I far prefer cooking over gas than electric, but:
About one in eight cases of asthma in children in the US is due to the pollution given off by cooking on gas stoves, new research has found, amid moves by Joe Biden’s administration to consider the regulation, or even banning, of gas cookers sales to Americans. […]
However, research has repeatedly found the emission of toxic chemicals and carcinogens from gas stoves, even when they are turned off, is creating a miasma of indoor pollution that can be several times worse than the pollution experienced outdoors from car traffic and heavy industry.
A new study has now sketched out the risk being posed to children exposed to pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide that spew from the stoves, finding that 12.7% of all current cases of childhood asthma in the US are due to the use of gas stoves.
I assume the gases given off even when turned off is because those stoves use a pilot light, which is something that ever cheaper stoves don’t use anymore.
We’re planning on moving soon, and I hope I can find place with a good kitchen vent/fume hood that I can run while cooking that vents outdoors. That will probably be my compromise so I can keep using gas.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
$8 blue check mistermix
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): My issue with electric burners is that it’s harder to regulate the heat – especially to cool them down quickly.
ceece
I used to prefer cooking with gas, but now I have a small portable electric induction ‘hot plate’ that I adore. Adjustable in 5 degree increments, heats the pan very quickly without heating the stovetop at all, most of my pans work just fine in it (any pan that will hold a magnet will work).
I thought I would still need the gas flame for very hot cooking or roasting peppers etc, but I can use cast iron on the induction for all that. The ONLY thing I need the gas stove for now is for canning, since my biggest canning pot is aluminum and doesn’t work on the induction burner.
Turned off the gas line to the stove since evidently a small amount of gas still leaks out when the stove is off even without a pilot light, and my indoor air quality has improved noticeably.
Steeplejack
Do any of the gas-o-philes ever consider induction ranges at all? I can see why gas is preferable to old-style electric ranges, but does induction successfully address any of the issues?
BlueGuitarist
Hank Green says “you don’t want a gas stove”
https://youtu.be/Bcqah8U_uKA
Gravie
We were going to convert to gas a few years ago (Mr. Gravie is an expert chef and really wanted the extra technique it would provide) but then he read about the pollution factor and gave up the idea. We have a glass-top electric, and so far it has adequately met our needs.
Tom Levenson
Duplicate. Deleted.
Tom Levenson
My wife and I are avid cooks, and love our Capitol Culinarian gas stovetop–six burners, 5 26,000 BTU bad bois and a simmer burner. It is just a delight to use.
We were fortunate enough to get ourselves into what may be our retirement house a few years ago, in a challenging enough location (may I introduce you to north-of-Boston bedrock?) not to have town gas. So when we turned the wreck we bought into something habitable we had a choice: a propane tank or an all electric house.
We went all electric (and a net-zero solar installation). We installed an not-fancy induction range. It has taken a bit of getting used to, but it is a cooking surface on which we can do pretty much anything we want. (Wok cooking takes some adaptation, but searing, simmering, sauteeing…all that stuff works great.)
If we redo our “big” kitchen, I’m sure we’d switch to induction, as wonderful as a great big honker of a gas heat source may be.
NotMax
IIRC New York City recently banned new gas hook-ups.
Tom Levenson
@$8 blue check mistermix: Not so w. induction. It’s magic, to Arthur C. Clark’s defintion of the term.
Baud
I have an electric stove, but have a device in the kitchen that rolls coal so I can own the libs.
NotMax
@$8 blue check mistermix
Not so much of a concern with glass top, as opposed to exposed coil, electric ranges.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@$8 blue check mistermix:
That’s fair
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@NotMax:
That’s what I have, it’s a glass top
geg6
I only had an electric stove once, when living in an apartment while single between my ex and my John. I hated it. Just terrible for heat regulation, especially fine ones. Easier to clean but awful for cooking. I must have gas and damn the consequences. I have my limits for what I’m willing to give up and this is a big one.
Sister Golden Bear
Induction ranges are pricier, but behave pretty equivalent to gas. Main drawbacks are that you may have to buy new cookware, and if the kitchen doesn’t have a 240w outlet (e.g. it’s currently gas), adding one can be expensive.
I added mine during a full-kitchen remodel, so that helped mitigate some of the electrical installation costs.
Kristine
My new range is induction. Much faster to heat than my old electric coil range. The heat is also more even–scorch spots during sautéing etc are reduced. I already had suitable cookware, though I did lose use of a few nonstick pans.
I love the ease of cleanup. No more disassembling the whole damn cooktop after searing something.
Decades ago, my Mom and I visited one of her sisters. We stayed with them for several days, and I still remember the vague headache I suffered throughout the visit. It took us a while to figure out that the gas stove was the likely culprit.
prufrock
Induction is superior to gas in every meaningful way.
NeenerNeener
@ceece: You can get a steel heat diffuser for that aluminum pot at Amazon or Bed, Bath & Beyond. They coming in various sizes and sit between the induction burner and the aluminum pot.
I love my new induction range, and I hate gas stoves. They always seem to have just 2 temperatures…”too hot” and “off”.
Eric
Another gas-to-induction switcher here to say: induction is FANTASTIC. You do need to buy new pans but turns out I love cooking on stainless steel. We cook a lot, all kinds of stuff, and the induction handles both heat regulation (fast up/down) and speed of heat (cool to hot) incredibly well; heat regulation on par with gas and speed 2x faster. You can boil water in 2 minutes.
Cooking takes a bit of getting used to because the pans get so hot so fast–you can’t just warm the pan and do other stuff for a few minutes. You also have to learn how to regulate the heat a bit; it took me 3 tries to get fried eggs right. There are good nonstick options that work well with induction.
Other positives: burner is not warm to the touch as it uses magnetic energy; you can put a bare hand on it (pot will still be hot though!). As a result food that falls out or boils over onto the cooktop does not get cooked/burned into the surface, making it very easy to clean.
Basically there are very few reasons not to switch. I was nervous at first but am very very happy I did.
Kristine
@NeenerNeener: Good to know!
Miss Bianca
@Baud: Ha ha!
@geg6: I’ve always been a fan of gas range-tops, but now that I’ve become acquainted with the glass-plate infrared electric range top, I can say that I’m probably never going back.
(At my house in Paonia I had an ancient electric stove that I hated so much that we had a gas line installed so I could use an equally ancient, but much cooler, gas stove. Now I find myself wondering about indoor air pollution from it, which I must confess was a hazard that never crossed my mind.)
