Changing my mind gas cooking

[Bluedog225]

Sometimes it’s a little little things that make you happy. I must’ve posted a dozen times on this forum about how it’s smarter to cook with gas because it requires too much solar and battery to try and heat stuff up.

But I just got a little 900 watt kettle off Amazon and I’m able to boil water for my coffee using my Victron 12/1200 and a little SOK 12 V 200 amp hour battery.

No sweat no strain. Done in 3 1/2 minutes. Cables got vaguely warm, but that’s it. Battery didn’t even notice.

Another small step towards civilization out here.

 

[Lt.Dan]

I have had too many people sending me articles about cooking on the stove/oven with nat gas/propane in your home leading to toxic chemicals in the air that's killing you

I have an induction cooktop.

 

[Brucey]

Sometimes it’s a little little things that make you happy. I must’ve posted a dozen times on this forum about how it’s smarter to cook with gas because it requires too much solar and battery to try and heat stuff up.

But I just got a little 900 watt kettle off Amazon and I’m able to boil water for my coffee using my Victron 12/1200 and a little SOK 12 V 200 amp hour battery.

No sweat no strain. Done in 3 1/2 minutes. Cables got vaguely warm, but that’s it. Battery didn’t even notice.

Another small step towards civilization out here.


View attachment 277139

I have a portable dual hot plate down in the basement will hook up later let you know how it goes with my 48/1200. I'm assuming with less than 15A for two plate each one would be around 700W or so. With that and the kettle you should be good to go.

 

[Mattb4]

I do most all my cooking with electric. Do not have propane for anything but the Bar-B-Q grill.

1000W Microwave
1700W Pizza oven
1500W Air fryer/convection oven
1800W Induction hob.
G. Foreman Grill Not sure of wattage
1300W Toaster
Bunn coffee maker
Coffee grinder
Assorted blender, mixers, slicers.

All electric and all are no problem running from my solar setup.

 

[time2roll]

+1 for induction. Single oven is resistance heat. Does not seem to be a significant burden.
OP must be in an RV. No way that little battery is running a home.

 

[BarracudaBob]

I do most all my cooking with electric. Do not have propane for anything but the Bar-B-Q grill.

1000W Microwave
1700W Pizza oven
1500W Air fryer/convection oven
1800W Induction hob.
G. Foreman Grill Not sure of wattage
1300W Toaster
Bunn coffee maker
Coffee grinder
Assorted blender, mixers, slicers.

All electric and all are no problem running from my solar setup.

This summer I am going to be so over paned I bought a hot tub and leave the mini-splits on dehumidify

 

[rodrick]

I don’t think I could do without our gas stove especially when cooking large meals and also when doing all the harvest caning and processing

 

[mciholas]

Battery didn’t even notice.

The short time duration, high peak load devices rarely have much impact on your energy consumption. This is things like toasters, kettles, microwaves, and even stoves if not used for long periods.

The impact of small loads that run 24/7 are often more significant. Your 900 watt kettle for 3.5 minutes is 0.05 KWH for one use. A 3 watt night light is MORE energy per day. Really!

Those who use gas/propane to cook to save energy are not really doing much. There are real issues with the combustion byproducts for gas appliances vented into the home, like gas ranges.

The one place where these peak loads matter is inverter power. As long as you don't overload the inverter, or carefully manage peak loads not to occur together, you are good.

Mike C.

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

I use both. I just don't have enough energy in winter, and I enjoy cooking on gas. Best of all is the outdoor kitchen using wood though...

 

[Q-Dog]

We have an electric kettle and a regular kettle for the gas cooktop. We use both but my wife seems to prefer the electric, and I prefer the gas. Not sure why I like the flame, but I think it is mostly just habit.

 

[kommando]

There are real issues with the combustion byproducts for gas appliances vented into the home, like gas ranges.

And yet in the UK we have been using first coal/town gas then natural gas to both heat and cook in the majority of UK homes for nearly a century. Not a peep about these alleged issues in the UK. I only cook with electric as I have no gas mains supply but do have a propane wok hob for stir fries and if a gas main appeared I would go back to gas.

Coal gas - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Dagoth Ur Does Solar]

We purchased a super cheap electric kettle for like $10 to keep for extended power outages. We actually used it the last time we had a multi-day outage. It ran totally fine off one of the smaller 1kWh portable power stations (I think we used our Anker C1000).

That thing would pull like 1500W, but the power bank handled it, and it took less than a minute to get boiling water.

It sure beat going outside to fire up the burner on the propane grill to boil some water for morning coffee.

They are definitely efficient, not much radiant heat loss compared to using my stainless steel kettle on a regular electric stovetop.

 

[Bluedog225]

And yet in the UK we have been using first coal/town gas then natural gas to both heat and cook in the majority of UK homes for nearly a century. Not a peep about these alleged issues in the UK. I only cook with electric as I have no gas mains supply but do have a propane wok hob for stir fries and if a gas main appeared I would go back to gas.

