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Typical American wall sockets rarely deliver more than 120V * 15A. Plug in induction hobs targeting the American market clock in at 1800 W spread across all bur

Typical American wall sockets rarely deliver more than 120V * 15A. Plug in induction hobs targeting the American market clock in at 1800 W spread across all burners, at most. There are no four burner solutions for which this power is sufficient.

smileysteve 5y ago
If wired for an electric resistance range and oven, the typical American home has 240x30+
- asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
  Right, but we are talking about an upgrade to a house that was wired for a gas range. The person I was responding to suggested using a countertop hob plugged into a standard wall socket. That's not going to work in the states. At least, I assume that is what they were talking about because there are no full scale induction ranges available for 300 pounds = $400. They start around $900.
  - TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
    > countertop hob plugged into a standard wall socket. There are two-burner countertop units on Amazon that use 120 volt/15 amp and are inexpensive. I have not tried them.
    - asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
      Yes, that's what we've been talking about. 120V 15A is not enough to run two burners at any kind of reasonable heat output, much less four. That's 900W->3000BTU/h per burner, assuming the electronics work optimally. Even accounting for the fact that induction is 100% more efficient than gas, you're talking about the equivalent of two 6000BTU/h gas burners, effectively. For reference, that's less power than the simmer burner on my gas range. The main burners of a cheap gas range are 15000BTU/h, and more expensive ranges go up to 25000BTU/h. All this is of course fixed by installing a dedicated circuit for a real induction range. 220V * 40A increases the potential output six-fold, which is enough for any reasonable use case. But doing that is much more expensive, which is the whole of what I was trying to convey.
      - darksaints 5y ago
        Gas stoves transfer very little of that heat to your food, most of it goes around your pans and into your kitchen. And the thing with high heat is that it gets drastically less efficient. Large flames push way more heat around the pot than they push into it. We're not not talking about 100% differences, we're talking closer to 400%. At least that's what I've found when measuring boil times for a 1200w plug in unit compared to a 15000btu gas burner. Of course 240v is an absolute must for a 4 burner range, but that's not uncommon nor hard to get. Almost every home in the US has at least one 240v connection in the house, and it's usually $200-300 to get one installed. That's not nothing, but it's way less than it costs to install a gas line.
        asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
        > We're not not talking about 100% differences, we're talking closer to 400%. The number I cited came from some random website that I Google searched. If you have a more authoritative number, I'm happy to see a citation, but I won't be convinced by you just saying so. FWIW, the low power claims I made r.e. 2 burner plug in induction cooktops match my personal experience using them. > Almost every home in the US has at least one 240v connection in the house, and it's usually $200-300 to get one installed. I would be impressed if you could get 240 run from your breaker to your kitchen for $200, unless the breaker box is right next to your kitchen. The cost of the job is mostly going to depend on how time consuming it is to run the wires, assuming the wires already present are not sufficient for carrying 240v 40A. A brief search on the internet indicates a very wide range of quotes, probably dependent on site conditions and the local electrician labor market.
- rootusrootus 5y ago
  This is true, but a lot of newer homes have a cooktop and separate oven, rather than a drop-in or slide-in range as used to be popular. This is nice because the oven is at a better height (and it's pretty convenient to have a double oven), but the consequence is that gas cooktops are almost never wired for 240V. If the cooktop is on it's own circuit then the upgrade can be done without rewiring, but I don't imagine that's a very common arrangement, it's probably shared with a few outlets, or microwave, etc.
maccard 5y ago
The curse of 120v strikes again. I did a quick Google and it looks like it'll cost you about $500 to install a 240v circuit, which is still a far cry under the 5k+ the above poster paid. A 3600kW combined set of burners is likely more than enough for many households
- asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
  Yeah, I think it really depends on the state of your cabinets. The bare bones induction option is something like https://www.homedepot.com/p/Empava-36-in-Built-In-Electric-Stove-Induction-Cooktop-Touch-Control-in-Black-with-5-Elements-EMP-IDC36/314114598 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Empava-36-in-Built-In-Electric-S...? But you also need a 220+V and 40A circuit installed. How expensive this will be is 100% dependent on where your breaker box is in relation to your kitchen. Moreover, this option only works if your kitchen is already configured for a cooktop, as opposed to a full range. Most American kitchens are still configured for ranges, so to install something like this you'd also need to retrofit your cabinets. Now prices are starting to add up. The minimum induction range is about $1000, so I don't think you're going to get away with spending less than $1500 except in a very exceptional case. All that being said, yes, it can be done for much less than what OP paid in most cases, but I wouldn't necessarily count on the quality of the barebones induction range (at least based on my experience with portable induction cooktops -- they are often shit with small heating coils that produce intense hotspotting).
  - maccard 5y ago
    > But you also need a 220+V and 40A circuit installed. How expensive this will be is 100% dependent on where your breaker box is in relation to your kitchen From googling around it looks like $300 to $800 in the US; I can't use homedepot here in the UK but I found this [0] for $350. That's ~$800 for an upgrade to a hob , assuming you do the electrical work. > Most American kitchens are still configured for ranges, so to install something like this you'd also need to retrofit your cabinets. Now prices are starting to add up. Anyone who owns a house with a range doesn't need a subsidy, to be frank. _houses_ might be, but apartments are likely using shitty bottom of the range gas burners, or crappy electrical coils. In my experience a £99 ikea portable induction burner was _way_ better than my builtin gas stove in my last rental apartment. [0] https://www.lowes.com/pd/Gasland-Chef-Gasland-Chef-I-H77BF-30-in-Built-in-Induction-Cooker-Vitro-Ceramic-Surface-Electric-Cooktop-4-Burners/5001211411 https://www.lowes.com/pd/Gasland-Chef-Gasland-Chef-I-H77BF-3...