WV Blondie
Off-topic, but: I desperately need a new water heater. I’d been holding off b/c of the tax breaks in the Inflation Reduction Act, but now I find that switching from my old, barely functioning LP water heater to an “electric heat pump water heater” is somewhere north of $5K because of the installation expenses. I’d get a 30% tax credit on 2023 taxes, but I don’t have that kind of scratch right now. And it looks like it’s still going to be very expensive to switch from LP to electric, no matter whether it’s heat pump, a regular electric water heater, or tankless, because I’m going to have to get my electrical panel either upgraded or add another one. Sheesh! Do the politicians really think ordinary folks can afford this?!?
skerry
Induction stove with battery built-in
While $4k seems expensive, the fact that it runs off a standard 110VAC outlet means that generally no electrical work is required when this replaces a gas stove. Since upgrading the lines for a typical electric stove is time consuming and usually VERY expensive, this is an important factor
ETA: fixed typo
MattF
I don’t have a choice, since my condo building doesn’t have gas— gas pipes are in the building, but are capped off and have never been connected to gas mains, and so never used. One of my neighbors was a Federal government lawyer before retirement, and one of her regular assignments was investigating gas pipeline explosions. I suspect that the lack of gas in the building was one reason she chose to live here. In any case, an ordinary regular electric stovetop works fine for me.
X Foley 8
My gas stove is about at the end of its useful life and as much as I love the flame I simply can’t bring myself to buy a new one. It’s time to switch. I’ll miss the use of half my lovely pans, but small price.
The Pale Scot
Exactly, sautéing is hard on an electric
HumboldtBlue
I’m a renter who uses an older model electric stove and oven, and it works just fine. I cook every day, and while you don’t get that fine-tuned really small heat flame, so what? I’m cooking for me, not the panel of chefs on Iron Chef, it really makes little difference.
Poe Larity
First they ban kids from the coal mines, took asbestos out of popcorn plaster, now they want to ban gas from the kitchen.
Even Levenson is going to starve when the Carrington Event comes. All part of the radical vegetarian/PETA agenda.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
You can put that in your campaign ads for Baud ’24!
Origuy
Bad news. Shit’s going down in Brasilia.
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
@Tom Levenson: Can you or one of the other induction cooker enthusiasts provide brand/model names? My sister remodeled her kitchen ~ 6 years ago and went from an old-fashioned electric stove to an induction cooktop. She thought she had done her research, but hers is awful! It’s slow to heat, hard to regulate, and slow to cool down. (I don’t like how pans slide around on it, unlike other cooktops, does that bother anyone else?) She’s ready to ditch it and replace it, even though it’s relatively new and was expensive. Gas isn’t even an option for her unless she went with propane. Those of you who like your induction cooktops, what do you suggest?
Another Scott
ACS Energy and Climate:
Small natural gas leaks are to be expected because there are so many joints, etc., and there’s a lot of compounds in natural gas. Tighter, more energy efficient homes exacerbate the poor indoor air quality issues.
Cheers,
Scott.
Origuy
I’ve tried to make a post twice embedding this tweet, but it doesn’t seem to work. Bolisario supporters are occupying public buildings in Brasilia.
https://twitter.com/davidrkadler/status/1612152507727499265
Invading Congress, too.
Righteous Hazard
I have had a look at the research mentioned in the post, and it is damning. Gas stoves do not belong indoors, and only a very powerful outdoor venting hood (along with well designed inflow so that your hood isn’t sucking against a seal) can make a reasonable dent in the problem.
I was a committed gas cooker, but have found that cast iron, some good steel pans, a couple of decent nonsticks, and a little more attentiveness on my part is all that was really needed to make the switch. I still put in the better hood, though. That thing is amazing.
I upgraded my outdoor gas grill, and weatherproofed the location a bit. We eat better, and breathe better now, because while only flame will do for some things, the flame does not belong in the place where my family breathes.
Currants
@$8 blue check mistermix:
Maybe consider an induction range? Good info on Consumer Reports; many boil faster than gas and only the pot gets hot, not the burner.
WaterGirl
@Origuy: I am not seeing that anywhere else. ??
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@WaterGirl:
Here’s a Barron’s article I was able to find:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.barrons.com/amp/news/bolsonaro-supporters-swarm-brazil-congress-clash-with-police-01673203208
Matt McIrvin
I use an electric stove indoors, BUT also like my outdoor propane grill, so my cooking is not exactly gas-free. (And our house uses a gas furnace and water heater, a bigger issue for CO2 emissions but presumably not for particulate pollution?)
MattF
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Also this.
Starfish
The switch to induction or electric is going to come for everyone due to climate change related issues.
Randal Sexton
We installed an induction stove a bit ago — Its quite nice, and I cooked over gas for 50+ years. I can finally simmer at an exact temperature, and can dial in heat on things much faster. Caramelizing onions is easy now. Plus it has a rapid boil water mode that is amazing. Its called a ‘Big Chill’ and has a very cool retro look, with old fashioned knobs, which actually work very well. It has a convection bake setting too. Its a monster but quite like it.
Omnes Omnibus
@Origuy: January 6 Redux,
Delk
I have an Inspire implant for sleep apnea that prevents me from using an induction stove.
Doc Sardonic
Glad I didn’t pull the trigger on the induction range. Just got a pacemaker for Christmas, now I can no longer weld(not that I do that much anyway) and no induction cooking due to the magnetic fields.
Ohio Mom
I always had a gas stove until I got married, then everywhere we’ve lived has had an electric stove.
At first I thought I’d never get the hang of it but time, and moving to places with better quality stoves, and then buying a house and buying a good ceramic top has made all the difference.
It is true that my stove does not regulate heat downwards well but all I have to do to cool off something that is cooking too fast is slide it over to another part of the cooktop for a short while.
Sure Lurkalot
We converted our house to accommodate a gas stove in 1998. I’ve had 2 stoves so far. Prior to those, I had many electric coil versions and one glass top.
Definitely thinking seriously about induction in the near future. Most of my cookware is stainless and I do think there’s already a 220 outlet from the beforetimes. I know it takes adjustment but it seems worth it.
Jackie
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Need a subscription to read.
narya
I wasn’t quite ready to switch to induction when I redid the kitchen, even though I’ve used induction cooktops (I own a single burner I bought to get through the renovation, and I used one in pastry school); now I kinda wish I had. It’s too big and expensive an appliance to replace after only two years. The one issue I’ve had is that sometimes I need/want to move the pan around or tilt it, but induction only works when the pan is in touch with the surface.
