Comment by photojosh | Hacker News Reader

Comment by photojosh | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

> 3) Ductless mini splits are the preferred way to heat and cool most USA (tight) homes.

In Australia, but we just installed these in our house with in-ceiling cassettes and they're incredibly good. Also initially didn't care too much that they had WiFi control, but we ended up never using the remotes and just using the app. (Since you're typically sitting on the couch when you want to change the setting.)

Every ducted system I've seen is incapable of regulating separate rooms properly. Presumably one would need temp sensors in each room to do that, and that isn't done on cheap installs.

> 5) Induction is superior in many ways and air quality points to gas cooking being much worse than previously thought.

If anyone knows some good arguments to use when your partner is an excellent cook and loves gas for the high heat (searing and wok frying), I'm all ears. With the kitchen upgrade I installed a monster extraction rangehood (external fan, 3x the typical extraction) to hopefully deal with the air quality issue.

> If anyone knows some good arguments to use when your partner is an excellent cook and loves gas for the high heat (searing and wok frying), I'm all ears.

Other comments had some good suggestions, but I'd be sure to also mention:

Ease of cleanup: Induction units only get warm, none of the food or oil that gets spilled or splattered will burn onto the surface. A damp cloth is all the cleanup necessary.

Comfortable kitchen temperatures: You have a tiny fraction as much heat emitted into the room, so the kitchen remains a far more comfortable temperature.

Found an interesting list here: https://www.bestspy.co.uk/do-professional-chefs-use-inductio...

Get an Iwatani 35FW butane stove for the occasions your partner wants to use gas. It uses cheap cans of butane gas, puts out an unexpectedly high amount of BTU due to the burner design, and a heat transfer bar keeps the butane can warm. It can also be moved outside for wok cooking so it doesnt smoke up the house. And you can do things like hotpot/fondue.

I’ve been wondering for a while with the (US) code is around 240V/15A outlets around the countertop along side the 120V. I would think as long as it’s a standard plug and has GFCI it should be ok but haven’t got far enough to ask an electrician.

Then just need to see which appliances i can get to run on it. Seems most kettles, resistance and induction cooktops for the UK (50hz) should work. Anything with a motor is probably out unless it’s an inverter drive.

Searing shouldn't be an issue with induction - the pans heat up very quickly and there will be no hot or cold spots as long as your cooktop has a coil big enough for the cookware that you want to use.

Flat bottomed woks can work with induction however the round bottomed ones won't sit close enough to the coil to heat up properly. An outdoor wok burner could be a good way for your partner to get their wok hei fix without burning gas in the house: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpoSvprBJpE.

The main downsides I'd mention:

When I cook with induction I'm not comfortable shaking the pan to sauté or flip food. The surface of the cooktop is supposed to be quite durable but it looks like glass and I tend to baby it against the (even imagined) possibility of scratching.

Only ferrous-based cookware will be heated by the cooker so any aluminum or copper pans in the house become useless.

I played with countertop induction.

My take is that most of them are crap. They usually have 10 power levels, which is too few. Some also have temperature-based settings, but I suspect the sensors are too removed from the food surface to be accurate and they're basically ornamental.

I think you need good cookware that can spread the heat. I don't know what cookware is good, but most cookware just scorches your food in a ring-shaped pattern.

I do have one friend who spent a boatload of money on a gaggenau induction cooktop he loves. it seems to have elements spread out on the surface and adapts to the size and number of pans.

He also dedicated a 220v circuit to the thing, so it can pump out lots of energy, especially compared to ~1200 watts from a 110v countertop one.

The ones here in Europe have 3phase connectors and go up to 7kW.

Yes, Europe is pretty fortunate in that respect. They have 2x the power at normal outlets, while US normal outlets are 110v at 15amps.

This means there are some things possible in europe that are underpowered or impossible in the US. Tools like air compressors or garden equipment like electric mowers are smaller.

I don't know if my (electric) stove is unusual in some way, but it goes to crazy high heat immediately. As in hotter than any gas stove I've used, to the point that a minute or two on the max setting will burn all the seasoning off my cast iron pan and fill the house with smoke. Whenever I see a recipe or advice for things like searing steaks, I mentally replace "high heat" with 5, "medium heat" with 3, and "low heat" with 1.

If I ever have enough money to buy a house, I want a kitchen that's isolated anyway. It can still be attached to the main building, but I want to be able to cook in the summers and only heat up one room. I'd also like the kitchen to be on it's own sub-panel anyway since I'd like the option of using 20A appliances at each outlet anyway.

I think code requires 20A circuits in the kitchen. Not sure though.

You completely misunderstand.

The whole kitchen would have a sub-panel _in_ the kitchen; because EVERY OUTLET would be it's own independent 20A capable circuit, run back to that sub-panel.

I don't expect to use 20A from every outlet all the time, but I don't want to be constrained from any mix-and-match of devices I need within the room's power budget.

Have him sear and wok outdoors, he can continue cooking indoors once the smoky phase has passed.

That sounds really inconvenient.

My Siemens has a timer per hob on induction, can switch off. Great for wfh, where you put on sth for reheating, on 5 mins, get called and the food is not burned when the call overruns for 5 min extra.

Also, it heats faster than gas on max power.

Your best argument might simply be acquire a high end induction burner (volrath mirage pro) and let them try it out. With compatible cookware of course.

(Don’t waste time with the cheap units, 10 or even 20 power levels is not enough)

Or go even further down the rabbit hole with a temperature controlled induction device like the vollrath MPI4-1800S or a Control Freak.

Then watch your household simply cease to use the gas range

Is there a technical reason why induction ranges are so expensive?

Out of curiosity I checked the two home improvement stores where I live, and the cheapest ones were $1,500+. An old fashioned smooth top electric range/oven starts around $700.

Here in Europe 4 burner induction cooktops start at around €350.

https://www.mediamarkt.de/de/product/bosch-pie631fb1e-kochfe...

There again 95% of new houses here have induction, so the price difference you are seeing is probably because market demand is that much lower in the US.

Putting all the electronics right over the hot oven was apparently a tricky problem. Induction cooktops with no oven have been available and inexpensive for a while - this is probably part of why induction is more popular in Europe, where ranges are less common.

The induction range is coming down in price quickly now, so it may be they’ve made some progress on this issue. Just two years ago the cheapest was $4k.

(Range = cooktop and oven in one freestanding unit)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com