by ericmark »
Sun Jul 23, 2017 3:17 pm
The 300 mm clearance either side with a gas hob can be a problem, in fact with gas hobs the regulations are really a problem, I had a job at one time fitting cookers, an electrician (me) and a gas fitter were sent out in pairs to fit cookers, each tradesman acting as a mate for the other depending on if gas or electric was being fitted.
I could not believe how many homes we went to where the gas fitted refused to fit the new cooked because it did not comply with regulations, Yet with electric we were basic told anything goes. In fact that was why I left, there was no test gear provided and I was not happy with what I was being asked to do.
Today with the induction hob there is no real advantage gas over electric, with one exception that is the wok. With the induction hob you can tilt the pan just like with gas, but unlike gas the size of the heat area is not so important, with gas if the pan is too small then it heats room rather than pan, even with correct pan size there is a huge waste of power.
My daughters gas hob rated 5.5 kW per ring, she was boiling water in the electric kettle and pouring in pan, and I asked why, so she did a demo, kettle and pan both with same amount of water, both turned on at the same time. And the kettle (2.8 kW) boiled well before the water in pan on gas hob.
So on returning home I redid the experiment this time with electric kettle (2.8 kW) and induction hob (3 kW) and the kettle did win, but only just. No longer living at home we bought a single ring induction hob, it has a power range 200W to 2 kW the original halogen hob is useless. However the induction hob is never used at over the 1 kW setting, So it would seem 1 kW induction = 5 kW gas or some where around that.
It's not the saving of energy, but what happens to the unused energy, the non used energy heats up the kitchen and everything else around the hob, so they need extractor fans and loads of room.
If room is a problem I would look at domino induction hobs, just two heat areas rather than 4, if you need 4 and really want gas, again consider two domino hobs next to each other with the electric close to any side cupboard to give the gas the 300 mm.