Josie
@Ohio Mom:
I have a ceramic top electric stove, and I do the exact same thing if a burner is not cooling off quickly enough. I cook all the time and quite like my stove, plus it is so easy to clean.
HinTN
@Steeplejack: I’ve cooked with gas forever but the rental cottage at the beach installed a new fangled range top two years ago and I’ve grown to like it quite a lot. I don’t think it’s induction as described by @ceece: because it gets hot. I agree that it doesn’t cool like a gas burner but I’ve learned to coast it in (when I can’t just move the pot over).
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager)): I got this Frigidaire about a year and a half ago and it has worked well for me despite being one of the most affordable induction models on the market in the US. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Frigidaire-Gallery-Smooth-Surface-5-Elements-5-7-cu-ft-Self-Cleaning-Air-Fry-True-Convection-Freestanding-Electric-Range-Smudge-Proof-Stainless-Steel-Common-30-in-Actual-29-875-in/1001829632?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-vf-_-app-_-ggl-_-SS_APP_000_Appliances_VF-Frigidaire-_-1001829632-_-local-_-0-_-0&gclid=CjwKCAiA8OmdBhAgEiwAShr405o8EVf5JYf4LRuPPGpanACSicvHdiVkFdYyhG7g-QAyCpbboGO49hoCWEoQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Major Major Major Major
Our new house has a really nice gas range and oven so we will just go ahead and stick with that. And I think we have a stove hood… everything else might be electric? Haha. Can’t wait to move in!
Origuy
Here’s the BBC article on Brazil.
oatler
How about coal gas?
[ducks]
HinTN
@WV Blondie: I have a Rinnai tankless that runs on propane. I LOVE it. Yes, costs more up front but saves bigly over a tank.
HumboldtBlue
@Origuy:
Video
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
I switched from gas to induction over a year ago and the expression should change to “now you’re cooking with electromagnets” because for 99% of stuff induction is better than gas IMO. Pans heat up faster, going from high heat to low is nigh on instantaneous. It even heats up heavy cast iron amazingly fast.
The two things I haven’t mastered are frying an egg without it sticking – scrambled are fine but sunny side up/over easy they always wind up sticking even on seasoned cast iron (I don’t presently have any nonstick cookware).
The other thing is popping popcorn. I wind up with both scads of unpopped kernals AND bunt popcorn every time. I’m thinking maybe I need to start with the heat set high – around 9 and then reduce it to 6ish? If anyone has successfully popped popcorn on the stove on an induction cooktop I’d appreciate it you could provide some tips. I’ve been using a silicon microwave popper but find the popcorn comes out really dry – I just like the slightly oily texture of stovetop popped popcorn. Been using a big stainless steel stock pot which is what I used on our old gas range and got great popcorn every time.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
I think I goofed on the link to that rande and the one I linked to isn’t the induction one but conventional electric. Here’s the induction one
cleek
induction. induction. induction.
when i have to cook with gas, it seems horribly slow and wasteful.
JoyceH
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: I pop popcorn in the microwave and I add just half or a third of a teaspoon of olive oil and stir the kernels to get them coated. It’s really all you need and makes a huge difference.
As for cooking with gas or electric, I’m utterly indifferent to the matter as far as cooking goes. I’ve always gone with electric because I just don’t want gas lines in the house.
Juice Box
@$8 blue check mistermix: Induction is so much more comfortable, faster and responsive than gas. The 120 V portable induction burners are not the same as an induction cooktop. I would never, ever go back to gas. I look at how fast the food is cooking rather than the height of the flame to cook anyway. The only draw back is charring peppers which I do under the broiler and the need for magnetic bottomed pans which include cast iron, enameled cast iron and most stainless pans.
The asthma problem is not due to the pilot light, it’s incomplete burning. We have an electric heat pump, a hybrid electric hot water heater and solar panels to power the lot. Our gas is turned off at the meter.
Immanentize
I have a dual fuel range that I have loved — a thermador w/6 gas burners (two a funky low heat type of intermittent on off). It has a fully electric oven which is fabulous for baking as it is a much more even heat than gas stoves.
I got this during the big kitchen remodel — it was my big present to myself as I cook a lot. But if I got a new range, which frankly it is probably time to do so, I would get induction, especially as I have roof top solar and it would be great to convert to all electric.
But I’m going to move, so the next owner can make such decisions.
p.a.
If you have a before-times elec stove sliding the pan half-off or off to moderate heat works as noted above, or if you have unoccupied burners have one set up at the lower temp & move the pan there. I know, a waste of energy pre-warming it.
I was all “elec stoves suck” too, then I saw the old B&W French Chef reruns & J Child did what she did on calrod burners in a studio. Good enough for her, sure as hell good enough for what a serve up.
Do modern kitchens still get built with wall ovens?
ETA: Adam Ragusea did a show on assorted cooktops, and gas burners waste a significant amount of energy compared to elec.
Tom Levenson
@KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager)): We got a Jenn Air 30″ range. Convection oven, four “burner” top.
It was at the low end of options at our rather fancy appliance story (Yale Electric for Boston area jackals).
The biggest gripe is the lack of knobs. (Perhaps the very definition of a first world problem.)
We had no overwhelming reason to choose that one over a couple of alternatives in the same $2,000-2,500 zone–except that it was one of those deals where we got a great deal on a floor model Jenn Air fridge, and we got a little more off by buying a second appliance from the same manufacturer.
Steeplejack
@HinTN:
If it gets hot it’s probably a ceramic cooktop, not induction. But those are much better than the old electric coil cooktops. I had one in my previous apartment and liked it a lot. Back to coils in the current kitchen, alas.
StringOnAStick
We’re about to do a kitchen remodel that includes replacing the 20 year old Kenmore gas range with an induction range, based on how much our friends like the Frigidaire induction stove mentioned above. I wish we could put in a decent hood over any cooking appliance but the stove is located at the center of the house and the ceiling is 13′ high at that location and so far I’ve had no luck sourcing a hood that can handle that height for anything other than a fortune. If anyone has any ideas or knows of a solution, I’m all ears. The kind of side hood common to Jennair cooktops won’t work, small height crawlspace.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Tom Levenson: My Frigidaire was less than a grand. Everything else was $2 grand and up. There’s really no reason induction has to cost more from a production cost standpoint but Frigidaire seems so far to be the only US supplier who wants to take the higher volume lower profit margin approach.
