Gas stoves fill the air in your home with particulate matter (pm), which has been found to increase cancer risk in the long term.
So next time you buy a stove, consider choosing an induction stove.
Btw, gas stoves being better or faster than induction is a myth. They have certain specific advantages, but they are actually slower.
Obligatory Technology Connections video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUywI8YGy0Y
If you have 380/400V 16A induction, it’s not even close.
But be careful, if you have ceramic coated pans for instance, and you use the high power settings to heat it up, your pans won’t last long, as the ceramic may crack because of the fast heat up. We lost 2 pans that way. 😋
We also had a cheap cooking pot, where it developed a crack between the main pot and the apparently cheaply attached heat spreading bottom.
This made the pot sputter because water was collected in the crack when washed.
When I boil eggs, i time it from the moment the water is boiling. But with out new stove, the water boils so fast, I’ve had to add 2 minutes to the time they boil!!
Our electric kettle is 2.2 kW. But boiling a liter of water on the stove is still more than twice as fast!! Meaning the stove must be putting more than 4.4 kW to the pot, on the smallest cooking spot!!
Obviously that is only possible for 1 spot at a time, I figure the max must be around 6kW combined.
I can’t think of any advantages, gas stoves are slower, they are harder to clean, they give off an insane amount of wasted heat, which is uncomfortable in hot weather, and they noticeably degrade air quality unless you have very good ventilation.
The only possible advantage I can think of, is that you can use cheaper equipment on gas. but not always, because non metal handles tend to get ruined on gas stoves.
All in all induction is superior. 😎
Just FYI, I have gas heated water, and a gas stovetop. So I get around 55°C water to start, and the big burner is 5.5kW.
Still use lukewarm water in my kettle for tea. I mean what’s the hurry?
Cooking isn’t just heating stuff as fast as you can, what a curious thing to consider.
Yes, but there is enormous waste of heat with a gas stove, so your 5.5 kW big burner, is only equivalent to half of that compared to induction. Our smallest plate at 4.4+ kW is more powerful.
That’s a straw man argument, I never claimed any such thing.
But the fast response time makes it easier to adjust correct temperature/levels, and this was for many years a major argument from users of gas, but this argument is completely irrelevant now.
I also mentioned other drawbacks of gas.
PS: I NEVER use preheated water for cooking anything, preheated water is generally not meant for consumption. It needs to be designed for that specifically, so unless your preheated water is guaranteed food grade, you shouldn’t use it.
About the strawnan, the discussion was about heating twice as fast with induction, sorry you got caught in the crossfire.
Also, I’m not talking about pre-heated water (bleurk!), I have gas heated water, it heats on demand, so my thé is ready 20 seconds faster than yours! /Jesting
I’m just curious about almost a cult following about induction heating, yes it’s better than almost anything else, but like only my Scandinavia friends has it or talks about it, my French and Italian friends usually don’t or when they do I know because I see it in their kitchen, and with them I talk food, what I’m cooking, what they’re cooking, how to cook this or that, not how fast I can warm water.
No ill intent meant, it’s just so strange for me :-)
In the 60’s and 70’s we also had a gas heater for hot water, and that heater was definitely NOT suited for drinking water, as the pipes the water was heated in were copper.
The heat source is not the important thing, it’s how it’s designed and the materials used. It needs to be positively approved as food grade. By preheated I mean heated before it comes out of the tap.
IDK why that is? But I’m Scandinavian too from Denmark, so there you go. 😋
AFAIK induction was under patent protection for a long time, and that patent was held by a French company. French stoves are nearly non existent here, it’s all local, German, Swedish, Italian, British or Spanish.
Maybe Induction was cheaper in the past in France and Italy? It only recently (about 10 years ago) became dirt cheap here, as in costing basically the same as the alternatives.
I remember back in the 80’s inductions was about 2-3 times as expensive as a quality stove that was not induction. So Halogen (the ones with red light) were dominant for many years. And also pretty good, but not quite as good as gas for cooking. But convenient in other ways.
It’s not a big issue, but coming from Halogen it clearly changes the way you use your stove, because it’s so much more powerful and responsive.
About how much faster it is, I had a debate with my brother in law who didn’t believe it could be that much faster than an electric kettle. I don’t remember the exact times it took, but the induction was as I mentioned more than twice as fast! That was a nerd thing because we are both a bit nerdy. 😋
I’m fine cooking on Gas, that’s what we used when I grew up, and when i moved to my own apartment, then for many years I used halogen, and now we have induction. IMO induction is superior, AND it’s also the most energy efficient.
So IMO the best reason to NOT switch to induction is if you have something else you are happy with, then the “if it works don’t fix it” may be the way to go for you.
One thing about gas that annoyed me though, was if you wanted to do something fast, and you turn it up, the flames spread wider, so if you wanted to boil a liter of water fast, or heat a stored meal, it was not very efficient at that. Because the flames had a wider spread than the size of the pot.
Interesting, I have rarely seen induction in France up to just a couple of years ago.
I did rent a lot though, so maybe the landlords are cheaping out :-). Every time I rented an AirBnB in Sweden they had induction (at least 10 times, all in the “big” cities), maybe 1 in 3 in Denmark. It sure feels like a cultural thing at the moment, I guess gas will eventuay be phased out, except for barbecues & holiday mobile homes and so on.
I’ll definitely weight the pros and cons the day I need to change, but I will defend my setup till I die (of cancer, explosions or whatnot it seems ^^) if I can’t get one with basic knobs!
Gas is not perfect, but I do like it, it’s largely enough for my cooking needs too.
Cheers!
Is that a common setup? That sounds very high-powered
This is very common in Denmark, and I suspect in much of Europe.
This is commonly used for stoves, ovens, dishwashers, dryers and washing machines. 30 years ago it was vastly dominant.
But today most 380/400v equipment can also run on 230/240v (2 phases instead of 3). Many now use standard 230/240v because most equipment has become more power efficient.
PS: Apparently we actually have 400v for 3 phases. So our stove is 400v. I just chose the lower number to not exaggerate.
I’ve tried to find out why both numbers are used, and all I can find is that it’s due to regional differences?
I checked mine, which is a fairly basic model, and it’s actually 400V.
Depends where you live, 240v/30 or 50 amps is the standard in North America
Guess that’s what threw me off. 240v is what our electric (non-gas) appliances use in the States, 380v sounded like it could be commercial-style equipment or something
Correct, it exists for commercial applications but sometimes even the grid where you’re at might not support it (if you’re in a more remote location).