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There's usually someone here who knows the answer to any question.
Our induction hob is a bit crap, well a lot crap actually. The only way I can describe it is it doesn't seem to have enough electricity, and I can usually only use two rings max. Even with just two, they don't seem to be working at full power, it's very noticeable when you switch one off, that the other then boils much faster. Surely this isn't how it should be?
It is of course out of warranty, and yes, it has more or less always been like this I think - I say I think, cos cooking is not a big thing in this household, so it does't get used very often with more than one ring on.
Sounds like you have a duff'en.
I would get a new one. Bite the bullet and all that...
I have one that was £200 and works brilliantly.
I'm so reluctant to get another and it be just as bad...
Is it wired in to a proper cooker circuit? Check what the rating is on the fuse / RCD.
Most decent induction hobs need a 30A supply to work properly. If it just connected to a 13A plug, it will be limited power.
Exactly what Craig said were my first thoughts.
Most hobs won’t give full power without a dedicated 16amp supply.
Missed your comment CraigW, we were told we needed 16a for the ovens and 16a for the hob.
I've seen some induction four rings that are intended to run on a 13a plug, so max out at a bit over 3kw. These simply don't have the grunt to work well as an induction hob.
I'd expect a decently powerful one to rate somewhere towards 7kw, or higher.
I don't think your wired connection would be a limiting factor as either you'd be dangerously heating the wiring or it would trip out at the fuse board. The hob won't know what ampage it's connection is, if it wants 16a, it'll try and drawn that.
Check what your hob's wattage rating is, that'll tell you if it's a fault or just not that powerful.
Post up details of the model / spec - then it should be clear if it isn't powerful, or is looking for more juice.
It's a Beko HQI64501 and I think it is s 7.something kw, and it's on its own circuit, can't remember what that is but a cooker circuit not your normal 13 amp.
Looks like each ring tops out at 3kw on boost. If the hob is unable or run two at this level (with the others off), could be a fault or could be how the hob cycles the zones on and off. I'd say at 7.2kw is should be pretty effective hob.
Simplistically, if you were looking to run three or four rings flat out, that'd need 9 or 12kw probably.
So, basically, it should work? But it doesn't so is it broken? Or just how they are? It also gets very hot underneath, so last night I even took the cutlery tray out of the drawer underneath and left the drawer open, but it made no difference.
Do I get a ceramic hob that will boil a few saucepans properly, even if it takes five minutes to get them up to heat, or risk another induction that may also be rubbish?
So, basically, it should work? But it doesn’t so is it broken?
It may be switchable or wire-able somewhere between higher / lower power feeds so that may have been something that should have been adjusted during installation
or risk another induction that may also be rubbish?
Induction cookers aren't fundamentally rubbish - mine works fine. If you've got a suitable power supply and the the hob is installd properly (and works) then they are as good as you'd hope an electric cooker could be (better than gas in my opinion but that'll start an argument)
They're dependent on suitable pans mind - they need to be the right material but they also need a very flat base - pans that have warped (or didn't sit flat to begin with) won't work well. Its not a bad idea to try different / new pans if theres not a more obvious electrical/mechanical issue.
They’re dependent on suitable pans mind – they need to be the right material but they also need a very flat base – pans that have warped (or didn’t sit flat to begin with) won’t work well. Its not a bad idea to try different / new pans if theres not a more obvious electrical/mechanical issue.
I'd agree only in part. Flat bases are essential with hobs that work on contact for heat transfer i.e. Ceramic (not sure about halogen). With induction the electromagnetic field will weaken across a larger air gap but I'd not expect a mm to two of warping to make a huge difference (n.b. not an electrical engineer). the pans also need to be ferrous but that's not an issue here.
LadyGresley - sounds like you do have a problem with not enough power - could be limited by the input/supply or by something going on at the hob. I would not expect it to be cooling related as these are designed to be installed over a drawer or in to a void.
I'd see if you can find the installation instructions in case there is a switch for 13A/plug feed vs wired in feed or chase the wiring and see where it goes.
Who installed it and when? Did they do much re-wiring back to the circuit breaker/RCD?
On the subject, does anyone else find that if you don't stir constantly that food burns and sticks to the bottom of the pan a lot more than with gas- porridge seems especially bad.
Lots of older induction hobs fail to run more than two zones at full whack at the same time… they are designed to cycle through the zones… and when cycling through 4 are rubbish… yours sounds like one of those, rather than having developed a fault.
This "feature" is by design to limit the total power consumed by the hob. It isn't powerful enough to send the full whack to all zones.
I'm guessing its a hob designed for a 13a plug. If thats all you have then you are stuck with it unless you add a new wire for a separate circuit.
If its on a separate circuit already then check the size of your cable and the MCB its on and go buy a higher rated hob if your wiring allows it. Look for one whose overall power rating is higher than a couple of zones on full whack.
Apply diversity, etc.
PS my induction hob is the best thing I've ever bought for the kitchen.
way way better than halogen, stays cool, wipre clean.
Just as controllable as the gas hob, much faster, and far far more energy efficient with a much smaller carbon footprint.
Mines a Hotpoint Newstyle CIA 640 C this has a 32a requirement.
Just as controllable as the gas hob, much faster, and far far more energy efficient with a much smaller carbon footprint.
It doesn't have a much smaller carbon footprint. Cooking on gas is certainly less efficient, but you have to set that against the fact that it's a primary energy source, whereas the electricity for your induction hob has already suffered significant generation losses by the time it gets to your house.
