6 ms·

Almost every day, I use three different types of range: gas, induction, and radiant electric. Of the three, gas would be the hardest to give up. My most-used

Almost every day, I use three different types of range: gas, induction, and radiant electric. Of the three, gas would be the hardest to give up. My most-used pieces of cookware are small aluminum pots that are not magnetic (and thus not induction capable), and even if they were, too small to work on my induction cooktop, which doesn't recognize any magnetic base of less than about six inches in diameter. I use the induction cooktop for slow cooking, boiling, and pressure cooking. Everything else gets put on gas if I have room. Nothing beats gas for output and control. I could certainly do just fine on radiant or, god forbid, coils. But the gas and induction together are a huge luxury that I feel grateful for every time I use them. One under-appreciated advantage of a gas range is how evenly it heats pans of lesser quality. Because so much of the heating on gas is accomplished by the flow of hot "exhaust" gas across the entire bottom of the pan, a thinner and less thermally conductive pan will still heat much more evenly than it would on an electric coil or induction hob. EDIT: I'm definitely on board the energy efficiency bandwagon. I have a four kilowatt solar array on my house, and I drive a twenty five year old Honda minivan because of the mileage and low upkeep. If I thought gas cooking was a low hanging fruit on the efficiency tree, I might be more willing to give up the luxury of it. But from what I've seen it's not. It's rather like the highest gas-powered fruit on the tree.

D13Fd 5y ago
Oh yeah, screw the environment and keeping us at 2C, I need those exhaust gases to heat my beans evenly in my aluminum cookware.
- raspyberr 5y ago
  Oh yeah, screw the environment and keeping us at 2C, I need those cheap Chinese trinkets delivered to me on the same day.
- nate_meurer 5y ago
  LOL, I wouldn't say I need anything. I can make hollandaise in a tin can. I'm just giving my perspective as a long-time user of these very different tools.
- tylermenezes 5y ago
  We're talking about something that accounts for less than half a percent of total natural gas use right now. This will have no measurable effect on CO2 emissions.
  - D13Fd 5y ago
    Sure we're about to go bankrupt, but it would really be inconvenient to give up my Starbuck's latte every morning. Don't you know how bland regular coffee is? And my Starbuck's only accounts for less than half a percent of my wasteful spending.
    - nate_meurer 5y ago
      I don't think that's a very good analogy. A consistent latte habit can easily cost a few thousand dollars per year, which is likely to be a significant portion of discretionary spending for anyone under threat of personal bankruptcy. In contrast, less than 3% of residential gas usage goes to cooking, according to TFA. Now, if you were to assert that poor people shouldn't even buy Starbucks once a week, that might be a more apt analogy, although I would question the effectiveness of that advice. Like I said earlier, I drive a 1995 Honda minivan, because the mileage and low upkeep probably constitute the greatest environmental impact I can make at my income level. What, if I may ask, are you do doing to minimize your impact?
      - D13Fd 5y ago
        It's not just cooking, it's residential and business natural gas use period, as stated in TFA ("phasing out natural-gas hookups to homes and businesses to reduce carbon emissions.") It sucks, but it is something that has to be done if we are going to avoid catastrophe, unless someone invents really effective carbon capture. My personal habits are irrelevant, but I'm in a deregulated energy state and pay extra for 100% renewable/carbon-offset power, and I don't have a natural gas hookup.
        nate_meurer 5y ago
- dang 5y ago
  "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
loonster 5y ago
The efficiency of gas is more than the btu of gas to equivalent electric. Gas produces pollutants that must be removed from the house. The higher exhaust rate will remove more conditioned air than an equivalent electric would.
mindslight 5y ago
> radiant or, god forbid, coils Do you really like radiant better than electric coils? To me it takes too long to heat up, has poor temperature control, and hurts you if a pan isn't fully covering the burner. It seems like it's made for people optimizing for their stove to be "easy to clean". What am I missing?
- anonytrary 5y ago
  Coils have poor heat distribution and make it extremely hard to control the temperature at any given time.
  - cartoonworld 5y ago
    Adding to this, just imagine for a sec what temperature your GPU or processor's heat sink would reach without its fan on. Now, what happens if you took it out, cleaned off the thermal paste and did the same experiment? :)
- nate_meurer 5y ago
  By coils, I mean the old-fashioned flat spiral-shaped resistance heating elements. My aspersion is mostly tongue-in cheek. They're perfectly fine. I do prefer halogen/radiant for the ease of cleaning, but you're right that the temperature control usually sucks.
  - mindslight 5y ago
    I agree they're both subpar. But having gone from open coils to radiant, I'd rather go back. That's why I was surprised. Gas is of course great, and I haven't really tried induction yet although doing so is on my todo list to get away from radiant.
fy20 5y ago
Have you tried using steel adapter plates to use the aluminium cookware on induction? The only thing I miss is not being able to use a Moka pot (there are induction versions, but they are usually 4+ servings - I find the single serving versions produce better coffee). Here in Europe induction is everywhere, so maybe finding good cookware is easier than the US. Last year I got a 8cm (3") pot for boiling milk and beans from the supermarket for €15 that works perfectly on induction.
- nate_meurer 5y ago
  I haven't, just because I have the gas. If I had to cook entirely on induction, I'd have to get comfortable with them.
- biztos 5y ago
  I use a plate adapter from Bialetti to do Moka pot on my induction range, it was a bit pricey at 20€ but it looks good and does the job. I also ended up buying the Bialetti induction Moka but for a place that turned out to actually have the evil Ceran electric top… still worked obviously. It’s expensive but AFAICT the only one that’s induction friendly and also has the standard Bialetti interior shape, which I find much easier to clean. Also it’s gorgeous. However, I do get a pretty serious caffeine high off the larger dose.
nmcveity 5y ago
I couldn't give up induction now and I have used gas plenty. FWIW, my induction handles 4-11" and I had no pans that were not induction-compatible, but that might depend on where you live I guess. > Nothing beats gas for output Yeah, maybe if you have a huge wok burner? my induction boils water substantially quicker than any gas stove I have used.
- nate_meurer 5y ago
  Yeah, that statement was confusing I guess. Same as you, my induction hob boils water in a suitable pot faster than my largest gas hob. The largest gas hob I've ever used is 20,000 BTU/hr. It will heat up a saucier faster and more evenly than any electric or induction hob could hope to, but that's partly due to the pan's narrow base, and to the way I use it. It doesn't often sit on a hob for very long.
himinlomax 5y ago
> small aluminum pots that are not magnetic (and thus not induction capable) That's not the reason why, here see a magnet being inductively slowed in a copper tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BeFoz3Ypo4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BeFoz3Ypo4
- nate_meurer 5y ago
  And yet, a copper pan will not heat on an induction cooktop. For almost all induction cooktops, cookware must be made of a magnetic ferrous material in order to be compatible. This is why induction-compatible aluminum pans have a disc of magnetic steel impact-bonded to the base.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
mint2 5y ago
But for new houses it doesn’t make sense to spend thousands to install something that will needs to start being phased out. A heat pump water heater and home heating but still installing gas lines for cooking is probably not super economic.
- nate_meurer 5y ago
  I think you're right.
terrycody 5y ago
Well, its seems unexplainable, but did you found the gas food tastes much better than other medium? In china and many asian countries, they do believe this thing.

