US utility firms offer builders cash/trips to fit new homes with gas appliances
theguardian.com
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A consumer gas range simply doesnt put enough effective power into the cookware. This isnt only about boiling water quickly. This is about getting a pan hot enough fast enough to maintain a certain cooking style, even if its kind of half-assed. It might not be perfect, but I can make what I think is really good stir fry on a quality induction range (i.e. one that will actually tolerate movement of the pan without cutting power).
I had enough time to order an 1800w portable induction unit while I waited for my kettle to boil via fire this morning.
Even the cleanup is 10x better on induction.
Tons of places do stir fry on gas.
Probably the norm I would say.
If you go to a hibachi grill, they're doing it right out in the open.
It sounds like the person I was originally responding to doesn't have a complaint with gas stoves but more with the fact that they are no longer cooking on a specialized piece of equipment.
A friend had a 5 burner unit in their house that visibly dropped output if you ran 4 or 5 at the same time, just not enough gas coming into the house. By comparison the commercial kitchen on the same block was happily running a flat top an 2 other stations at full blast; so it can't have fundamentally been supply just the way it was distributed.
You either have a very poor gas stove or you moved to a much higher elevation where boiling water is just flat-out takes longer.
I'm in the UK though, maybe it's something to do with having 230v supply?
So built-in stoves or cooktops will take 240V but a portable single burner induction cooktop would likely only use 120V.
With cooking it's all about efficiency of heat transfer, latency of power change, and flexibility of pan lifting between the three types of hobs (electric resistive, induction, gas).
The efficiency of electric resistive and gas is poor, induction is great.
The latency of power change of electric resistive is poor, induction and gas are great.
Flexibility of pan lifting of electric resistive and induction are poor (lift more than a couple of centimetres and you have no heat), gas is good.
Induction power is still limited by pot diameter and common cookware is very heavy for water boiling because other types of cooking need more even heat and higher temperatures.
I actually raced a 120v kettle versus and high-end induction stove to boil 1l and it was very close.
Electric kettles are very well optimized for speed and efficiency.
I like both gas and induction but are you really comparing the equivalent equipment in your anecdote?
The cheapest induction range on us-appliance.com (FCFI3083AS) is $1000, and has a 3600w "boost" burner, or ~12K BTUs
A $1000 gas range from the same company (Frigidaire, FCRG3062AB) has an 18K BTU burner. That's significantly more power.
https://www.energystar.gov/partner_resources/brand_owner_res...
> when cooking with gas, about 60 percent of the energy is wasted, compared to just 16 percent with induction
Which translates to induction winning 10.08 vs 7.2 useful BTUs
https://www.jennairappliances.com/appliances/cooktops/induct...
To this model:
https://www.frigidaire.com/en/p/kitchen/ranges/gas-ranges/FC...
Definitely not comparable on cost basis.
All of that said, I can use the same techniques stepping down from a 5kW to a 1.8kW unit. Once you get above ~2500 watts on induction it doesn't feel like it's moving the needle that much. I rarely used the 5kw boost mode. It was actually too powerful in most cases, even stir fry if you weren't moving like a mad man.
Moving from gas or resistive to electromagnetic seems like the actual magic trick.
That 18K BTU of gas is heat under and around the pan. Most of it licks around the sides and up into the room. It's 30-40% efficient.
Induction coils are 85% efficient. 85% of your 12K BTU is heat energy in the fabric of the pan.
You certainly can get very very hot burner rings. They're commercial units usually. But they're wasting so much energy.
If you're cooking a roux for example or sauteing garlic, 30 second latency is enough to ruin them.
Also, I have a feeling that the heat is distributed more evenly but no concrete evidence on that.
I haven’t had a chance to try electric induction yet. I don’t know anyone who has one.
Not really, there are a number of techniques that are harder (some not possible) on electric which has less control and high latency.
But ... it only matters if you are going to use such techniques.