Juice Box
Also, spilled food never cooks onto the cooktop of an induction cooktop. You can wipe up as you cook, if you want. Cleaning just requires a spritz of counter cleaner and a wipe.
trollhattan
The obvious gas advantage is cooking when the power is off–which we’re now emerging from since midnight, thank you morning coffee. While the piezo igniter does not work, a lighter gets the burner going and we’re in business. Sadly, the gas furnace and gas water heater are useless lumps.
A proper range hood venting outside removes indoor pollution from the range. Sadly, that hood does not function during a power outage, but the other 99+% of the time one can avoid polluting the indoors. I have never understood hoods that pull the air from above the range then vent it back into the kitchen. Yeah, it can remove some airborne grease but not the rest of the chemical stew. Maybe for electric ranges? (Here, in summer we want that heat outside, too.)
trollhattan
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: We have some thick copper French cookware that would be criminal to give up by going induction. I could see adopting a single-burner countertop induction for use with the cast iron stuff, though.
Kathy
You might try an induction plate. I got one recently and it’s great. With the induction plate and my electric kettle and instapot, I use my (very nice) gas stove much less. I would replace with an induction stove top and electric oven right now if money weren’t an issue. Decarbonize and still have fun cooking!
randy khan)
In the long run, we all should be moving away from gas cooking and heating because of greenhouse gas issues. If I’d been thinking about it all, when my wife and I renovated our house 16 years ago we would have stayed with electric instead of moving to gas, although I will say that the gas burners were a huge upgrade over the 1960s coiled electric burners that we had.
Tom Levenson
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: Yeah. When we were looking (almost two years ago now, maybe even a bit more) there was nothing in the showroom less than two grand. We almost bought a Samsung with real knobs for roughly the same price, but by the time my wife and I settled on that Yale had taken there last model off the showroom floor. (By the time=2 days from our showroom visit.)
What sold us on the Jennair was its alleged ability to link two cook zones together to accommodate something like a rectangular grill pan. Turns out it just means you can turn both zones on at the same time, but there’s a cool zone between them. Oh well.
But other than that–it’s great. Our only real complaint is that the surface is prone to scratches if you use a cast iron pan with a rough bottom surface. We bought a set of cheap Cuisinart stainless steel pans, and those are fine–but our Lodge stuff is less usable.
Kristine
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: That’s the exact range I have except I have the black s/s. So far I love it.
the pans do move around, especially if you’re scraping up fond. I hold onto one handle with a pot holder.
Another Scott
@WV Blondie: I’ve started looking into replacing our natural gas water heater with a heat-pump water heater.
Yeah, they’re spendy, and yeah the tax break won’t make up the price difference.
But the price will come down over time. The technology isn’t that exotic (heat pumps have been around for ages). Making it quiet enough (that’s one of my concerns – our water heater is right under our bedroom and J is a very light sleeper), and making it reliable enough is going to require some development to do that and cut the costs, but it’s a solvable problem. It might take 10 years to get there though. :-(
It’s almost always better wait and not be an early adopter, if you can.
Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
sean
Induction has come a long way and is both inexpensive and great to cook on. I like it way better than gas for quite a few reasons above and beyond the air quality. I’d switch to induction even if gas wasn’t shit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX2aZUav-54
This video has a few lovely little points, one of which is the professional switch to induction and the other is the origins of “cooking with gas”.
Highly recommend watching and it’s entertaining too.
Another Scott
We “need” to upgrade our kitchen (still has the 1963-vintage GE electric stove. Pushbutton controls! Modern! The Future!!1 :-/ ) So I’ve looked at induction ranges. They look great, with lots of great features – like actual temperature control!
Then I look at the horror-story reviews about circuit boards failing, and things getting too hot because the control boards are too close to the burners or in the path of the oven vent or …, and waiting months for repairs, … :-/ I know, people complain when they spend a bunch on a new appliance and it breaks, or somehow isn’t perfect, and it doesn’t indicate actual failure rates, but still it’s disconcerting.
Such is the cost of progress in the days of social media…
Good luck, upgraders!
Cheers,
Scott.
Kristine
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: Oops for me too. I have the induction model in black.
$8 blue check mistermix
Thanks to everyone who suggested induction. I’ll give it a shot at our next abode.
CAM-WA
Get an induction stove! Heat control is even better than with gas. The only real drawback is that you probably have to replace most or all of your cookware.
Kristine
@Another Scott: I was advised to not use the regular self-cleaning feature because of the hot venting issue and to stick with the steam clean. That said, a few years ago when I had my electric range repaired, the repairman also advised against using the self-cleaning function unless I had been using it regularly to that point. I don’t know why, but ovens apparently couldn’t handle the heat unless they’d built up, what, tolerance? Don’t know.
moops
If you want people to stop using natural gas stoves, I cannot recommend you send any to this video anymore. This Hank Green yelling idiot actually tries very hard to make me feel stupid and ashamed.
@BlueGuitarist:
JaneE
I cooked with gas the first half of my life. All I knew about electric was from my aunt, who had an old coil range in her home when she bought it. She hated it with a passion, but at that time the cost of replumbing the kitchen for gas was out of the question.
Then I bought a house with an electric coil cooktop. Swapped that out for a smooth top asap, but bought one that was half induction. By the time we remodeled the kitchen, I went for all induction.
Of course the next home had a gas range. I tried using it, and it is the pilotless kind, and has a nice grid and sealed burners, but still never got used to it. I just had the kitchen rewired for electric, and the induction range is on order. It won’t get here until April at the earliest, but I can wait a few months longer.
I loved gas when I didn’t know anything else, but now I won’t settle for anything but induction.
JaneE
@CAM-WA: And if you have cast iron, you can use that. Or stainless steel (most of it) and enameled cast iron like Le Creuset. Even most of the higher end aluminum comes with a steel plate on the bottom to make it work with induction. Only a pure aluminum or glass will not work.
WV Blondie
@HinTN: Huh – that’s an alternative I hadn’t noticed. More homework, but that’s okay. Thanks!
And to Another Scott @ #74 (I don’t know how to reply to two comments in one block): yeah, I know the price curve will bend down over time, so I may get a chance – ugh – to revisit the question in 10 years.
OTOH, I have come to loathe living in WV and I’d like to think hubby and I will be out of here by then.
