What to consider when switching from gas to induction

Or maybe methane captured from landfill and bottled? :slightly_smiling_face:

Yes, the gas (or charcoal) BBQ can be a backup for power outages. A little camping stove would be much more efficient at boiling water for a cuppa, though.

I agree that it is. One of the areas in which Australian housing is sub standard (out of many) is that they are not designed to permit easy future modification of services. It would have been easy to design in a riser and per-floor cable ducts, but the builder was too lazy to do that and our building standards do not require it.

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A hob smaller than the hole can be gracefully fixed by having a spacer cut that is larger than the existing hole, with its own hole to suit the new hob. Not as cheap as making the countertop hole bigger but not much more expensive at the end of the day. Done poorly that can look odd; done well it can be a focal point.

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A good point Snowey. If we were to install an induction cooktop to replace the existing gas unit, I would want a separate gas wok burner since I use a wok often. We use lpg (natural gas not available) so the cost of paying a monthly charge for the gas connection doesnā€™t arise. We also bought our own 400litre gas bottles some years ago.

Yeah I would love to switch my cooktop but for me it would require a new electric circuit and fusebox.

Welcome to the community @Brinkin

There are at least three options if one still wants the intensity of gas and domed base of the traditional wok.

  • Side burner on the outdoor gas BBQ. Every display home seems to come with an outdoor kitchen these days. :roll_eyes:
  • Hybrid induction cooktop with an integrated gas side gas wok burner.
  • Stand alone Asian cartridge gas Wok stove. Basically a camping stove with a trivet and burner design suited to the traditional Wok. Disposable butane or propane canister and some with two to power a larger burner ring.

Thereā€™s a more relevant discussion in,

Imagination suggests a perfectly crafted and stable shaped wok could be sold paired to a suitably shaped induction coil/ assembly for an all electric alternative. 35amp electrical supply possibly needed to achieve the 20+MJ

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Yes, they cost $3000-$8000 plus installation. There are portables that plug into a 15 amp socket that give you 3-3.6 kW that are cheaper. The cheapest reasonable looking one I can source in Oz is about $700, although some run to thousands for no reason I can find. Then you can get one that is only $230 but it is unbranded and the manual is in Chinese. You would have to say this market is all over the place.

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How unlike many electrical (and other) products local prices as compared to their prices in the EU, etc. :wink:

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I am on bottled gas and have only a cook top. One 45kg gas bottle last us about 2 years.
The cost of a new cook top plus installation would be around $2600 or maybe more depending on your electrician and the cooktop you choose. A 45kg gas bottle is about $160. So divide 2600 by 160 and you get 16.25 which means you get 16 gas bottles for the price of the new stove. Multiply that by 2 and you get 32 years. Even if it went up to $200 a bottle I think you would still be in front.

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I have to agree and I am wondering why Choice is doing this work for the Climate Council. Choice needs to stick to providing information to subscribers that assist us when buying products.

Is the best opportunity to upgrade when the existing cooktop needs replacing or the kitchen is being updated with new? Such decisions are rarely made on lowest possible cost.

Not all consumers value outcomes in the same way or base decisions on a short term direct cost assessment. For those intending to act decisively to remove gas for cooking from the kitchen, any added costs may be seen as worth the end result.

The greater challenge will be for families wanting to move off NG who do not have the added financial capacity to change.

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Note posts have gone off topic and have been deleted by moderation.

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People talk of thousands of dollars to convert from gas to induction, but it cost me about $150 for 2 induction hobs that require no extra house wiring, and no cutting out of bench tops. They are just regular flat hobs, and as Iā€™ve posted previously, the regular curved steel wok works well on them, and I cook with it 4-5 times per week, and have done so for quite a few years.

I find 2, but usually 1 hob, meets my needs, but I realise some people may at times require 3 or 4 ā€˜hotplatesā€™ at once. Power circuits in most houses will have 2.5mm^2 copper cable on their power circuits, which is good for 26 amps, or over 5kW, enough to easily run 1, perhaps 2 hobs at once when protected with a 16 or preferably a 20A circuit breaker.

For the long fig jam making sessions I have ahead over the next few weeks, the kitchen will be vastly more comfortable (cooler and not stuffy) when using induction, rather than the gas burners I used to sweat over years ago!

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I thought the information about the way that stoves work differently and cook differently according to their mechanism, the health and safety effects, the costs of running and the cost of change over were all relevant.

In what way is this information not assisting us buying products?

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