Most Americans want to electrify their homes — if they can keep their gas stoves
A poll finds less than one-third of Americans want a fully electric home. It jumps to 60 percent if people can continue cooking with gas.
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this is why big gas is cranking up the propaganda on stoves. induction stoves are better, don't believe them
Why are they better?
Pollution and home safety aside. I found it nice to pinpoint my desired heat. It works so fast and accurate that I got consistent pancakes like i never used to before.
That's pretty cool. Can they heat a pan as fast as a gas stove? One of the major inconveniences with an electric stove is having to wait for the burner to heat up, before you can wait for your pan to heat up. I've had resistive stoves for decades now, and they're not very good IMO. But I've never had an induction stove. I've really missed the gas stove we had when I was a kid.
Simple answer: yes, induction hobs are fast, maybe even faster than gas.
That's really cool.
Back on gas after having induction (moved).
I also grew up on resistive and was as skeptical as you are. Now, I dream about upgrading to induction again once we are able to reno the kitchen. For example, boiling water on induction is more than twice as fast as gas and the temp adjustment goes so quick that even cooking eggs is a breeze.
Yeah, when I fry eggs the pan heats up to temperature in literally seconds - not a half a minute, but like 5 to 10 seconds.
Resistive stoves are slow because heat has to move from the coils, to the air above the coils, to the glass top, to the pan, to the food.
Gas stoves are fast because heat can move from the flame, to the pan, to the food.
Induction cooktops are the fastest because heat gets to move directly from the pan, to the food.
Induction uses magnetic fields to directly impart energy into the metal of your pan. Magnetic fields move energy at the speed of light. That's faster than gas can move heat. Which means your pan warms up quicker.
You can imagine an induction stove to work similarly to a resistive stove, only with your pan/pot being the resistive element. The slow part of resistive stoves is the heat transfer from the element to the cookware, so you can imagine how quickly an inductive stove heats that thing up!
it's noticeably faster than a gas stove. plus the neat thing is it's not giving you and your family cancer!
They don't require an explosive to be pumped into your house.
That's not really the type of information I was looking for, but thanks anyways.
Gas stoves also emit stuff like benzene, which has been linked to cancer, and NO2 which has been linked to asthma.
But ignoring the health issues, induction is faster for boiling stuff, and arguably more precise. You likely don't need new pans either. Flat bottom, cast iron works fine and stainless works fine for me.
It just takes some getting used to.
You have special stainless then, most won’t work.
If you can stick a magnet to the bottom it will work.
I mean, I bought the set in aldi. It was in the bargain bin for something like 60 euros for 10 pots and pans. Was worried it wouldn't work when I moved. Tried it. Worked just fine. Apparently plenty of stainless steel stuff works just fine.
This isn't particularly interesting.
But just to say, before buying new expensive ones that claim to be designed for induction, try the old ones you already own. Chances are they'll work just fine.
They're out of line but they're right
While I don't agree they're better, a key feature over conventional electric (and one of the main benefits of gas) is that the stove surface doesn't inherently retain heat. They get hot, but only because the pan is hot. When you turn down the heat, it's immediate, like a gas stove.
I don't know about how fast they can heat; gas can output a ridiculous amount of BTUs, but at 240v I wouldn't be surprised.
Have to keep efficiency in mind as well. Practically all of the heat produced by induction goes directly into the pan bottom. With gas, quite a bit of the heat doesn't end up in the pan.
In my experience, induction on high settings heats much faster than gas. Sometimes faster than is desirable actually. A pot of water will boil at the bottom when the top is only somewhat warm.
I don't know about the US, but in Germany it's common that the individual or two plates of the induction stoves have their own 380V cable and breaker.
North America has one 240v plug for the whole appliance, 120v is what's used for regular electric items.
The US often has some appliances wired for 240V; I assume stovetops are, but IDK. Large appliances have their own breakers. I was told that if we wanted to install a built-in microwave, it'd require a new, dedicated wire and breaker.
A lot of places have code requirements that the microwave have its own breaker even though they're almost all 120v; it's because they use almost all the amps on the 120v circuit so you tend to trip the breaker if you have anything else big going on, like an electric kettle or a vacuum cleaner.
Yeah, in the US for an electric range you're looking at a single 240 volt split phase 30 amp circuit.
Better air quality, otherwise they are merely not as inconvenient as other types of electric stoves.
But you need to buy new induction capable pots for them and the pulsing heat they make takes some time to get used to.
AFIAK they also work with cast iron cookware.
Any ferrous metal. Right? So anything except stainless steel. I'm guessing you probably want something fairly thick too.
Stainless often works too IME.
Yes, very thick otherwise you get a burn spot everytime around the middle.
Also, my stainless pan works fine on my induction stove.
Does it have a fused base of other metals?
Yes, aluminium "Sleek Seamless Impact Bonded Sandwich Base with Aluminium Core"
That may be it, I'm not sure I bought it at a thrift store.