smileysteve 5y ago

If wired for an electric resistance range and oven, the typical American home has 240x30+

asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
Right, but we are talking about an upgrade to a house that was wired for a gas range. The person I was responding to suggested using a countertop hob plugged into a standard wall socket. That's not going to work in the states. At least, I assume that is what they were talking about because there are no full scale induction ranges available for 300 pounds = $400. They start around $900.
- TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
  > countertop hob plugged into a standard wall socket. There are two-burner countertop units on Amazon that use 120 volt/15 amp and are inexpensive. I have not tried them.
  - asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
    Yes, that's what we've been talking about. 120V 15A is not enough to run two burners at any kind of reasonable heat output, much less four. That's 900W->3000BTU/h per burner, assuming the electronics work optimally. Even accounting for the fact that induction is 100% more efficient than gas, you're talking about the equivalent of two 6000BTU/h gas burners, effectively. For reference, that's less power than the simmer burner on my gas range. The main burners of a cheap gas range are 15000BTU/h, and more expensive ranges go up to 25000BTU/h. All this is of course fixed by installing a dedicated circuit for a real induction range. 220V * 40A increases the potential output six-fold, which is enough for any reasonable use case. But doing that is much more expensive, which is the whole of what I was trying to convey.
    - darksaints 5y ago
      Gas stoves transfer very little of that heat to your food, most of it goes around your pans and into your kitchen. And the thing with high heat is that it gets drastically less efficient. Large flames push way more heat around the pot than they push into it. We're not not talking about 100% differences, we're talking closer to 400%. At least that's what I've found when measuring boil times for a 1200w plug in unit compared to a 15000btu gas burner. Of course 240v is an absolute must for a 4 burner range, but that's not uncommon nor hard to get. Almost every home in the US has at least one 240v connection in the house, and it's usually $200-300 to get one installed. That's not nothing, but it's way less than it costs to install a gas line.
      - asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
        > We're not not talking about 100% differences, we're talking closer to 400%. The number I cited came from some random website that I Google searched. If you have a more authoritative number, I'm happy to see a citation, but I won't be convinced by you just saying so. FWIW, the low power claims I made r.e. 2 burner plug in induction cooktops match my personal experience using them. > Almost every home in the US has at least one 240v connection in the house, and it's usually $200-300 to get one installed. I would be impressed if you could get 240 run from your breaker to your kitchen for $200, unless the breaker box is right next to your kitchen. The cost of the job is mostly going to depend on how time consuming it is to run the wires, assuming the wires already present are not sufficient for carrying 240v 40A. A brief search on the internet indicates a very wide range of quotes, probably dependent on site conditions and the local electrician labor market.
rootusrootus 5y ago
This is true, but a lot of newer homes have a cooktop and separate oven, rather than a drop-in or slide-in range as used to be popular. This is nice because the oven is at a better height (and it's pretty convenient to have a double oven), but the consequence is that gas cooktops are almost never wired for 240V. If the cooktop is on it's own circuit then the upgrade can be done without rewiring, but I don't imagine that's a very common arrangement, it's probably shared with a few outlets, or microwave, etc.

maccard 5y ago

The curse of 120v strikes again. I did a quick Google and it looks like it'll cost you about $500 to install a 240v circuit, which is still a far cry under the 5k+ the above poster paid. A 3600kW combined set of burners is likely more than enough for many households

asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
Yeah, I think it really depends on the state of your cabinets. The bare bones induction option is something like https://www.homedepot.com/p/Empava-36-in-Built-In-Electric-Stove-Induction-Cooktop-Touch-Control-in-Black-with-5-Elements-EMP-IDC36/314114598 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Empava-36-in-Built-In-Electric-S...? But you also need a 220+V and 40A circuit installed. How expensive this will be is 100% dependent on where your breaker box is in relation to your kitchen. Moreover, this option only works if your kitchen is already configured for a cooktop, as opposed to a full range. Most American kitchens are still configured for ranges, so to install something like this you'd also need to retrofit your cabinets. Now prices are starting to add up. The minimum induction range is about $1000, so I don't think you're going to get away with spending less than $1500 except in a very exceptional case. All that being said, yes, it can be done for much less than what OP paid in most cases, but I wouldn't necessarily count on the quality of the barebones induction range (at least based on my experience with portable induction cooktops -- they are often shit with small heating coils that produce intense hotspotting).
- maccard 5y ago
  > But you also need a 220+V and 40A circuit installed. How expensive this will be is 100% dependent on where your breaker box is in relation to your kitchen From googling around it looks like $300 to $800 in the US; I can't use homedepot here in the UK but I found this [0] for $350. That's ~$800 for an upgrade to a hob , assuming you do the electrical work. > Most American kitchens are still configured for ranges, so to install something like this you'd also need to retrofit your cabinets. Now prices are starting to add up. Anyone who owns a house with a range doesn't need a subsidy, to be frank. _houses_ might be, but apartments are likely using shitty bottom of the range gas burners, or crappy electrical coils. In my experience a £99 ikea portable induction burner was _way_ better than my builtin gas stove in my last rental apartment. [0] https://www.lowes.com/pd/Gasland-Chef-Gasland-Chef-I-H77BF-30-in-Built-in-Induction-Cooker-Vitro-Ceramic-Surface-Electric-Cooktop-4-Burners/5001211411 https://www.lowes.com/pd/Gasland-Chef-Gasland-Chef-I-H77BF-3...