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The problem with the competent persons schemes like Napit and niceic is you only need to do one job a year that tests out ok and give them £600 and you’re good to go for another year. They aren’t keen on throwing people out the schemes for dodgy work as you are their income stream. See also the likes of check-a-trade.
As for this thread I’d pay attention to what alanl has to say on the electrical points and disregard most of the rest as it sits somewhere between comical and downright dangerous
Not joining in the electric chat, ) other to say that or old 10.8kw shower had a 50a breaker) but I've been a lifelong gas advocate. I'd tried multiple electric/induction hobs in holiday homes and they were all a bit crap, up until a posh Neff one we tried a few years ago. Totally changed my mind.
So when we had our kitchen redone last year we ditched the gas one and splashed out on a nice 5 ring induction with a flexible zone that can combine 2 for big pans. It's bloody brilliant! I'm a very average cook but it makes almost everything so much easier. Cleaning, boiling stuff, fine control over pans etc. I love it
The only downsides we've found are as above - it's crap with a wok, and t can't do the only vaguely chef-y thing I do of charring peppers. Other than that, would say they're brilliant, but in my limited experience you really do get what you pay for. Also read the specs and chat to your sparky - ours can be 'throttled' for use with lower spec supplies, so make sure you have the right stuff to allow it to work unhindered.
well, as I half expected given the comments above, I got this back from the assessors at Electricity North West who are supposed to okay the installation of the heat pump
Following a review and assessment of the notification, I can confirm that we will need to come to the property to check the existing electric supply before we can provide full approval for the installation. These checks are required to make sure there will be no impact on the household supply or the wider distribution network.
So we might have to have a new setup done anyway. Will push for Octopus to cover that
Swapped to induction several years ago.
first got a Whirlpool one. if I remember correctly it had 6 zones that could be mixed up together in various ways for big pans. ~700mm wide. It was OK. But I managed to kill it with steam from a combi oven underneath, overheating it, and cracking it by catching its edge with a bag of frozen marinara sauce.
I replaced it with a Miele of similar size. MUCH better. More power, better heat management, WAY better control sensitivity and consistency.
both were connected in turn to a dedicated isolator with a ~40A breaker.
charring and searing? Easy with a cast iron pan. Better with a Searzall™
You’re making things up now. You said earlier that a local isolator is a requirement of the wiring regs. Local isolation is not a requirement of the wiring regs, it is beneficial, but isolation can be achieved by turning off the circuit breaker or main switch at the consumer unit.
A "local" isolator used to specified for cookers, max. 2m. from the appliance, but that hasn't been the case for many years (and many editions). The main thing is that any isolators can be reached without sticking your arm into a wall of flame
Beneficial? Yes, absolutely
I love using our induction hob. We went from gas to ceremic electric temporarily while having an extension done. That was awful. No heat control, burns anything to the pan instantly that boils over. And most importantly a massive burn risk when off because it's still boiling hot even though it's gone back to black visually.
Induction on the other hand is some form of magic. Instant heat, doesn't burn stuff to the hob or outside of the pan, cools down very quickly and even straight after use isn't really hot enough to do lasting damage. When something starts to boil over just turn the power down and the reaction is instant.
I do need to invest in some better pans. Current saute and frying pans are alu with the steel disc in the bottom but it's not the full base of the pan so doesn't get hot enough at the edges. I'm wanting to go full stainless steel but worried I'll be constantly trying to scour off whatever the teenagers have burnt on to the bottom by not heating them up properly first.
Another vote for induction.
Our house had a ceramic hob when we moved in which was crap.
I put a Neff one in myself. The old hob was on its own existing circuit/switch/breaker. However weirdly the hob didnt come setup to be used properly in the UK and I had to move some metal plates inside the back of the hob to get it to work properly.
Dont scrimp on a plug in one. Get an electrician to wire in a proper full power job. You will get much more control and can actually cook things properly. I know when I have used plug in ones they always appear to be a bit underpowered.
We got an induction hob a couple of years ago, NEVER going back to gas just for the cleaning alone.
OP - Get the gas capped off and change the hob to Induction when you can get a sprak in. Use a camping stove in the meantime if you have to, but I higly recommend changing to induction.
Hi Jules 🙂 I only came in to say we have the same tiles and toaster. Top quality choices there 🙂
Oh and we have no gas supply here. We had to put a new cooker in and I remember a whole lot of head scratching and large numbers being quoted if we wanted electric oven and induction hob. We ended up just using gas bottles instead. Then we bought a big Sage air fryer thing and now kids have moved out, barely use the massive range thing.
Well, in a turn up for the book ENWL have decided they don't need to come out and inspect the distribution board, they're happy for Octopus to fit the ASHP to what's there now. So, we now neeed to have a think about whether to get a spark in to do a proper job and if so, do we do it before or after the ASHP? Before would seem to be the logical choice...
Anyone know if it will ever be safe to have an insulin pump and use an induction hob?
“Anyone know if it will ever be safe to have an insulin pump and use an induction hob? “
Manufacturers will recommend against it, they say a definite no for heart pacemakers, Insulin pumps are less essential, but always be aware what the effects of a big magnet can do to them. Its a case of reading the data from the pump and the hob to decide. In the real world, I’d say there is little to no effect on them, but no one is going to say that , as there will be 1 in 1000 that will fail due to the magnetic interference.