Feathers
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: I have gas, but a friend turned me on to cooking popcorn in olive oil over medium to medium high heat. Basically cooking just high enough for the popcorn to pop, but low enough that it doesn’t burn. I’m not doing huge batches, a 4 quart saucepan’s worth, because it’s just me.
moops
Induction are better than they were, but they are not entire replacements. I live where you don’t have natural gas lines, so we have an off-the-grip propane. As a cooking gas, this is hot, very hot. I can get a wok up to the appropriate temperature. I also still hear horror stories about induction equipment reliability. I don’t know why, the physics of induction itself it not complicated, but perhaps the temperature control logic and sensing is sophisticated.
I might like to take two of my propane burners and convert them over to induction and have the best of both worlds.
I have enough solar and back up power to keep my propane furnace and propane water heaters and water pumps working during short blacks outs, but firing up an electric burner, like running an electric heater or air conditioner, would deplete my back up extremely fast.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for US?
@Tom Levenson: Yes I was tempted to get a model with that dual burner feature but then figured how often would I really use it and is it worth an extra $1,500? But I can do that with my range – the two burners on the left-hand side are the same size and power so all I have to do is set them both to the same setting. The only thing I could see using it for is deglazing a large roasting pan.
@Kristine: I like it. The only thing I felt like I gave up over the more expensive ones was the dual burner control and the 5th “keep warm” burner element but the low setting on any of the burners serves that function and if I were cooking on all four burners I don’t think I’d have room left on the cooktop to put a 5th pot on that keep warm element anyway.
@Another Scott: I’ve realized that the thing to do is focus on the overall rating for a product rather than the few horror stories. Induction is a lot safer than traditional electric and gas and way likely to result in overheating issues – the only thing that gets hot is the pan so they put off a lot less ambient heat than other ranges. Unless you leave a pan on the burner it is impossible to accidentally turn on a burner and have it get hot – the burner will sense that no pan is on the cooktop and shut itself off. I had one instance where with my old gas range my wife accidentally nudged a burner on just enough to allow gas to flow but not enough to trigger the ignition and we came home to a gas filled house, which luckily nothing ignited the gas so we opened everything up for an hour to air the place out. Another time I came home to find a burner on – my mother in law had accidentally turned one on bumping a knob. Thankfully nothing caught on fire. No worries about that with an induction cooktop. There are a few units that go bad, I have no doubt, but focus on the preponderance of 5 star reviews and figure what is the likelihood you’ll be among the unlucky few vs. the happy many?
Bupalos
@$8 blue check mistermix: Induction yo.
opiejeanne
@Major Major Major Major: We. put in a super-duper range vent by Vent-a-Hood when we remodeled our current kitchen. We bought a Blue Star 6-burner range (it’s red!) that one burner is like a jet engine, just ridiculous unless you’re using a wok or until you figure out the lower temps on it. I love it, but the next oven will be a glass-top electric because I expect we’ll be living in a condo of some sort without gas. We had one in the 90s and it was great, easy to clean, and after the elderly coil-top electric that came with that house, a dream to work with, but we had to buy flat-bottomed pans to use it.
The induction tops are swell, unless you’re dealing with a high-end foreign manufacturer with a name no one else has ever heard of. My middle kid has one of those and they came to fix it 3 times the first year, and it still doesn’t work right. The oven part has never worked. They should have gotten a refund or a replacement but they didn’t pursue it because they were assured each time that it was fixed, until the warranty was up.
Buy domestic, the support is way better. I can’t say enough good about GE these days, although I used to curse them heartily 50 years ago.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for US?
Mrmix – you’d be better off getting a house with an electric range and then switching to induction than finding a house with a gas range and exterior venting range hood…the electrical work will already have been done for the old electric range and induction will work great for cooking. Besides which, gas is bad for the environment. I know it has been sold as the low carbon alternative to coal and oil but I work for the Agency that regulates the pipeline industry and the system is full of leaks from the wellhead to the burner, and all that methane that gets released along the way from well to your appliance is a major contributor to the climate crisis. The worst part is the end consumer gets to pay for all the “lost and unaccounted for” gas – the State regulatory agencies allow the gas utilities to build it into the rates they charge. So the companies have no incentive to plug all those leaks because they get paid, by you and all the other consumers, for all the gas that leaks away into the atmosphere.
I have an old home with cast iron radiators and high velocity ductwork and am looking for a heating solution that will get me off the gas grid as heat is the only thing keeping me on that grid at this point. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of new high efficiency heating alternatives that work with anything other than forced air, and heat pump systems (geothermal or air based) can’t heat the volume of air necessary for high velocity ductwork. Hopefully something will emerge soon because being on the gas grid is just not something I want to do anymore.
Bupalos
OK scanning through everyone said induction but don’t see that anyone noted that they’re either 30% tax credit if you’re well off, 50% rebate if you’re median income up to 150%, and 100% rebate if you’re 80% median and lower. Thanks to awesome Dems. Though for the rebate programs we’ll be waiting for a bit, it is supposed to be instituted by the states.
opiejeanne
@HinTN: We have one of the tankless water heaters, the previous owner had it installed, and it’s mostly ok, but there’s a moment where right after the water gets hot enough you get a blast of cold water before it settles down. I think it’s because this is the smaller unit and a house this size is right on the cusp of needing the bigger unit.
Bupalos
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for US?: You can do ductless mini splits?
If you’re anywhere from 80% to 150% of median income, it’s half off. Lower than that it’s free. Otherwise 30% credit. And they’re pretty reasonable to begin with.
Bupalos
@Another Scott: In regions where the house’s primary energy draw is for heating and little or none for cooling, I’m actually not sure heat pump hot water heaters make that much sense. Not as they are, they need to make cold climate ones that draw and vent outside and operate efficiently at low temperatures. Right now, a lot of installations are close to a wash, because it’s actually just pulling heat from the house to put in the water. That heat needs to be made up by the heating system.
trollhattan
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for US?: What are high-velocity ducts? New one for me.
opiejeanne
@p.a.: When we remodeled we added an electric wall oven. It’s in a cabinet with a pantry, so I guess it’s built-in. The mother-board failed right before Thanksgiving* when it was still in warranty, and they couldn’t find another one for months. This was a GE model they were phasing out, and they tried and tried to get it for me, and were as annoyed with the supplier as we were, and they finally took one out of an oven in stock in the warehouse (which they had a little trouble locating).
A week later we got a mother-board delivered by UPS. We still have it, set aside for when this one fails, but 7 years on and it’s still fine.
*The electric ignition on our gas oven died the day before turkey day in the 80s.
