Today was the installation of our new induction cooktop, replacing the old gas cooker. The tradesman appeared about 10am and got to work. It was quite a job.
He had to: pull out and disconnect the electric oven; disconnect the gas cooktop; cut the gas pipe close to the wall; cap the gas pipe and test it for leaks; cut the granite benchtop to fit the slightly larger induction cooktop into the hole where the gas one used to be; drill a hole through the wall near the fusebox; thread electrical cable through the hole to a power point in the kitchen wall; disconnect that power point and replace it with a new heavy duty one; thread cable through from that power point to another power point inside the kitchen cabinet next to the stove area (this used to be the power point for the kitchen sink garbage disposal, which was no longer in use after we removed the garbage disposal a while back – it was lucky we did this because it meant the now spare point could be repurposed for the induction cooker); lay new cable from there inside a protective duct to the induction cooktop; remove the entire fusebox; replace all the circuit breakers with new ones to bring the fusebox up to current safety standards; actually install the induction cooktop; wire it in; reconnect and replace the oven; then switch everything back on and test it all works.
Here’s the area in the middle of the job:
The two ends of yellow cable are the same cable, passing through the wall, and that’s the fusebox visible in the upper cupboard. From that wall socket another cable goes down into the lower cupboard and through the hole visible in the back corner of the cooktop area.
And here’s the new cooktop, fully installed!
Shiny! I’ve tested it out boiling a little water in some of our pots, and it’s amazingly fast. But although I’m keen to give it a go cooking a meal, tonight was not the night for it. I had ethics classes from 5-8pm, and my wife wanted her dinner about 6:30, so she ended up just making grilled cheese sandwiches in the sandwich press. And after my last class I made myself a falafel roll in the same sandwich press.
Tomorrow I’ll try cooking something on the new cooktop. I need to test out cooking rice – to see what setting to leave it to simmer so that it comes out right. I’m hoping it works first time, but perhaps I’ll need to try a few settings to tune it.
It took the guy until a bit after 2pm to finish the installation, so my day was a bit disrupted, with the noise and having the power turned off. But I managed to write my lesson plans for both ethics age groups: “Psychic Powers” for the younger and “Philosophy of Ethics” for the older. And I spent some time scribbling notes on paper for the haunted house board game that I need to put together by Friday for my game design course.
New content today:
Nice!
We got an induction cooktop a couple of years ago when we renovated our kitchen. It had last been renovated in the late Nineties so it was showing its age. The previous cooktop was this electric coil one (though the coils are covered with metal plates), with the oven in the same stove. The new one is integrated to the counter as is the oven.
Even though we only get one phase of AC into the cooktop because this is an old house it’s still faster than the old one, which is kind of obvious as it doesn’t have the metal plates to heat first. In newer houses houses I think there is the possibility to have all three phases go to the stovetop so it’ll be faster, especially when more cookers are in use.
I hear it’s quite close to a gas cooktop, but it’s been years since I last used one and I’m never gotten used to them.
Here gas is not really an option except in certain areas, and it’s been phased out for the last thirty years or so. Cheap coil stoves are the norm when price matters more, and I think most people have induction cooktops if they have anything else.
Gas is mostly for barbecues, though electric ones are often more convenient, especially on balconies.
Gas has traditionally been very cheap here in Australia, but it’s getting more expensive and being phased out, so it’s reached the point where electricity is cheaper for cooking. A lot of people are going to be making this change in the next few years.