D13Fd 5y ago

Oh yeah, screw the environment and keeping us at 2C, I need those exhaust gases to heat my beans evenly in my aluminum cookware.

raspyberr 5y ago
Oh yeah, screw the environment and keeping us at 2C, I need those cheap Chinese trinkets delivered to me on the same day.
nate_meurer 5y ago
LOL, I wouldn't say I need anything. I can make hollandaise in a tin can. I'm just giving my perspective as a long-time user of these very different tools.
tylermenezes 5y ago
We're talking about something that accounts for less than half a percent of total natural gas use right now. This will have no measurable effect on CO2 emissions.
- D13Fd 5y ago
  Sure we're about to go bankrupt, but it would really be inconvenient to give up my Starbuck's latte every morning. Don't you know how bland regular coffee is? And my Starbuck's only accounts for less than half a percent of my wasteful spending.
  - nate_meurer 5y ago
    I don't think that's a very good analogy. A consistent latte habit can easily cost a few thousand dollars per year, which is likely to be a significant portion of discretionary spending for anyone under threat of personal bankruptcy. In contrast, less than 3% of residential gas usage goes to cooking, according to TFA. Now, if you were to assert that poor people shouldn't even buy Starbucks once a week, that might be a more apt analogy, although I would question the effectiveness of that advice. Like I said earlier, I drive a 1995 Honda minivan, because the mileage and low upkeep probably constitute the greatest environmental impact I can make at my income level. What, if I may ask, are you do doing to minimize your impact?
    - D13Fd 5y ago
      It's not just cooking, it's residential and business natural gas use period, as stated in TFA ("phasing out natural-gas hookups to homes and businesses to reduce carbon emissions.") It sucks, but it is something that has to be done if we are going to avoid catastrophe, unless someone invents really effective carbon capture. My personal habits are irrelevant, but I'm in a deregulated energy state and pay extra for 100% renewable/carbon-offset power, and I don't have a natural gas hookup.
      - nate_meurer 5y ago
dang 5y ago
"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

