Use an induction cooktop anyone? Anyone?

[NYPorsche]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

I am putting solar panels on this place and probably a battery. I don't know how the battery works. Can it be a backup power supply? The solar system we have has no battery and shuts down when power from the utility goes down.
There is no natural gas and the house is not plumbed for propane. I'm going to have to spend some money on something. It may as well be something that helps pay for itself. Our natural gas generator cost $10,500 to install plus $250 a year for maintenance. It has run maybe 5 hours in 7 years. That's some expensive electricity.

The battery can function as a backup supply but obviously dependent on capacity. Installation of the battery will come with the automatic switch to go from line power to battery so your battery/solar doesn't backfeed down the line and kill a linesman working up the road. My parents installed one of those systems when they put solar in a few years ago. So far - they love it, the power change is instantaneous, and the solar keeps on generating to recharge the battery (they're out in the sticks and they lose power 5-10 times a year). During the summer months, it's near infinite as they are generating more power than they use. During the winter months there are limitations obviously due to the lowered solar generation. When we had our system installed I asked about that but it was $$ and our power is very stable - it's been 19 years now since the last time my power went out. We're a couple blocks from a large university that used to have a research nuclear reactor, so supposedly they made sure that our power grid here pretty bulletproof. Do you remember the great North East Blackout of 2003? Took out power in most of Western New York, Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto, New York City. My little corner of Buffalo was up and running. So - long way of saying we didn't drop the 5 figures that a battery install would have taken.

At 5 years on our solar system now, we've recouped our initial investment. So now I'm just enjoying my free electrons raining down from the sky and powering my induction range. The $19/mo electric bill for the connection fee is pretty nice.

[wdfifteen]

I replaced the fairly new resistance electric stove with an LG induction range. Big mistake. Induction cooking is great! I really like the induction part of the new stove. It's faster and more accurate than the old resistance stove. But the controls are terrible! If I had known, I would have looked at another make.
To operate a burner you have to push a poorly lit spot on the touch screen twice ("wake up," then "on"). Then touch the + on the temperature select pad. That sets the temp and "9" out of "10" - too high for doing anything but boiling water. You then you must push the "-" button to ratchet down to a usable setting of "5." So to fry an egg you have to poke at the controls 9 times! It's ridiculous. Of course, there's an app for it. It may be easier to operate the stove from my phone, but I haven't tried it yet.

When I went online to register the stove for the warranty I sent LG a photo of the serial number tag as required. They wrote back, "That's not our stove." Sure enough, the serial number tag says, "Frigidaire." The serial number is also on a little sticker on the front of the oven door. I sent them that and got it registered. No one knows how a Frigidaire SN tag got on an LG stove. They are not made in the same factory.



This is the resistance stove I replaced. It's nice looking and the controls are easy to use, but the functionality of resistance heat sucks.




The new LG isn't much to look at, the controls are terrible, but I love the functionality of induction cooking.

[GH85Carrera]

My MIL had and induction stove, and she loved it. Accurate and fast temperature control, and super easy cleanup. Let it cool, and just wiped it down with a damp towel.

We use natural gas, and it is a pain to clean up the food splatters.

[wdfifteen]

An update on our solar installation:
The barn I had built with a roof specified to accommodate solar panels is finished. They are supposed to start installing the panels next week and finish as soon as the permitting is done. This place is zone agricultural, so I don't have to have any permits or inspections for the barn, but because it is connected to the house, the house connection has to be permitted and inspected. The permit application was submitted in September, but the county says it is 40 days behind in issuing permits.

The price of electricity went up this summer. I've been too busy to look at how much it affected us. AES, our power company, has put in a request for rate hikes for at least 3% each year for the next 3 years. This solar plan is looking better all the time.
I went over the specifications with the solar company engineer. This is a very different system than the one they put on my old house.

The max the power company will allow us is a 23 kw worth of generating power (110% of the historic usage). The contract doesn't specify the number of panels, but I think it's 52, 440 watt panels.
The Tesla Powerwall has a 10kw capacity and will operate our entire house without power management for about 2 hours. If the outage occurs while it's warm enough to get heat from the heat pump only (no additional resistance heat needed) that extends to 4 hours. We are wiring the panel from the transfer switch to only run essentials, so in case of a power outage we can last about 3-4 hours without any power management. If I'm home, I can manually limit the amount we use. I can turn off the water heater, kitchen stove, and the 2nd floor heat pump if and it's not too cold out, we should be able to get through a night on the battery.

[craigster59]

This is our cooktop in the new home. We had gas at our old house. I prefer gas over this, I just can't get the hang of it. Either stuff is boiling over or taking too long to cook.

I like the old commercials "Gas. Starts fast, stops fast".

[gacook]

We have a glass top stove, as well. Generally speaking, I like it (we've had one for many years, couple different houses). I replaced all our appliances...2(?) years ago. Recently, noticed one of the big burners now only has 2 settings--high or off. It was the primary burner I used, so a little miffed about it now that it's essentially useless except for boiling water. Not THAT big of a deal with only the 2 of us at home now...but cooking Thanksgiving dinner is going to be interesting.

[Evans, Marv]

Originally Posted by craigster59

We have one similar since we moved into our house. It's 16 yrs. old now and when it needs replacing, I'll be replacing it with an induction cooktop. We've been using it so long, we got the hang of adjuisting it a long time ago.

[911boost]

Yeah I really like my Bosch induction.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by craigster59

This is our cooktop in the new home. We had gas at our old house. I prefer gas over this, I just can't get the hang of it. Either stuff is boiling over or taking too long to cook.

I like the old commercials "Gas. Starts fast, stops fast".

"Glass top" does not mean induction. We had an old glass top ten years ago. It had resistance could that got hot underneath the glass top provide heat. They aren't different/better than the old electric stoves that we probably saw when we were young that had the red flowering electric coils.

Induction is magnetic and requires ferrous cookware. You can turn the tap on high and put you hand on it and you will never be burned.
The get instantly hot (actually the put gets hot not the cooktop) and when you turn it off it's essentially instantly cool enough to touch with your hand.

[Evans, Marv]

My understanding is the "glass" tops are actually ceramic, which is pretty neat. I'll be going the induction route, because I think that's the wave of the future. Gas will eventually leave the scene and standard electric will be eclipsed by induction, which will become pretty much the norm.