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Comment by OJFord | Hacker News Reader

Is there anything actually new here? It seems ridiculous, like it's trying to claim hobs haven't changed for 50y until this one, it's the only 10kW induction hob and a steal at $5.5k.

I don't need to tell anyone induction hobs aren't new, and in a few seconds' searching I found Miele and Fisher & Paykel (i.e. not cheap brands) 8kW hobs well under £1k, I'm sure I'd find 10+ kW if I bothered a little longer.

Seems like another example of 'what if we made a flashy website and a 'startup' out of something ordinary; pitching it as new, exciting, and high growth' to me.

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The "actually new" thing here is that you won't have to rewire your kitchen for 240 as you would with most induction stoves. In the SF Bay Area, the electrical work could cost you $15K. Also, with tax credits and state / local incentives, the actual price will be much less than $5500. I've gone from a gas furnace and hot water heater to a heat pump and electric hot water, and the only remaining gas appliance I have is my stove. I'm very interested in this product, although the similar appliance from Channing Street Copper is more appealing to me as it has an oven as well.

Is it 10kW even at 110v? Even assuming that's only nominally 'per burner' with only one running, that's 91A. Do you still not need to rewire your kitchen at that kind of current? In the UK (240v nominal, so less needed, sure) oven & hob are typically on their own circuit, but 'only' 32A.

I'm not an expert on their product but there's an FAQ: https://www.impulselabs.com/faqs

BTW for a much more detailed answer to your original question of what's new, and of why this is important: https://www.volts.wtf/p/induction-stoves-with-batteries-buil...

It's extremely uncommon in the US to have induction hobs over 4kW. Even if the outlet could supply it, they're very rare.

Agree. The site is, to me, almost a parody of what commerce of the 21st Century has become. It is so heavily targeting the affluent, Tesla-driving crowd, they might as well have added, "Get one for your yacht(s) as well."

I miss the days when companies competed on quality and price.

Edit: Also, aren't we all a little jaded by "Reserve yours now, coming in Q4!" I wish companies would go back to shipping already, then putting up the flashy web site.

> "Reserve yours now, coming in Q4!" I only hope that they mean this year. ;)

The sensationalist money collection for a non-existent inventions is something of a no go to me. Too many bad experiences collected by others in this regard throughout the past decades. Meanwhile, I can use that money now, for something I need now, on something that exists now.

Interesting read and experimenting on others though.

You're using pounds, so you're in the UK - you have many more watts in a standard outlet than in the US. An electric kettle in the US takes over twice as long as one in the UK. Now try using that to cook a meal...

Fwiw Gibraltar at least also uses pounds, but yes you're right I'm in the UK.

This hob uses US 240v outlets if available (I suspect the nominal 10kW is not available otherwise, but I don't know) and surely you have electric ovens too anyway?

A standard outlet as for a kettle though, yeah, absolutely. And in fact even in the UK oven/hob is usually on its own 32A circuit, which if you P=IV suggests 8kW is probably a common rating for a reason.

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