Delicate sauces? Getting a custard to come together just right? Maybe some people can, but me, forget about it. This is basic stuff, too, I don’t even know how to do anything fancy. I know that when I finally tried gas it was like “oh, I can cook now!”
Toasting flatbread and tortillas directly on the burners is handy.
IDK if I can do any of that on induction. I’ve only seen those in-person at the store and at one airbnb. We have a working gas stove and induction’s expensive, so I doubt I’ll own one for another decade or so, at least.
Even with an externally-vented vent hood (most dump back into the room) + make up air system (that most do not have) gas ranges still contaminate your kitchen.
Induction is way better for control and latency than gas.
The only issue is if you need to genuinely ignite something (like in wok cooking--but, then, get a blowtorch--if it's good enough for J. Kenji Lopez-Alt it's good enough for you).
One real problem is that the standalone induction burners are only 110V in the US and that hamstrings them dramatically. Induction cooktops, however, do not suffer from that issue as they will be wired into 208/220V.
The ones I've used are less granular than gas (which is essentially continuous) and latency is similar. From what I've seen europe is still way ahead on induction offerings, but it seems to be getting better.
I'd probably lean towards induction these days because the particulates from gas are obviously a problem and not easily dealt with - but I won't pretend induction is a 100% drop in replacement/improvement.
Just checked Lowes. Cheapest induction range, $999. Four gas options are $499 or lower, four resistive electrics $499 or lower.
However, I find that gas has no granularity at the lowest settings. Induction has like 4 or 5 settings below the minimum setting of gas. This is really great for melting or softening things.
Maybe this is different on a professional gas stove, but I've never used one of those.
One technique to recover lost heating control though is to place the pot partially on the element. You need a flat top electric and high quality cookware for that, but it works in a pinch
The only thing induction doesn't do well is cooking with things like woks, where you have a curved surface that you want to heat evenly.
Even an old school electric is better in this regard than an induction top. If you lay a big cast iron pan across your induction top (which you wouldn't want to to begin with) it will literally only heat up the molecules directly above your biggest burner.
So while an induction is superior in 80% of cases, you still ultimately get more versatility out of gas.
And leaded gasoline made poorly-dimensioned combustion chambers run better/not knock. We still banned it for good reasons.
I have cooked on induction for close to a decade with heavy cast iron and no scratches much less cracking. Just be even slightly careful and you’ll be fine. Induction is amazing.
A gas range is really just the ideal setup for the most varieties of cooking, and there's a reason they are almost a requirement for most professional kitchens.
You like have an under-powered resistance range. A proper 240v 60A circuit powered induction range will out-heat any residential gas range and do it with laser-like precision.
Possibly the idea that a hot electric coil is just as good is the propaganda?
Personally I'm a fan of cooking with gas. The inability to lift and move the pan on induction I don't like, and the glass tops they come with I find far too delicate for my liking.
What a crazy conspiracy theory. It assumes electric companies and appliance makers do no marketing of their own.
Gas cooking is obviously a more luxurious experience and anyone who says otherwise has not tried to make a hollandaise sauce on each.
Maybe for the 60+ boomer crowd, for everyone else Induction is way cooler than gas.
I've made hollandaise and other delicate sauces on both. In my book, they're both perfectly fine. Excluding induction (which I have struggles with), I wouldn't call either better than the other.
Electric heating elements suck. They take an appreciable time to warm up, they stay warm long after forcing the cook to adjust accordingly. Also, only gas can really work with woks, but I don't use woks so that's a non issue.
If the power is out (which happens a lit in my corner of the USA) electric is MIA. Every electric heating element (except induction) is annoying to clean.
Finally, people like gas. Who made us better that we are to tell them that they've been brainwashed by evil corporations? I imagine people have at one point used electric, Americans do move a lot, and they just done like it!
(Induction rocks though)
It's also worth noting that certain things like home canning might actually void the warranty of your glass cooktop. The extreme weight put on them during the process can actually put more pressure on the layers than they can handle. Older canning equipment might not even be compatible with the flat surface.
