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Comment by simonsarris | Hacker News Reader

> A consumer gas range simply doesnt put enough effective power into the cookware.

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.

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The gas burners are wildly inefficient at transferring heat to the pot/pan. E.g. Wirecutter says gas is only 32% efficient, so the nominal 18 BTUs is only 5.8 BTUs in the pan. Whereas electric is at least 75% efficient (higher for induction) so a nominally 12 BTU electric stove provides at least 9 BTUs in the pan. In this case the electric stove is still effectively more than 50% more powerful.

Yes and the efficiency rating of an induction device compared to gas is about 3x because its heating the container directly vs indirectly.

https://www.energystar.gov/partner_resources/brand_owner_res...

Most of the gas stove's heat is lost and doesn't make it into the food though. Hard to know how much, but I read maybe only 30-40% of a gas stove's BTU output actually makes it into the food... so I would actually think a 12k BTU induction stove could put more heat into the food you're cooking than an 18k BTU gas burner. If this is the summer time, the gas burner is extra sucky and heating up your home. You also need to blast your exhaust fan when using a gas burner and may therefore need to condition more air than with an induction.

Randomly googled efficiency:

> 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

I am coming from this model:

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's still not a complete picture.

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.

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