The ones I’ve seen online don’t put out anywhere near the same amount of heat. US plugs are limited to like 7000btus for a standard outlet, but most wok burners are like 30000btus minimum. That works out to like 20 amps on a 240v circuit or 40a on 120v.
That’s fair. I tried to under estimate the wok BTUs, since commercial units can have 3-4 times the output, to make it a little more fair of a comparison though.
Pedantry:
Technically the gas is about 100% efficient at turning gas into heat, but not all of that heat makes it to the pan whereas the induction transmits like 99% of the energy used into the pan directly.
I feel the ideal setup would be to use induction for most things, and then have a separate 100k BTU propane burner outside for wok cooking. It’s more than you’d be able to get from a residential unit.
Some higher end induction cooktops in the EU are three-phase power around 400V like the Bosch PXX975DC1E which uses 11kW max. Not sure what btu output that is though.
That’s true, but the vast majority of hear with those high BTU woks literally just go completely around the side and heat up the air around the wok and is not transferred to the pan. They are just the only good way to give high, encompassing heat on all sides.
BTU output transferred to the pan is likely similar.
The ones I’ve seen online don’t put out anywhere near the same amount of heat. US plugs are limited to like 7000btus for a standard outlet, but most wok burners are like 30000btus minimum. That works out to like 20 amps on a 240v circuit or 40a on 120v.
You can’t compare the energy directly like that since induction has a higher efficiency.
That’s fair. I tried to under estimate the wok BTUs, since commercial units can have 3-4 times the output, to make it a little more fair of a comparison though.
Pedantry:
Technically the gas is about 100% efficient at turning gas into heat, but not all of that heat makes it to the pan whereas the induction transmits like 99% of the energy used into the pan directly.
I feel the ideal setup would be to use induction for most things, and then have a separate 100k BTU propane burner outside for wok cooking. It’s more than you’d be able to get from a residential unit.
Yes, you need a full-size unit that plugs into a 240v high-amp stove outlet like a range does. The 120v countertop units dont do it.
Some higher end induction cooktops in the EU are three-phase power around 400V like the Bosch PXX975DC1E which uses 11kW max. Not sure what btu output that is though.
If it were putting that 11kw out of one burner it would be 35-40k BTUs, but it’s only putting out 3.7kw per burner, so like 12k BTUs.
That’s true, but the vast majority of hear with those high BTU woks literally just go completely around the side and heat up the air around the wok and is not transferred to the pan. They are just the only good way to give high, encompassing heat on all sides.
BTU output transferred to the pan is likely similar.
Almost nowhere in North America has residential 3 phase
I’ve got a cheap, pretty awful induction hot plate and it has no trouble getting a cast iron pan to over 700F.
A half-watt Christmas light is 2000F. That metric is not very relevant to cooking.
Okay, you put your hand on a 700F cast iron pan