Bupalos
Yeah they’re pretty much all touch control with a bunch of logic and fail codes and hot surface sensors and whatnot. And yes ours (adopting pretty early in 2014) crapped out twice in 3 years and I gave up. I’ll try again but I wish they just made a simple “turn the knob and deliver the magnetism and that’s it” model.
opiejeanne
@Another Scott: Are heat pumps noisy? I didn’t know that.
Another Scott
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for US?: One has to be very careful about on-line reviews. Many 5 star reviews are fake.
I’m sure that’s more of a problem with brands one has never heard of on Amazon than with GE or LG or Frigidaire or Miele or Bosch or …, but one still has to be careful about taking any reviews at face value. I’ve also been seeing a surprising number of 5 star reviews on Amazon that say the product is terrible and not to buy it. So, … :-/
Even trying to buy an American brand isn’t as easy as it used to be. GE Appliances is owned by Haier and KKR. Electrolux owns a bunch of iconic American brands.
And even if one gets a good one with a company with good service now, there’s no telling what service and support will be like in 5-10-20 years that one would expect a major appliance to last.
For an appliance shopper, nothing is easy (4:28).
;-)
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
trollhattan
@opiejeanne: We did an addition and installed a tankless, which is probably sized right because one can take an endless shower.
When the main house WH last went out I wanted to go that way but was advised we do not have adequate gas supply for that plus the furnace. Once we replace the furnace with the heat pump system on order, I’ll revisit tankless when this WH dies. My kid has demonstrated the plausibility of using all 40 gallons in the bathtub. Plus, I’d like the extra basement space.
Bupalos
@trollhattan: Just smaller diameter, fast moving air. Gives some construction/retrofit and insulating advantages. But because of the reduced volume they can move, requiring hotter air than heat pumps operate at.
There are air to water heat pumps coming to replace boilers , at least one very promising model in the US now, more in Europe. But even atthat most radiator sizing in the US is only appropriate for higher temp water. But air to water with panel radiators or in-floor heat is a great way to go and should probably be a new construction standard in the next decade.
Steeplejack
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for US?:
Accidents are another reason I lean toward induction as I design and redesign my “if I won the lottery” dream house. Accidents such as you mention, as well as memory lapses and forgetfulness, are more common as people get older.
Another Scott
@opiejeanne: Heat pumps are like air conditioners running in reverse. It’s the same idea for a heat pump water heater. There’s a compressor and a fan, so how noisy it is depends on how much engineering work they do to make it quiet.
One usually has to dig quite a bit to get noise measurements on these things, and even then you’re not always sure that different manufacturers are measuring them the same way.
Just another thing one has to compare when shopping!
HTH a little.
Cheers,
Scott.
Keith P.
I did the induction switch (from ceramic electric) about 10 years ago. Total game-changer (assuming you have compatible cookware. Treat yourself to all-clad!) I went to my brother’s house over the holidays, where he’s got gas – my family has traditionally loved gas over electric – but was taken aback at how damn slow it is to heat up. Induction is near instant heat response and you can boil water in 5 minutes. Gas….not so much.
Wapiti
@Steeplejack: We have an induction range, and it will bring a smaller pan of water (say, 2 cups of water for oatmeal) to a boil very quickly. And it’s responsive enough that when the oatmeal is threatening to boil over, a couple of quick taps to turn the heat down will keep the boil going while killing the “boil-over” movement.
opiejeanne
@Another Scott: We bought a house in 1976 that had one of those GE push-button electric ranges. The back left unit was a well with a lift-out insert instead of a burner. We used that feature for soup, but now I wonder if it was for deep frying. One of the coils didn’t work, but it worked fairly well for the next 6 years. The rest of that kitchen was so disgusting that when we could finally afford it we replaced everything in it, with prejudice. We had already moved the water heater out of the kitchen (!!!) to a properly vented cabinet outdoors that met code.
trollhattan
@Bupalos: Makes sense, thanks!
Our 95(?) YO house has a mix of original and added ducts–in the crawlspace–and we’ve made do. The lovingly wrapped asbestos is a topic for another day.
It was converted from oil to gas, gravity to blower, and we’re going heat pump this month (once it stops storming) while retaining the ducting and registers. We have heat+AC, so not the same issues folks in the snowbelt deal with. Cold for us is 30, and we’re not unaccustomed to 110.
karen marie
@$8 blue check mistermix: I’m with you. I’ve lived in an area with only electric for the last 12 years, and it drives me wild. I use a laser thermometer to frequently check and recheck because it’s not unusual for the temperature of a pan to shoot up to 400F when the burner is set to medium. Turned ever so slightly lower, I can’t get to 350. The oven is just as bad.
It’s with good reason that “now you’re cooking with gas” is a positive affirmation.
Jackie
@opiejeanne: Mom’s stove had the deep well burner, too. Soups, stews, stock… It still works and I wish newer stoves had that option.
I have no clue how old the stove is – it came with the house when they bought it in 1958!
Matt
We get a lot of mileage out of a pair of portable induction ranges. Workspace flexibility.
Another Scott
@Bupalos: Good point.
That’s something I was thinking about when I replaced our furnace/AC a year or two ago. We got a high efficiency heat pump to replace the AC, but we kept a high efficiency gas furnace to go with it because I remembered (virtually) freezing to death in the winter in a rented condo that had a heat pump – hearing the whoosh of cool air and the compressor running all the time and it struggling to get to 68F when it was 30F outside… Supposedly heat pumps are better and can work fairly efficiently now even below 25F, but there are days around here when it can get close to 5F or lower and we didn’t want to pay for electric resistance heat in those situations, so keeping the gas furnace as a backup made sense to us…
Lots of competing factors to try to optimize!
(Most of the time we keep the system in heat pump mode, but if we need quiet or more heat, then we use the gas furnace.)
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
ceece
@WV Blondie: there are some new heat pump water heaters that use just the regular 110 V outlet. That should save on install costs because you won’t have to wire a 220V circuit.
Bupalos
@Another Scott: I put a new one in at my Mom’s condo last year (shakes fist at Sinemanchin delaying BBB costing us -2k), a DIY central unit by “Mr. Cool” because her AC needed replacing. Kept the gas furnace as a backup. We’ve needed it twice, it can’t quite keep up below 0 degrees F. But these new ones clearly have VASTLY expanded heat output in very cold temps, if I had just sized it up a bit I could have junked the gas.