It doesn’t have a much smaller carbon footprint. Cooking on gas is certainly less efficient, but you have to set that against the fact that it’s a primary energy source, whereas the electricity for your induction hob has already suffered significant generation losses by the time it gets to your house.
You also need to set efficiency against funding the henchmen, hangman and head-choppers that sell us gas.
My induction hob's power doesn't pay for Putin to destabilize countries. Or at least it can be powered by windmills and nuclear.
It's not a plug in hob, it's a 7.2kw wired into a 32A circuit, so can't be a power issue.
I'm now looking at pans, although ours are induction, they are only cheap, and having spent half the morning boiling pans of water, I've found the Tefal wok is much faster, and has a different base to the Salter saucepans, which are not all magnetic, having a non-magnetic ring round the outside and a non-magnetic circle in the centre. The Tefal is entirely magnetic.
I'm starting with ordering a Procook Gourmet non-stick...
I bought an induction hob a few months ago. In the end I got a 13A one. There's only two of us. I had to get rid of a lot of pans. I bought a Bosch one and if it doesn't recognise a pan on the hob (magnetic I guess) it refuses to turn on the 'ring'.
My reasoning was that with careful minor planning I'd get something hot then turn down the power and that seems to work. I did a meal for five last night no issue. It is fast. Faster to boil water on the hob than in the kettle.
If your pans aren't magnetic that would most probaby be the issue.
It doesn’t have a much smaller carbon footprint. Cooking on gas is certainly less efficient, but you have to set that against the fact that it’s a primary energy source, whereas the electricity for your induction hob has already suffered significant generation losses by the time it gets to your house.
Um no this is a BIG misconception.
The induction hob is very efficient. All the heat is in the pan, not around the pan heating the room up. In 2013 the U.S. Department of Energy rated induction as 84% efficient (74% for other smooth top electric hobs).
Look at the UK electricity grid energy mix:
Of electricity generated in 2018, gas accounted for 39.4 per cent whilst coal accounted for
only 5.0 per cent. Renewables share of electricity generation increased to 33.3 per cent in
2018 - a record high - with 111 TWh electricity generated from renewable sources, as a
result of increased capacity. Nuclear generation’s share declined slightly on 2017, due to
reactor outages and required maintenance.
Electricity transmission loss amounts to about 2%
https://www.elexon.co.uk/documents/training-guidance/bsc-guidance-notes/transmission-losses-2/
Generation loss? I dunno.
Gas on the Hob is about the dirtiest and most inefficient heating appliance out there by quite a long way.
Try sticking a magnet to the bottom of your pans, if it doesn't stick really well chuck it out, well, go weigh it in or recycle if stainless.
We have two induction hobs and the new (Neff) one has a function that checks pans and rates them with a score of 1-10 - so it's Def not a case of they either work 100% or not at all.....there's different levels of efficiency.
Gas on the Hob is about the dirtiest and most inefficient heating appliance out there by quite a long way.
Utter nonsense, as your own post makes clear. You have to make the electricity to power an induction hob, which ironically, involves burning gas at 39.4% of total supply (thanks for the stat). It doesn't matter how efficient the induction hob itself is unless you believe the electricity is produced from angel farts and pixie dust.
Even with increasing penetration of renewables into the UK mix, electricity has a carbon intensity factor around one third higher than gas.
So 60.6% of the electricity is from renewable or nuclear sources?
Sounds massively better than 0% renewable!
A flame is a comparatively rubbish way to heat pan.
[SIGNIFICANTLY MORE] controllable as the gas hob, much faster
I've never found gas that controllable at low levels - minor fluctuations in supply pressure (say, boiler switching on) would be enough that it might go out or what had been a gentle simmer would suddenly be enough to burn. On our induction I know the power needed for certain pans for to simmer and maintain that consistently while I'm doing other stuff.
Def not a case of they either work 100% or not at all…..there’s different levels of efficiency.
That's interesting - I was convinced our old good quality pre-induction pans didn't seem to work quite as well as the cheap set that came free with our hob and that would explain it.
So 60.6% of the electricity is from renewable or nuclear sources?
Sounds massively better than 0% renewable!
It's certainly improving. I'll leave you to look up the efficiency of gas power stations that make up the rest of it.
So 60.6% of the electricity is from renewable or nuclear sources?
Sounds massively better than 0% renewable!
A flame is a comparatively rubbish way to heat pan.
Yes, a flame is a comparatively rubbish way to heat a pan but it's not that clear cut on efficiency terms.
However, I seem to remember that, when I was looking at heat pump heating vs gas boiler that there are significant losses in the electricity system. IIRC (someone here can probably correct me) a heat pump needed to be getting a coefficient of production of 3 (ie 3 units of heat for each unit of electricity) before it matched gas heating. A modern gas boiler is well over 90% efficient. So I think that was suggesting about 2/3 of the energy at source was lost by the time the electricity got to your home.
The electrical generation system isn't 100% efficient in turning gas or coal into electricity, then loses a fair bit more ramping up to high voltage for long distance transmission and back down to 240v locally. Increasing renewables complicate it more.
That might all be very poorly remembered.
If you buy pro cook none stick don't put them on the hob full wack empty to heat up you will burn the none stick coating as the pan will over heat in seconds.
I reccon the issue is partly the hob in how it cycles the power to the rings and your pans.
Induction hobs need good pans to work at their best, with a heathly content of ferrous or other magnetic material in the base - this is the only way the hob can transfer energy to the pan. To little of it and there's only so much energy that can be inducted across.
If I put a cast iron pot on 3kw hob (all ferrous) it'll get ferociously hot in seconds.
See if you can borrow some other pans like Meyer, stellar, circulon, JL etc and run a comparison.