That being said, I'll accept glass top to get induction. Arrest i won't have to scrape.
That being said, I currently cook on induction at home because the annoyances above have work arounds/mitigations and the cleanup/ lack of heating the room of induction vs gas is worth more to me than not being annoyed sometimes. I don't like the pressure to get rid of this stuff, it should be individual choice depending on your own personal situation.
Your average individual is completely unequipped to make an informed decision on this topic. They have no idea their crappy gas stove is spewing high volumes of carcinogens and other nasty things into their kitchen.
We do the same thing for toys, my wife should be able to buy my child a toy at the store without having to bring an XRF gun to look for lead paint. Everything in the store should be safe by default. If you want to make a difference _at scale_ that's how you do it.
They are in fact unsafe by default in basically every metric. In a brand new one spews toxic byproducts into your home, which for most people lacks the ventilation to remove it.
It also comes with the fun side effect of blowing up dozens of houses per year, being environmentally wasteful, and being inferior to induction for cooking.
It's kind of amusing citing dozens of homes blowing up from gas when NFPA has just a bit under 50,000 electrical fires in homes in the USA due to electrical failure/malfunction each year with ~400 deaths and ~1400 injuries with ~1.5 billion in damages each year. If you add in electrical failure of lighting and distribution equipment in the home you slightly more than double the deaths, and 1.8X the other numbers each year....
Again, it's not inferior to induction cooking, it's better in many ways, but it's really personal preference and people should be allowed to make those choices themselves (as I said, I personally choose induction but I get why people like gas and recognize the ways in which it is superior, as well as the drawbacks).
> I don't like the pressure to get rid of this stuff, it should be individual choice depending on your own personal situation.
So much this! Different strokes for different folks.
Also, the majority of houses never had gas piped to them in the first place. Most people are used to electric and it's a nonissue for them, so there is little desire to use gas.
Other than that, it's become a bit of an ID Pol issue [0], [1], [2], so I can see why considering it "premium" would be a thing in a sorta purple, sorta red state.
0 - https://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-guest-alleges-electric-stove...
1 - https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/5-ways-biden-still-coming-yo...
2 - https://www.axios.com/2023/01/12/gas-stoves-conservative-bac...
There are also strong correlations between electricity in the home and harm to children, but anyone in their reasonable mind would understand that you can improve consumer protections. So it's a bit of whataboutism to imply that only gas users are making safety tradeoffs.
I'm not surprised the gas industry is resorting to "inducements" to keep gas in vogue. Our last gas appliance is our water heater, and we're considering getting rid of it as well so we're gas free.
In many places, heating your home and your domestic hot water is still financially less expensive using natural gas. Sure, there's negatives to using natural gas, but being more expensive is not one of them.
A gas furnace is just a few sensors, a burner, a fan, and a box to do it in.
I think you might be underestimating the # of components in a modern furnace.
... gas furnace + A/C compressor is another story.
Are be subsidizing the natural gas suppliers or adding fees to natty generation plants?
EXTREMELY low. I was shocked in the PNW when we switched to a house with natural gas appliances how much we saved.
In some cases they are not even superior appliances but you save so much money.
In the past 20 years I've lived through two natural disasters that disrupted residential electrical service for more than a week. While electric utilities struggled to restore service, our gas fireplace gave emergency heat, our gas stove top cooked our food, and our gas water heater made our home the destination for our neighbors to get a hot shower. (The neighbors had gas water heaters too, but the high-efficiency kind that won't light the pilot if 120v isn't present.)
Besides the practical benefits, gas energy is significantly cheaper than electric, a distinct advantage as prices inflate.
... but probably going to get a heat pump instead. Electric heat sucks money, so I'm keen to replace it with something. And now that we've gone from 1 too-hot day per year to 7-8 with smoke, it's a double win.
This reads like satire, like it could have been a throw away line in Thank You for Smoking, but no, this cartoonish level of villainy is real, and all too common.
You already have to have decided that gas appliances are the bogeyman for this article to elicit any sort of outrage.