Another incentive people should think about to take the last steps to get entirely off gas… in lots of places the “service charge” just for having service regardless of use is over $30/mo. Saving that can pay for some of those “last mile” things like junking the stovetop or water heater all by itself.
Ohio Mom
@Another Scott: The heat pump that came with our house was noisy, I just assumed that was normal. Then it died and we bought a new one about twelve years ago and the quiet! It was lovely!
The compressor is right outside the wall the head of our bed is against so any noises are noticeable. Which started last month, just as the unit aged out of its warrenty (naturally).
The repair company is still trying replacing different parts with no success. I won’t be surprised if we are shelling out for a new compressor very soon.
Ohio Mom
@Another Scott: Apparently there are two types of heat pumps. Ones that have only one speed can’t keep up with really cold temps. They are either on or off. Variable speed heat pumps have um, variable speeds and can handle the very cold. I suspect they cost more.
Ruckus
@Steeplejack:
as well as memory lapses and forgetfulness, are more common as people get older.
What?
Steeplejack
@Ruckus:
I don’t remember.
NeenerNeener
@Kristine: As do I. Frigidaire black induction range.
Another Scott
@Ohio Mom: We’ve got everything variable to try to make them as efficient as possible. :-)
Trane XV20i. It was about the most efficient and quiet system I could find short of going to a mini-split setup (which would have cost us a lot more for the installation and necessitated lots of wiring changes, etc.). Some places say it works to 17F, some say 0F. “Works” and “works efficiently” may mean different things – dunno. ;-)
If J weren’t such a light sleeper, we might not have gone with the gas furnace as the backup. But we’re glad we did because the compressor is right outside our bedroom and even though it is generally quiet it has an oscillating vibration that she’s sensitive to. If it were the same sound pressure level with a “white noise” type character it would be fine, but she’s very sensitive to motor-type noises. (We’ve tried vibration pads, etc., etc. to try to make it even quieter without too much improvement.)
When I design our new home, after retiring and winning the lottery and having 20 hours a day of free time, I’ll make sure the utility room is in a separate wing and the HVAC compressors, etc., are on the opposite side of the house from the bedrooms… ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Bupalos: Is there a 30% tax credit for air based heat pumps? I know there is for geothermal but hadn’t been able to find evidence of it for air based. Mini splits…I have 12 cast iron radiators in my house. I spoke with a dealer about them vs. Ducted heat pumps. He said a ducted system with new ducts would be about $47K and mini splits run about $5k a pop. If I needed a mini split to replace all my radiators it’d be ungodly expensive at those prices. Spacepak (the leader in high velocity systems) has an air to hydronic heat pump that supposedly provides both heating and cooling. Not sure how they solve the condensation probablem for cooling but it would eliminate the ductwork. I’d probably have to replace all my radiators with newer panels that operate at lower temps but hopefully that’s a lot cheaper than ductwork and involves a lot less disruption because not so much removal of walls and such.
WaterGirl
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: We had radiators in our place growing up.
Another Scott
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:
This seems to be the horse’s mouth on what tax credits, etc., are available:
RewiringAmerica.org/app/ira-calculator
Heatpump AC/Heater – $2000
Heatpump water heater – $2000
Lots of things are listed, including:
Whole Home Energy Reduction – $4000 – Late 2023
Check it out!
Cheers,
Scott.
Glidwrith
@ceece: If you would, what is the brand? We bought a new gas range a few years ago, rather than induction, because we decided if the power was cut off for a significant period of time, we would have no way to cook food or clean water.
A portable induction plate would solve a lot of problems.
Glidwrith
@Matt: For you as well, what brand did you purchase please?
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:
@Tom Levenson:
Thanks! I’ll let her know there are good alternatives. I still like my gas cooktop, which is new ~2019, but it’s good to know there are induction alternatives that actually work.
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
@Feathers: May I suggest popping popcorn in… bacon grease? For small batches only, but it’s delicious!
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
@opiejeanne: I have a BlueStar too! A 5-burner cooktop! I researched when we needed to replace our old Viking cooktop, and BlueStar had the highest BTUs, which would allow for wok cooking. We’ve had it ~ 4 years, and it is great. Having to use 7 numbered buttons to adjust temperatures instead of just turning a dial up or down slightly until the temperature is right would drive me crazy. There’s a huge outside-vented hood over the cooktop so exhaust isn’t a problem, and the ovens & warming drawers are electric.
mrmoshpotato
@KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager)):
OMG! Mmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@opiejeanne: oooh, a thread to which I can finally contribute! I, too, have a Bluestar.
When I bought my NYC apartment in 1999, it came with a shitty electric stove. Replumbing for gas was very expensive and anyhow the kitchen was ok except for the shitty electric stove, where I just cooked everything on high or in the instapot. Then gas for the apartment building sprung a leak, all gas pipes to all apartments had to be replaced, and the apartments that had electric could get gas. So I got myself the gas stove I cooked on when a family member in Seattle rented a house while remodeling his own — a Bluestar.
It got installed. Without thinking about it I just automatically turned the burner on high, and a Chenobyl-worthy flame immediately destroyed the pan even before I could turn it off. After hyperventilating, I called the installer, who came promptly, explained it was correctly installed, and advised me to cook everything on low.
He was right: I love this stove, even though I do cook everything on low, and for anyone looking for a brand, Bluestar makes induction cooktops:
https://www.bluestarcooking.com/cooking/cooktops/36-turn-induction-cooktop
They ain’t cheap. But skip the marble countertops and custom cabinets and buy this if you’re remodeling and really like to cook. I bet they’re amazing.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: yeah, but unless your house is gigantic, you only need one minisplit per floor, remember the condenser can handle up to three and maybe four “heads” that actually send the hot or cold air into the actual room.
Also i think Bupalos asked whether heat pump minisplits were useful when there was no need for the airconditioning option. I don’t know if that’s going to be the case anywhere going forward: every member of my family in Seattle now wants AC, even the ancient holdouts. Even Alaska is starting to get heat waves! Here in NYC people are heating historic 19th century brownstones (where the masonry and plaster walls leaves no room to put ducts) exclusively by minisplit.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@Glidwrith: there are a fair number of good induction hot plates if you want to start there: https://www.marthastewart.com/8256236/best-portable-induction-cooktops
a bit more recent, but behind a paywall AND FTFNYT:
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-portable-induction-cooktop/
Steeplejack
@Glidwrith, @Chacal Charles Calthrop:
This is the one Wirecutter likes: Duxtop 9600LS portable induction cooktop ($110). Budget pick: Duxtop 9100MC ($75).