Coal gas - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Hmmmm. I believe there are other examples as well in the 1800s.

Great Smog of London | 1952, Cause, Deaths, & Facts | Britannica

The Great Smog of London was a lethal smog that covered the city of London for five days (December 5–9) in 1952. It was caused by a combination of industrial pollution and high-pressure weather conditions. The resulting smoke and fog brought London to a near standstill and resulted in as many as...

www.britannica.com

 

[BarracudaBob]

Hmmmm. I believe there are other examples as well in the 1800s.

Great Smog of London | 1952, Cause, Deaths, & Facts | Britannica

The Great Smog of London was a lethal smog that covered the city of London for five days (December 5–9) in 1952. It was caused by a combination of industrial pollution and high-pressure weather conditions. The resulting smoke and fog brought London to a near standstill and resulted in as many as...

www.britannica.com

View attachment 277152

Bad Solar Day

 

[kommando]

Smog was from coal smoke from people's houses being heated with open coal fires mixing with the cold damp air. I was in a couple in the 60's where you had to wait until the bus stopped and ask the conductor what route he was on before you boarded as the illuminated route boards could not be seen or any headlamps or lamp posts either. Air quality has and is improving drastically in the UK which started with the clean air act, but burning of gas inside the home is not of any consideration in the UK.

 

[jimf909]

The short time duration, high peak load devices rarely have much impact on your energy consumption.

It took me awhile to do the math and realize this. I packed up the evil electric kettle for a year before unpacking it for the convenience and temp control (it has a thermostat) that works so well for teas, etc. It's almost civilized. The time factor is often more impactful than the watts factor.

 

[rogerheflin]

I have had too many people sending me articles about cooking on the stove/oven with nat gas/propane in your home leading to toxic chemicals in the air that's killing you

I have an induction cooktop.

We turn on the external/outside vent hood fan above the burners when using ours, that is supposed to reduce how many toxins are left in the house air.

 

[BarracudaBob]

the inverter sure can tell when the wife is up for a fast meal. Air fryer, microwave, and toaster oven all running on the same circuit.

I need to rewire the kitchen for 3 x 15A breakers!

 

[Danke]

I cook with DoorDash.

 

[Danke]

the inverter sure can tell when the wife is up for a fast meal. Air fryer, microwave, and toaster oven all running on the same circuit.

I need to rewire the kitchen for 3 x 15A breakers!

I’d probably put some 20A circuits too.

 

[rogerheflin]

I’d probably put some 20A circuits too.

I would put in all 20A circuits. I have added a lot of new circuits to my house and every one has been 20A. With all the trouble to add a circuit the the slight wire cost increase minor. 100ft of 14/2 is $60 here, 100ft of 12/2 is $80.

 

[Mattb4]

I would put in all 20A circuits. I have added a lot of new circuits to my house and every one has been 20A. With all the trouble to add a circuit the the slight wire cost increase minor. 100ft of 14/2 is $60 here, 100ft of 12/2 is $80.

All my wiring is a minimum of 12awg and 20A breakers. However I did make the mistake of putting too many of my kitchen outlets onto one breaker. Even a 20A circuit can not handle everything on at once.

 

[BarracudaBob]

All my wiring is a minimum of 12awg and 20A breakers. However I did make the mistake of putting too many of my kitchen outlets onto one breaker. Even a 20A circuit can not handle everything on at once.

It would be a kitchen rebuild to change it now. I set up an outside grilling kitchen setup. Keeps the heat outside.

I put the microwave on grid because it was always the one that would overload the breaker/inverter

 

[Brucey]

All my wiring is a minimum of 12awg and 20A breakers. However I did make the mistake of putting too many of my kitchen outlets onto one breaker. Even a 20A circuit can not handle everything on at once.

My kitchen has breakers for fridge, microwave, dishwasher, and then two 15A circuits at the counter tops. Which a toaster/kettle and air fryer can use up easily.

 

[Dagoth Ur Does Solar]

I would put in all 20A circuits. I have added a lot of new circuits to my house and every one has been 20A. With all the trouble to add a circuit the the slight wire cost increase minor. 100ft of 14/2 is $60 here, 100ft of 12/2 is $80.

If I ever build a new house at some point in my future, that's definitely my plan. I thought perhaps dedicated circuits for overhead lighting could stay 15A, but I want to wire every regular receptacle as 20A.

All my wiring is a minimum of 12awg and 20A breakers. However I did make the mistake of putting too many of my kitchen outlets onto one breaker. Even a 20A circuit can not handle everything on at once.

That was the other conclusion I came to. We have 20A circuits and receptacles in the kitchen currently, and it's not hard to overload those if you don't have enough. Someone firing up the stand mixer while someone is toasting bread, etc.

If the breaker box were adjacent to the kitchen, I'd maybe even try to run an individual circuit for every receptacle if I could swing that.