From experience, they work as long as a magnet can stick to it, so yes flany ferrous metal should work.
Induction is the best cooking method to me. Faster and safer than electric and gas, (much) easier to control than electric...
Ah and so much easier to clean than gas!
Only gas advantage I could see is maybe heat "fine tuning". And even this probably depend on the system (the one I used had roughly 6 heating level, but there is system with more). And is not very important except if you're a high level chef.
Enamel and aluminum are the only ones I’ve had issues with, personally.
What they do now is "sanwchich" with a disc of induction-compatible metal inserted in the bottom of the cookware.
Allows compatibility (and better heat spread I think)
You don't necessarily need to buy new pots as the ones you have might as well already be ferrous.
I'm still using my old cast iron cookware.
The pots that did need replacing when I went from coils to induction were a set of very cheap stainless steel ones that I bought when I was a student.
That's mainly an issue with aluminum and stainless steel, but only some types of stainless steel. It's a good stuff that I have all works flawlessly on the induction.
If you buy the aluminum Japanese cookware, they are all designed for induction anyways.
In addition to the other comments about it being just as quick, if not faster and easier to get a consistent heat, I also found the noise level was way better - it'll hum if the pan isn't centered properly, and the power is turned up, but when simmering, it's pretty much silent which was weird but suprisingly nice.
Instantaneous control over temperature without the safety issues of gas
Safer, cheaper, cleaner.
Safer being no indoor air pollution and to cook surface doesn't get hot at all. You can literally put a piece of paper between the pan and the cooktop and it will cook without burning the paper.
no open flame
I didn't have a gas stove until I was in my late 40's. I will not willingly go back to conventional electric. Gas stoves are better. Finer control, faster temp changes (esp. when decreasing).
I'd be willing to try an induction stove. They're rare in the US, but my limited experience with them was positive. Not quite as nice as a gas stove, but miles better than an conventional electric range, and good enough that the easier cleaning would tip me over.
You mention propeganda; it's odd that the only propeganda I encounter is the anti-gas kind. It's non-stop on NPR and social media. I haven't heard or read a single pro-gas piece.
Edit: I think you were only talking about induction, so I changed some phrasing.
Gas stoves are better. Finer control, faster temp changes (esp. when decreasing).
Gas stoves are better in some ways, but “finer control” is debatable. If you turn the knob from 0 to 10, it’s obvious that the energy output is non-linear. On my stove the flame has like 50% of its increase between level 2 and 3 or 4. You also have a more narrow range of heat with gas. That is, the lowest setting has to be high enough that the flame does not blow out, so the min heat is higher than the min level on electric. Electric also gets hotter than gas on the high end.
With electric you get precise control. Power level 5 gives exactly half the heat energy that 10 gives; power level 6 is exactly triple the heat of power level 2. You don’t get that precision with gas. You can only eye-ball it which means harder to get reproduceable results.
You probably meant to say gas gives you /immediate/ control. Conventional electric is quite slow, but induction is fast.
Maybe it's a brand or quality difference; I can pretty finely control the flame on our range.
"Control" is the ability to adjust to a desired temp with fine accuracy, right? I can see the flame, and observe changes more rapidly, with gas. Isn't this finer-grained control?
A common residential electric range outputs a max 7,000 BTUs. A common gas stove outputs max 18,000 BTUs. Electric stoves are not hotter on the high end.
Gas stoves lose a majority of those BTUs to the air around your pot.
A 18,000 BTU stove should be equivalent to 5300W of electric heating, alas, my 1500W kettle boils water substantially faster than my gas stove
“Control” is the ability to adjust to a desired temp with fine accuracy, right? I can see the flame, and observe changes more rapidly, with gas. Isn’t this finer-grained control?
You’re eye-balling it, so you have good control over what your eyeball sees, but then that mental image has to lead to a judgement. Imagine if you were doing a scientific experiment where you need reproducible results and the amount of heat energy were important to the experiment. Would you write in the scientific paper “the flame looked like about 1cm with each sample tested”? You could meter the gas but the heat losses are higher as the flame grows because you’re heating increasingly more of the air around the pan.
A common residential electric range outputs a max 7,000 BTUs. A common gas stove outputs max 18,000 BTUs. Electric stoves are not hotter on the high end.
Gas stoves probably lose half their energy by heating the air all around the pot so you have to account for that. With electric much more of the BTUs actually make it to the food (esp. induction). When I search around, articles out in the wild are all over the place.. some saying electric coils get hotter than gas and some saying the contrary. One article concurs with you, saying a gas burner reaches 1950°C and electric 900°C. I don’t see any articles mentioning electric burners that get into the four figures among those that actually give temperature figures so perhaps you’re right. But it’s worth noting that a pot of water boils faster on electric than gas.
You’re eye-balling it
You're right. I'm not a scientist. I'm not even a professional chef. What matters to me (and most American homeowners, which is who the article is the granular control available to me. I don't much care what's possible in a lab. It's at least part of the reason why, as the article states, many of us are unwilling to give up the control we get with gas.
