messing with things. 

 

There's no winner here, but I know what I prefer! 

[openspaceman]

24 minutes ago, Paddy1000111 said:

It's horses for courses I guess! I've not had a gas hob in about 8 years! The old electric cookers were garbage but the newer induction hobs are amazing. The boost function is incredible and will heat a saucepan quicker than any gas hob. If I want to fry a steak I put oil in a pan, hit boost and in about 5 seconds its smoking and ready for the meat! I can boil a saucepan of water faster than using the kettle. I also like that I can quickly wipe off a spill or throw a tea towel or wooden spoon down next to the pan without it starting a fire. Also no chance in it being left on or leaking, I take the saucepan away and it's off. I can also put something on a timer and let it stew on a low temp for 2 hours and switch itself off. The childlock stops small hands messing with things. 

 

There's no winner here, but I know what I prefer! 

I agree and one day I will have a proper induction hob with a full range of controls.

 

I bought a single pan one to see what the induction heating was like and it was great in all respects except even with 9 levels the granularity of control was too coarse.

 

Of course if you do proper stir fry with a round bottomed wok it may be a bit challenging

[Paddy1000111]

4 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

I agree and one day I will have a proper induction hob with a full range of controls.

 

I bought a single pan one to see what the induction heating was like and it was great in all respects except even with 9 levels the granularity of control was too coarse.

 

Of course if you do proper stir fry with a round bottomed wok it may be a bit challenging

Yea, we have a flattish bottomed wok for that reason but I wonder if you can get a little stand to stick round bottomed pans on as you can put a cloth between the cooker and the pan and it still works. Most gas cookers seem to have a big ring of 3-3.3kw and my induction hob is 3.6kw on the biggest point. You also have a lot of lost heat on a gas which you don't get with induction, you can put your hands up the side of the pan without getting burnt. I have 0-9 plus boost but each step is also graduated by a half so its 0-18 plus boost which between the outputs all being different gives you any range of power! I've not really found a scenario where one setting is too high and the next is too low! 

[openspaceman]

41 minutes ago, Paddy1000111 said:

Most gas cookers seem to have a big ring of 3-3.3kw and my induction hob is 3.6kw on the biggest point. You also have a lot of lost heat on a gas which you don't get with induction

This is a major point, conduction from the flame to the pan is inhibited by a boundary layer, generally in the absence of a pan skirt transfer of heat from a flame is around 30%, the induction hob as the name suggests induces it directly into the pan metal. I don't know how efficient the MOSFETS and coils are at creating eddy current in the pan but would expect them to exceed 60%.

[Paddy1000111]

13 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

This is a major point, conduction from the flame to the pan is inhibited by a boundary layer, generally in the absence of a pan skirt transfer of heat from a flame is around 30%, the induction hob as the name suggests induces it directly into the pan metal. I don't know how efficient the MOSFETS and coils are at creating eddy current in the pan but would expect them to exceed 60%.

In tests comparing the same wattage it seems that water boils in about 3 minutes less on an induction hob than gas. From a quick google it seems that gas is around 65-70% of the heat generated is used to cook where induction is 85-90% (ceramic is about 74%) as you loose some heat down into the glass cooktop etc. Then some sources say that induction hobs use 57% less energy than gas. 

Another source says that in a test gas was 32% efficient with induction being 74%...

 

I want to read a nice test where they use the same pan and boil some water and compare how much gas is used to electricity and boil times. 3kw gas vs 3kw induction or something. It seems hands down that the induction hob wins in both time and efficiency but I want to know what the actual figure is! 

 

It would also be interesting to read the PPM/CO2/CO etc from a new and used cooker in a kitchen with an extraction fan. One in good nick seems to put out 5-15ppm but a poor condition one seems to be about 30. Would be interested to compare that to testing the room when opening the fire door slowly and chucking a log or two in. 

Edited January 13, 2021 by Paddy1000111

[Peasgood]

My oven and hob runs off wood. I love it.