loonster 5y ago

The efficiency of gas is more than the btu of gas to equivalent electric. Gas produces pollutants that must be removed from the house. The higher exhaust rate will remove more conditioned air than an equivalent electric would.

mindslight 5y ago

> radiant or, god forbid, coils Do you really like radiant better than electric coils? To me it takes too long to heat up, has poor temperature control, and hurts you if a pan isn't fully covering the burner. It seems like it's made for people optimizing for their stove to be "easy to clean". What am I missing?

anonytrary 5y ago
Coils have poor heat distribution and make it extremely hard to control the temperature at any given time.
- cartoonworld 5y ago
  Adding to this, just imagine for a sec what temperature your GPU or processor's heat sink would reach without its fan on. Now, what happens if you took it out, cleaned off the thermal paste and did the same experiment? :)
nate_meurer 5y ago
By coils, I mean the old-fashioned flat spiral-shaped resistance heating elements. My aspersion is mostly tongue-in cheek. They're perfectly fine. I do prefer halogen/radiant for the ease of cleaning, but you're right that the temperature control usually sucks.
- mindslight 5y ago
  I agree they're both subpar. But having gone from open coils to radiant, I'd rather go back. That's why I was surprised. Gas is of course great, and I haven't really tried induction yet although doing so is on my todo list to get away from radiant.

fy20 5y ago

Have you tried using steel adapter plates to use the aluminium cookware on induction? The only thing I miss is not being able to use a Moka pot (there are induction versions, but they are usually 4+ servings - I find the single serving versions produce better coffee). Here in Europe induction is everywhere, so maybe finding good cookware is easier than the US. Last year I got a 8cm (3") pot for boiling milk and beans from the supermarket for €15 that works perfectly on induction.

nate_meurer 5y ago
I haven't, just because I have the gas. If I had to cook entirely on induction, I'd have to get comfortable with them.
biztos 5y ago
I use a plate adapter from Bialetti to do Moka pot on my induction range, it was a bit pricey at 20€ but it looks good and does the job. I also ended up buying the Bialetti induction Moka but for a place that turned out to actually have the evil Ceran electric top… still worked obviously. It’s expensive but AFAICT the only one that’s induction friendly and also has the standard Bialetti interior shape, which I find much easier to clean. Also it’s gorgeous. However, I do get a pretty serious caffeine high off the larger dose.

nmcveity 5y ago

I couldn't give up induction now and I have used gas plenty. FWIW, my induction handles 4-11" and I had no pans that were not induction-compatible, but that might depend on where you live I guess. > Nothing beats gas for output Yeah, maybe if you have a huge wok burner? my induction boils water substantially quicker than any gas stove I have used.

nate_meurer 5y ago
Yeah, that statement was confusing I guess. Same as you, my induction hob boils water in a suitable pot faster than my largest gas hob. The largest gas hob I've ever used is 20,000 BTU/hr. It will heat up a saucier faster and more evenly than any electric or induction hob could hope to, but that's partly due to the pan's narrow base, and to the way I use it. It doesn't often sit on a hob for very long.

himinlomax 5y ago

> small aluminum pots that are not magnetic (and thus not induction capable) That's not the reason why, here see a magnet being inductively slowed in a copper tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BeFoz3Ypo4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BeFoz3Ypo4

nate_meurer 5y ago
And yet, a copper pan will not heat on an induction cooktop. For almost all induction cooktops, cookware must be made of a magnetic ferrous material in order to be compatible. This is why induction-compatible aluminum pans have a disc of magnetic steel impact-bonded to the base.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

mint2 5y ago

But for new houses it doesn’t make sense to spend thousands to install something that will needs to start being phased out. A heat pump water heater and home heating but still installing gas lines for cooking is probably not super economic.

nate_meurer 5y ago
I think you're right.

terrycody 5y ago

Well, its seems unexplainable, but did you found the gas food tastes much better than other medium? In china and many asian countries, they do believe this thing.