3KW Induction hob (UK)

[Mikey-moo]

Hi all,

Drunk me made an interesting purchase this week - a 3KW portable induction hob to upgrade from my previous 2KW model. The old model was an Aldi refurb and very cheap but still worked well. It has, however, mainly plastic and had melted a little in a deep frying incident a month of so ago. The new one is a commercial model - it cost more but is all stainless steel construction and much, much sturdier.

While I'm told that they all cycle on and off, all of the time, testing with a pan of boiling water has shown the 2KW model cycling noticeably below 800W but sufficiently stable to keep a rolling boil at power levels above that. The 3KW model does the same, cycling noticeably at lower powers, but maintains a rolling boil at power levels of 1700W and above.

With the new set up, I'd be stripping at 3KW and doing the spirit run at 1700W. Might be a little high for my current 3 gallon pot, but my plan is to upgrade to a 10 gallon pot at some point this year and that should work out pretty well.

I'll let you know how I get on, either way.

Cheers!

[pfshine]

With just a little modification it won't cycle at all.

[Mikey-moo]

Not sure I'm ready to go voiding the warranty just yet... how easy?

[Mikey-moo]

So here's the control board for the induction hob. I've located the relay that causes it to cycle on and off at the lower power levels. Logically I want to bypass this relay so that it's always on...

BUT... is that all? Will that cause other issues I don't know about? Why is it even there in the first place?

These are the questions stopping me from going any further at the moment. Any help would be appreciated.

[pfshine]

https://www.google.com/search?rls=en-us ... +plate+mod" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Mikey-moo]

https://www.google.com/search?rls=en-us ... +plate+mod

Thanks pfshine. I've already read those. And I've just re-read them to make sure I've not missed anything. None of them relate to my induction hot plate or indicate how to modify what's already in the unit to make it not cycle at low power settings.

It doesn't run on temperatures, so there's no thermostat to bypass. Basically they say that I'd need to build a new controller - SSR or SCR or similar and use that to power the induction coil...

I think I'll stick with it as is for now, try it out at 1.7KW and see if that's low enough for a spirit run.

Cheers!

[pfshine]

Ahh got ya. Well to bad I couldn't help. Maybe someone that has done a mod on a hot plate like yours will show up.

[rad14701]

That looks like an expensive controller board to be attempting to hack... If you were to try bypassing the logic and force the relay to stay engaged you would chance a back-feed which could release the magic smoke...

[Mikey-moo]

Ahh got ya. Well to bad I couldn't help. Maybe someone that has done a mod on a hot plate like yours will show up.

Not to worry - I appreciate the help anyway

That looks like an expensive controller board to be attempting to hack... If you were to try bypassing the logic and force the relay to stay engaged you would chance a back-feed which could release the magic smoke...

Yes... and that's the last thing I want to do!

It'll all be fine

[skow69]

Or you would keep the thing on all the time. But hacking that control board would be the hard way.

Probably the simplest solution would be to bypass the whole thing and feed the coil with an SSR and pot. You could do it for $20 or so.

[Mikey-moo]

Or you would keep the thing on all the time. But hacking that control board would be the hard way.

Probably the simplest solution would be to bypass the whole thing and feed the coil with an SSR and pot. You could do it for $20 or so.

That is the route I'll do down if 1.7KW proves too high for a decent spirit run. I've been reading up on them just in case.

[RedwoodHillBilly]

Or you would keep the thing on all the time. But hacking that control board would be the hard way.

Probably the simplest solution would be to bypass the whole thing and feed the coil with an SSR and pot. You could do it for $20 or so.

That is the route I'll do down if 1.7KW proves too high for a decent spirit run. I've been reading up on them just in case.

Bad idea to feed an induction heater work coil with a simple phase angle controller. At best, this will just blow your circuit breaker before you melt/set fire to anything.

An induction heater is not a resistance heater. It is an RF (radio frequency) device, generally they run in the 100Khz to 1 Mhz range. They work by inducing eddy currents in the load (your pot in this case). I've built a few in the past, but you do have to have a little bit of electronics knowledge.

If the cycling is not working out for you and you want/need to run a hot plate, I would suggest getting a resistive hot plate and connecting the SSVR to that. Or better yet, go with an internal element.

[skow69]

You're right RH. I was passing along bad information. Thanks for correcting it. I hate being that guy.

[RedwoodHillBilly]

No problem, I normally don't post here anymore but I didn't want someone to get hurt or fill their place with smoke.

BTW, one way way to think of an induction heater is that it is a transformer with a resonant primary (tank circuit). The work coil (the one in the induction heater) is the primary, and the the load (boiler in this case) is a shorted secondary.

[Mikey-moo]

Thanks RedwoodHillBilly.

Much obliged.

