Induction hob

[Mr Gus]

Have a good month in Turkey, it's not likely you will "go dark" from here.

However, I will leave you with this one little musing of mine.

I was wondering, If you jacked the summer house up on a couple of jungheinrich pallet trucks, & moved it for a bit of home-brew solar battery optimisation, how many panels could you have got on it !?

[Mr Gus]

He must cook a really lousy baked potato.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63317138

The other thing that skews this Greg foots figures, is his use of just the homes smart meter readings, having switched a few big appliances off not a dedicated energy plug monitor, so the load on the house elsewhere... more fag packet & less fact.

& jesus, if the fella cannot swirl a spud in a bowl of olive oil & a bit of garlic n salt from a shop bought tub of the pre-mixed stuff then he's never learnt to cook at a basic level, achieving crispy skin states in an air fryer is not science.

[Oldgreybeard]

He must cook a really lousy baked potato.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63317138

The other thing that skews this Greg foots figures, is his use of just the homes smart meter readings, having switched a few big appliances off not a dedicated energy plug monitor, so the load on the house elsewhere... more fag packet & less fact.

& jesus, if the fella cannot swirl a spud in a bowl of olive oil & a bit of garlic n salt from a shop bought tub of the pre-mixed stuff then he's never learnt to cook at a basic level, achieving crispy skin states in an air fryer is not science.

I did monitor the change in energy use when we bought one of these things a few weeks ago. I didn't get as big an energy saving as reported in that article, but it was a worthwhile reduction, all the same. My best guess from the measurements is that the air fryer (what we have is really a combination mini-oven) uses around 60% or so of the energy of our built in fan oven.

The baked potato observation was interesting, as we haven't found any difference at all. The technique we use for baked potatoes is to first partially cook them in the microwave (this heats down to the centre of them well) and then finish them off in the oven, rubbing the skin with butter to help them crisp up. The mini-oven does a better job of finishing baked potatoes off in air fryer mode, and is a lot quicker. I need to try an energy use comparison between this hybrid cooking method and just using the fan oven or air fryer alone.

Overall I think we're using maybe 500Wh to 1kWh per day less since we got the mini-oven. Hard to be sure, given the degree of variability from day to day, but that seems to be in the right ball park. There are just two of us, though, so we don't often cook large meals. For us the saving in cost is modest, maybe ten to twenty pence a day, as we're only saving off-peak electricity, but for those without battery systems the saving could be around double that, so more worthwhile.

[Mr Gus]

Microwave start on Baked Spud setting is good on a Panasonic dimension 4 (what we use) ..to soften the insides as you say.

Olive oiling the skin in a bowl, throwing it in the air fryer then finishing off with decent salt & garlic imparts a lot of flavour & crispiness in degrees, halfway turn, pour on the tossing bowl oil & a bit more salt & garlic mix (cornish sea salt, soft crystals, good flavour) & finish.

Different people want different crispness attained, im happy to wait a few mins longer, .we still argue as to skin on / off for mash, .. "pretty presentation does not equal nutrients". *cough*

Your sage though is as large as our Panasonic dimension 4, so it is still a heavy consumer in most air fryer comparisons (the volume / food capacity was never stated in the programme either) ..so our instantpot with its big old metal heatsink & air volume space of 7.8 litres (8 litre officially) is nigh on 2/3 smaller than the sage I think!? ..& 8 litres is deemed a large capacity with many sizes inbetween, thus the likely energy differential straight off the bat.I

Around 90 seconds to achieve 204c we estimate, "if radio bloke" included that sort of info we'd have a speculative idea of fryer size & energy use differences all the way down the line.I

Having always hated non insulated "sh1t-show" oven designs i'm very comfy seeing them take a long overdue drubbing.
Waiting to see the grocer magazines pizza fresh & frozen market sales figures decline for the autumn & winter quarters, they will be getting hammered as regular ovens are used less.

[Joeboy]

The big electrical shops here are stowed out with air fryers both basket and mini oven type. All the expats over here are loving them. It's a nice wee groundswell in a good way.

[Mr Gus]

Nice to see you "Turkish Joe" ...hows the recovery going, fit to drive yet?

Q. To the populce: with energy concerns so rampant, will regular white goods type ovens get an energy design make over now? (off the back of air fryers)

[Joeboy]

Nice to see you "Turkish Joe" ...hows the recovery going, fit to drive yet?

Q. To the populce: with energy concerns so rampant, will regular white goods type ovens get an energy design make over now? (off the back of air fryers)

Cheers Mr Gus, had an overnight stay at the clinic after the op and drove home the next day. The second eye kicked in at such a speed. Full HD now!
Back there yesterday for a check, all good. Bringing No1 son over,with SWMBO on Xmas eve for a check on Boxing day, hope he can be done too, has so much life in front of him.

[MrPablo]

I currently use one, sometimes two of the portable IKEA induction hobs when needed, but the modulation at lower power is very basic, simply timed on / off at full power.

Unfortunately the hybrid inverter doesn't tend to respond quick enough, so I can end up with grid import.

Does anyone happen to know if induction hobs are available that modulate more effectively, basically running at half power continuously, etc?
In an ideal world, I'd be able to keep the setup portable to allow more more counter space when not needed.

[Joeboy]

I currently use one, sometimes two of the portable IKEA induction hobs when needed, but the modulation at lower power is very basic, simply timed on / off at full power.

Unfortunately the hybrid inverter doesn't tend to respond quick enough, so I can end up with grid import.

Does anyone happen to know if induction hobs are available that modulate more effectively, basically running at half power continuously, etc?
In an ideal world, I'd be able to keep the setup portable to allow more more counter space when not needed.

I used Neff portable 2 plate induction hob and it modulated the power down to 150W to 250W at the lower settings. I have about a 5 second response time from demand to hybrid providing flow from batteries. What sort of times are you seeing?

[MrPablo]

That seems quite different from the IKEA portable, no doubt the electrics are a bit more basic in this unit.

Running at power level 1 of 9, I see a 5 second pulse at full power roughly every 90 seconds.



Nothing horrendous, but it takes about 3 seconds for the inverter to supply that spike.
I might have a look at the Neff portable.