Gas stoves probably lose half their energy by heating the air all around the pot
I've seen that, too. I don't believe it's accurate (I'd like to see an unbiased verification of that 50% number), and it misses another advantage of gas: gas heats pots more evenly by distributing some heat up the sides. Elecric heats only the bottom directly, and sides are heated only through conduction. It also means that less of that heat is wasted: just because it isn't hitting the bottom of the pot doesn't mean it isn't doing useful work. This also only considers pots. Pans usually have greater coverage of tye heating surface, and less heat escapes around the sides. This is relevant especially where high heat matters, such as searing. Finally, there are pots like my wok, which has a base that entirely covers the grill. It has holes, so it breathes, but it captures nearly all of the heat. Woks are particularly bad on conventional ranges, and having an electric range essentially eliminates woks as a viable tool.
As I think more about this, the more disadvantages of electric I see. Sauteing is better on gas. You can manipulate a pan, lift and tilt, and have many more options than simply having or not having applied heat.
I can see having a range with a few induction spots; most dishes don't need the fine control; boiling water, cooking pasta, and steaming vegetables are all gross operations, but I'd still want at least one gas surface. It's just better for anything that isn't boiled food.
I'm not a scientist. I'm not even a professional chef. I’m an average American homeowner and when we replace our gas range and oven we’ll get an electric oven and an induction range.
Having used gas, electric and induction my experience has been that induction cook tops are the safest and provide the greatest temperature control of them all. The biggest drawback is the requirement of specialized pans but we switched to clad stainless a few years ago to get away from the non-stick chemicals risk.
I’d say this comes down to cost and familiarity. People are used to gas stoves and are likely wary of change. Combine that with the fact that many homes are setup for gas ovens, with no electrical plugs for a switch and you’ve got several costs to change. The new oven itself, getting an appropriate outlet wired in, and for induction, changing pans to something that will work.
The other consideration is that gas continues to work in an electrical outage, however, I’d imagine many ovens are electronically controlled. I know our gas stove will not work without electricity.
😄 Our oven is electric. It's the only thing I lament - it takes forever to come up to temp.
I'm in my mid-50's, and this is our first house that's had gas, so for me it's definitely not a case of familiarity. My whole life I've had electric, and having a gas range has been a game-changer for me.
That said, I've also never seen, and certaily never lived with, an induction range. I do miss the cleaning conveniance of a glass-top - cleaning a gas range is a PITA! And induction has as good immediate temp reduction response as gas, which is a large factor in control. As I mentioned earlier, I'd never willingly go back to conventional electric, but I might opt for induction just for the ease of cleaning. I can live with not being able to properly saute, but giving up the wok would be hard. Still, it's something to consider.
Two other things: except for our ovens (an odd omission), the rest of our house is gas. Water heaters, fireplace, clothes dryer, heat. None of it works without electricity, although in a pinch I can light the stove with a match. The fireplace can't be lit - there's a safety switch that needs current, which could be run with a battery-operated part we don't have. It's the most stupid thing about our house - we can't get any heat in a power outage, despite all the gas. So, of everything, running the stove in a blackout is funnily enough the least of my concerns.
Does your gas not run in an outage, or can you just not start it? If the gas runs, you should be able to light it with a match. OTOH, you can't run the ventilation fan, and that might put you off running it anyway.
I mostly meant the oven wouldn’t work in a power outage regardless of gas or electric.
Our gas range works in a power outage but so does our fireplace. The fireplace has a standing pilot so I’m guessing that’s why.
You should be able to “properly saute” on a gas, electric or induction range. Stir frying, which I suspect you meant, is a different story.
I haven’t heard or read a single pro-gas piece.
Right-wing media apparently. Not American, but from what I gather if you watch NPR, you're a communist and a homosexual. So that means you won't be watching real American media like Fox News.
Stuff like this from a member of congress:
"I’ll NEVER give up my gas stove. If the maniacs in the White House come for my stove, they can pry it from my cold dead hands. COME AND TAKE IT!!"
https://twitter.com/RonnyJacksonTX/status/1612839703018934274?t=ptxUxaAhqE1ax8FwY15cyA
Idk why “watch NPR” is so funny to me right now lmao
I’m so sleep deprived
from what I gather if you watch NPR, you're a communist and a homosexual.
Cmon, I'm not impressed by your knowledge. This is written in the first paragraph of the constitution.
GF was a professional cook for 15 years, still prefers our induction stove to the gas stoves she worked on all this time.
Yeah, I can believe I could learn to prefer induction. They're just incredibly rare in residential US homes, which is where I live, and what the article was about.
The only place I've encountered an induction stove was in the EU, where - I gather - they're more common.
They're starting to become more widespread in the US as people understand the health risks that come with gas stoves.
This here shows where the propaganda appears: