Gas to Induction Hob

The1nonly1

The1nonly1

The1nonly1

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Start by saying I wont be doing this myself, just trying to understand it.

I'm looking at getting an Induction hob to replace my gas hob purely becasue I'm getting solar panels and battery installed. However I'm confused by the install and different types.

I see both 32amp and 13amp induction hobs. Obviosuly the 13amp will be less powerful but could this could be powered off the existing power cable that currently is plugged into the gas hob for the ignition? I'm gussing is on the existing kitchen circuit given that I don't see a dedicated fuse for the hob. I have a dedictaed one for the existing electric fan oven cooker.

If I went 32amp, would I need a new cable run from the fuse box to the induction hob or can it be a spur off of the existing 32amp fuse for the cooker with it's own fuse? (From reading I dont think it can be given the power going through it).

Also, would I need electrication or gas engineer or both as the gas would need to be capped.
 
You want the 32A unit. 13A units are crap in comparison.

It'll need a new circuit from the consumer unit & you'll need a sparky and gas safe engineer.
 
Yup, nothing extra to consider really.

I had a 32A hob in my last property, it was great, cooked well & could boil multiple pans simultaniously. In my current property, it has a 13A one, it's OK if only using a single ring, or 1 sing lightly simmering & another in use, but try to do much more & it just doesn't have the power, so turns everything down to spread the load. If we weren't planning on redoing the entire kitchen in the not too distant future, I'd have already got it replaced.

It needs a dedicated circuit though, as if it's sharing it with the oven, you'll likely trip the MCB if you use both the hob & oven at the same time.
 
We went with a 13A unit (Smeg 4 ring 75cm length) when we had the gas disconnected and it's "ok". On ours, it will run two rings on full (~2.8kW) but that's the most it can do. For us it's sufficient as we never use more than two at once, but I would have preferred a 32A unit. It would have been too much of a nightmare though, requiring a new larger consumer unit, the kitchen floor lifting and a cable run the length of the house.

Be aware if you do get a 32A unit you'll want an inverter large enough on your solar array that you won't dip into the grid. Often you'll have the oven on at the same time so can draw quite a large amount at once.
 
reef said:
We went with a 13A unit (Smeg 4 ring 75cm length) when we had the gas disconnected and it's "ok". On ours, it will run two rings on full (~2.8kW) but that's the most it can do. For us it's sufficient as we never use more than two at once, but I would have preferred a 32A unit. It would have been too much of a nightmare though, requiring a new larger consumer unit, the kitchen floor lifting and a cable run the length of the house.

Be aware if you do get a 32A unit you'll want an inverter large enough on your solar array that you won't dip into the grid. Often you'll have the oven on at the same time so can draw quite a large amount at once.
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I hadn't thought of that with the inverter. I'll rethink my options. I may try one of those portable ones first to see how that goes as I can imagine a cable install being expensive. We only tend to use 2 burners and gas hob could be backup.
 
I really wouldn’t worry about the inverter too much for just an induction hob.

Even if you dip onto the grid, it will be for minutes and it’s not worth sweating over.

As for the job, 32A (or above) is the only sensible way forward IMO. 13A ones are poor compared to a gas hob where as a proper 32A one is equivalent or better.

My AEG hob will do 3.7kw (>16A) into a single ring in power mode. It will boil a massive pan of water in seconds. It’s one of the cheapest in their range.

If you want to get some advice on your solar install, particularly the price - post here: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...tery-any-real-world-recommendations.18946524/
 
Ideally get a dedicated 32A spur fitted for the hob.

We moved from gas to induction when we did our kitchen extension. I'd cooked at my brother's place (induction) and was happy with the instant on/off that induction can do (no difference really to gas). But HATED the stabby buttons to turn the heat up and down.

In the end we got an induction hob with a rotary knob for each ring. Cant fault it. The central extraction also works well - it re-circulates and deals well with smells and smoke, but there is no point doing steam as it will either condense in the venting system or come out as moist air anyway. Wish we could have externally vented, but the hob is simply to far from an external wall.

The hob is made by Elica - overpriced, but seems well made, luckily we got it on sale.

BC34yM8.jpeg
 
R.C.Anderson said:
It needs a dedicated circuit though, as if it's sharing it with the oven, you'll likely trip the MCB if you use both the hob & oven at the same time.
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Depends on the oven, ours runs off a 13a spur on the same circuit as the induction hob and never (granted it's only been in for 3 months) had a problem with tripping the MCB. Unless you're turning the oven to max or running a pyrolytic cleaning cycle at the same time as boosting all the rings on the hob then it's not going to be drawing full power - once the oven is up to temperature it's only going to be drawing a small load to maintain it.

Definitely want a 32a connection for the hob though, wouldn't touch a 13a one.

Also whereas gas hobs seem to be of a muchness with regards cooking ability (after all, essentially it's just a flame) and paying more just gets you something with a better fit and finish (or just brand name), I've found it's much more hit and miss with induction, I'm very happy with the one we have, but have used some utterly awful ones in Airbnbs, which I probably would have "accidentally" dropped a large cast iron pan on if we had them at home :p
 
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Very important point about you get what you pay for. Cheaper ones tend to have limited numbers of power levels and even on the lower power levels they do have they simple cycle on for a second and then off.
Cheaper ones also emit coil whine and other noises whilst in use that would drive me mad.

For us, induction would have cost more to buy, cost more to install and then being maybe as good as a gas hob that cost around half in total.

The only thing that nearly pushed us to induction was that the extractor hood can be slightly closer than it can with gas and due to ceiling shape and size of extractor we wanted we may have needed that extra but ultimately did not.
 
I am seriously considering getting both gas and induction, you can get two burner versions of each.

Anyone else done this or even considered it?
 
Considered but dismissed it, more complexity in the appliance and installation for no real world benefit for me other than “oooh, that’s neat”
 
Comparative energy cheapness of a part gas hob interests me, and to maintain a wok&griddle capability. ..
not sure if mains connections on a gas hob can now be flexible to potentially keep install cost down.
 
Gas hobs are generally not cheaper to run. Most of the heat is wasted on gas. Almost all the heat goes into the pan on an induction by the nature of how it works.

The glass tops on induction hobs don’t retain the heat like a ceramic hob so very little is wasted.
 
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b0rn2sk8 said:
Gas hobs are generally not cheaper to run. Most of the heat is wasted on gas. Almost all the heat goes into the pan on an induction by the nature of how it works.

The glass tops on induction hobs don’t retain the heat like a ceramic hob so very little is wasted.
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I think jpaul was saying the induction bit would be cheaper to run but also retains gas for wok and griddle.

I didn’t consider running costs at all
 
No problem using a (flat bottom) wok on ours,

We changed from gas due to a combination of easy cleaning and safety, I was certainly sceptical at first, but now I much prefer it!
 
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