[markieb]

Hi mikey just wondering how far the magnetic pulse gets sent out? Will it go through the base of a non magnetic pan to reach a magnetic source?would it be able to penetrate a keg base to reach a magnetic source inside the keg to allow distilling like an internal element sorry just been reading and got me interested with the possibilities and less hassle of non drilling welding ect.
by flattening the base of the keg and ushering the hob to the base without putting to much pressure onto the hob using a foam base or to that effect with a steel magnetic source inside would mean a more direct source of heat into the keg.

Maybe a stupid idea but looked everywhere and cant see anyones tried this except them 3 layered pots or the steel plate that sits between.seen magnetic paint aswell but guessing that wont take the heat.

[Mikey-moo]

Hi mikey just wondering how far the magnetic pulse gets sent out? Will it go through the base of a non magnetic pan to reach a magnetic source?would it be able to penetrate a keg base to reach a magnetic source inside the keg to allow distilling like an internal element sorry just been reading and got me interested with the possibilities and less hassle of non drilling welding ect.
by flattening the base of the keg and ushering the hob to the base without putting to much pressure onto the hob using a foam base or to that effect with a steel magnetic source inside would mean a more direct source of heat into the keg.

Maybe a stupid idea but looked everywhere and cant see anyones tried this except them 3 layered pots or the steel plate that sits between.seen magnetic paint aswell but guessing that wont take the heat.

Good question Markieb and I don't know the answer... it'll penetrate a piece of paper, and a lot of induction pots have a triple clad base of steel enclosed in aluminium or some other non-magnetic metal and those work too.

I've had similar ideas of a keg with something in it to heat it via induction, but that would mean having iron in the keg, and the acidic wash would eat away at it over time. So I think if you're going with a keg then best to use gas or an internal element. For my little hobby set up induction's fine, even when I upgrade to a 10 gallon pot it should still work well. But anything other than a stock pot and you're going to have trouble I think.

[markieb]

I was thinking more along the lines of using like nuts and bolts inside and change after a few runs or even steel plate strips from a scrap yard cut them sorta 1.5inch and a little shorter then the width so they will lay flat or even steel tubing.just thinkig outside the box a little lol.il have to go grab an induction cooker and give it a shot with my keg.will only be with water to begin with as the mrs doesnt want me fermentig inside over winter she siad it stinks like a brewery

[Mikey-moo]

I was thinking more along the lines of using like nuts and bolts inside and change after a few runs or even steel plate strips from a scrap yard cut them sorta 1.5inch and a little shorter then the width so they will lay flat or even steel tubing.just thinkig outside the box a little lol.il have to go grab an induction cooker and give it a shot with my keg.will only be with water to begin with as the mrs doesnt want me fermentig inside over winter she siad it stinks like a brewery

Hmmm I'm not 100% sure, but I seem to remember from back in physics class that a rotating aluminium disk can be slowed down by magnetic induction because the eddy currents induced cause an opposing magnetic field, but when you drill holes in the plate the eddy currents can't form and the disc doesn't slow down... my point being that I think you need a solid plate to get the effect and that 'bits and bots' won't have the same effect.

If you give it a go though, let us know how you get on

[Ma Flodder]

Have used induction hobs for several years for distilling purposes, both 2kW "consumer" and 3kW "professional" ones. Cycling was only a problem at lower power levels like many of us have discovered, above that they all ran fine. I solved the problem of cycling at lower power levels by buying an "induction adapter" which is a thick (1/2"???) metal plate with a handle which is normally used to heat aluminium pans which don't work directly on an induction hob. This has enough mass to absorb the cycling of the induction hob and give off a fairly constant heat to the boiler above.

induction.jpg (6.83 KiB) Viewed 3017 times

[Mikey-moo]

Have used induction hobs for several years for distilling purposes, both 2kW "consumer" and 3kW "professional" ones. Cycling was only a problem at lower power levels like many of us have discovered, above that they all ran fine. I solved the problem of cycling at lower power levels by buying an "induction adapter" which is a thick (1/2"???) metal plate with a handle which is normally used to heat aluminium pans which don't work directly on an induction hob. This has enough mass to absorb the cycling of the induction hob and give off a fairly constant heat to the boiler above.

induction.jpg

I've seen mixed reviews for those - would you recommend them?

[Ma Flodder]

It worked for me, and it was only a relatively small investment, 30 dollar/pound/euro or so if I remember correctly. Nowadays I don't use it anymore, got a boiler with a 2kW integrated element just below the bottom surface.

[Pikey]

I was thinking more along the lines of using like nuts and bolts inside and change after a few runs or even steel plate strips from a scrap yard cut them sorta 1.5inch and a little shorter then the width so they will lay flat or even steel tubing.just thinkig outside the box a little lol.il have to go grab an induction cooker and give it a shot with my keg.will only be with water to begin with as the mrs doesnt want me fermentig inside over winter she siad it stinks like a brewery

Oh dear ! - sounds about the right time to get yourself a different woman

[piperdave]

I have used an "induction adapter" with my copper alembic and induction hotplate, it worked like a charm.


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