America’s Test Kitchen also likes the Duxtop 9600LS.
Glidwrith
@Chacal Charles Calthrop:
@Steeplejack:
Thank you both!
dibert dogbert
From CDC:
50%. Asthma hospitalizations for children declined from 10% in 2003 to about 5% in 2013.
What does this say about gas burners???
Bupalos
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: I have a persistant lack of clarity problem, but I was actually refering to heat pump waterheaters rather than minisplits. Refering to the idea that without being sourced and vented outside, the waterheaters heat the water but cool the house. Which in some places is good and a bonus to efficiency, and in some places a real downer.
Bupalos
@Another Scott: right, I misspoke there, air source heat pumps are 2000 for higher incomes, but note that’s 2000 per year and they specifically contemplate breaking up a project over multiple years.
Bupalos
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Scott addresses this, but you need as many minisplit heads (which can be hidden, and can be individually ducted, btw) as you have enclosed air spaces to heat and cool. It wouldnt be 1 per rad but might be close just depends how your house is laid out. But packages of say 1 48000 btu condenser paired with 4 or 5 heads run like 5k.
cleek
@Another Scott:
if you ever want to talk yourself out of buying anything, read the reviews.
but, there are circuit boards in everything these days. so you’ll see those kinds of problems everywhere.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Bupalos: Well I suppose this is a dead thread at this point but…how do they get the heated or cooled air to the heads in each room from a minisplit, without ductwork? Do they run it on the exterior of the house? I’m guessing I’d need about 12-14 heads – so that’s 3 mini splits…at $5K a pop it’d be $15K rather than the $60K or so I was envisioning. Needless to say $15-$20K is far easier to swallow.
The two main floors are covered by a Spacepak high velocity AC system and they installed a separate high velocity system in the basement but we never turn that on as we’ve have no need to cool the basement so far. We are getting the “finished” part of the basement redone (had water coming in at one corner and also a leaking radiator that caused water damage) and that space may need to be cooled at some point. Our water heater is at the point where we’re thinking about replacement and are seriously considering a heat pump water heater, which would cool our unfinished space in the summer (good) but also winter (not so good). So if I switched to mini splits I’d have two heat pumps working at cross purposes in that one space with that setup.
Chris T.
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
The mini-split has the temperature-adjusted fluid line run to each of the heads. One head does one room, or if the room is too big you can sometimes put two heads in one room. Each head has its own fan and remote control.
This does usually mean that there’s nothing in the bathroom.
Chris T.
@Another Scott:
Our new heat pump has a separate 60 amp electric resistance heating coil that kicks in when the outside temperature is too low, which (Puget Sound area of WA state) is rare. I’m pretty sure it was running several times in December though, when we had a week that didn’t break freezing!
CZEdwards
@$8 blue check mistermix: Check out an induction stove.
It has all of the fine control of a gas burner, and MORE safety than an electric. I’ve had oil boil-overs that would have started a kitchen-ruining fire on gas or coil electric, and all I had to do was grab paper towels to soak up the oil. Even a “hot” induction burner is not likely to burn your skin. AND I can get a flat bottom wok hot enough to stirfry, which I couldn’t do even with my gas stove.
The only downside is you can’t use an aluminum pan or glass pan. It has to have a magnetic bottom, but that’s most stainless steel, and all cast iron.
I was a fan of gas, too, then we bought a house with an electric stove (but a gas furnace) and I had to make a decision about either the cost of running a new gas line or getting an induction (had to replace the stove either way). I got a demo of an induction at the good appliance store, picked up a portable induction plate, and I have never regretted going induction. It’s such an improvement on the state of the art. (And incidentally, it made managing adult asthma about 95% easier, before we knew that gas stoves do contribute to asthma.)
Even found a stainless steel canner, so canning is still available for me.
Whatamaroon
We went induction ten (that’s not a typo) years ago. Since then, I have sautéed, boiled, blanched, seared, fried, scrambled, steamed, braised, stewed, and simmered. I have never missed my gas range, and I loved that thing. The “I can’t get the exact temperature” complaint with the digital controls of an induction range is, bluntly, utter crap. I’ve never had a meal cooked on induction that didn’t turn out exactly the way I wanted it. Is it different? Yes! And that’s a good thing! Is there a learning curve? Sure! All new things have a learning curve! Go induction, my friend. It’s a great, bit, beautiful tomorrow, shining at the end of every day.
Bupalos
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: Just so you get the idea, with minisplits the condensor unit sits outside and does it’s thing to the refrigerant, and the refrigerant runs in linesets from there to the head. That’s how heat is carried to the head or away from the head, in the refrigerant. Each head has a lineset running to it, and for cooling each also has to drain its condensation water.
I may be premature in saying high velocity ducts aren’t compatible with a newer central heat pump. It does seem to me that the lower temperature heating air may be a problem, but that really depends on whether your installation has some excess capacity to it. And for all I know there may be some models geared for higher temps, though it’s never going to be near traditional furnace temps. Since you’ve already invested in that retrofit, I’d first investigate that further.
Another thing to remember is that unlike furnaces, central heat pump air handlers can be located in attics with simple flexible ducting run around that open space to vents in the upstairs room’s ceilings.
Actually, I AM going to investigate this high velocity duct issue further, I’m sure this is going to come up for me with other folks.
Bupalos
@Chris T.: Should have read to see that you clarified this. I’ll note there are also concealed heads and ductable heads available. In the installation I’m helping my neighbor with there are 2 wall units in bedrooms, 2 concealed heads in an open plan living space, and 1 ducted head that does a bathroom and long hall and supplements the open plan space. There’s a lot of flexibility.
Bupalos
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: I got a quick response from my guy on this, he’s not dedicated HVAC but a tippy top-notch sustainable builder and knows spacepak… and he’s smarter than me. His suggestion – given that you’re on existing rads and have that high velocity system – is an air to water heat pump that feeds both, and with both should provide the needed capacity. To which I’m thinking oh yeah, duh, there’s no reason you have to pick one or the other for distribution, and it’s really not any additional system complexity. The additional equipment would be a hydronic air handler capable of feeding the spacepak and the air-to-water heat pump. I’d think you could get out the door under 10k.
Burrowing Owl
Since people are still talking stoves, we replaced gas with an induction range (Fisher and Paykel) and have no regrets—quick to boil water, easy to clean, no gas smell, responsive. Only wish we had done it sooner.