Posted on 01/19/2026 12:03:53 PM PST by knarf
I'm forced to live in an all electric mobile home and electricity is through the roof.
I'm looking for ideas (don't suggest gas . . .SHE'S afraid) and compare / contrasts
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What about a standalone gas burner?
I have an induction cooktop.
Way better than normal electric cooktop or gas.
Flexible like gas but no need for the big hood.
Glass top cools off very quickly unlike normal electric cooktop.
Welcome to the farm. We live in Alabama, home of the THIRD HIGHEST electric power bills in the nation!!! We are under Alabama Power which is a part of the Southern Company. GA and Ole Miss are also, but for some reason have much lower power bills than we do. One guy at church told me Sunday morning that his bill more than doubled. I grew up in a home with gas heat, and when I lived in WA state, our home was gas. It heats great and in a short amount of time. Electric heat takes all danged day and in this cold snap we are under, the damned thing runs all night long.
I have one and really like it. Just remember that it only works with ferrous pans, no aluminum. To know if a pan will work if it’s not labeled, try sticking a magnet to it.
I’ve had induction for 40 years. Love it but you do need induction ready cookware ( it must be magnetic) . If you want to try it , buy a potable induction hob.
I bought one for my son who has an electric stove and he now does his cooking on that.
-—Duxtop Portable Induction Cooktop Burner, Induction Hot Plate with LCD Sensor Touch 1800 Watts, Silver 9600LS/BT-200DZ
Samsung over at Best Buy was about 1200.
Dropped right in.
I’m not experienced with gadgets at all, but my first thought is to try finding items that run on easily affordable and obtained batteries.
**I see a battery operated home generator for $699. Name of product; Predator3500 Watt Super Quiet.
Retailer: Harbor Freight
But we went through great pains to make our home more energy efficient (variable speed heat pump, hybrid water heater, lots of insulation, sealing gaps). And added 20kW of solar with 18kW of continuous AC inverter capacity, and 90kWh of battery storage.
It doesn't save the world from our carbon sins or any of that doomsday cult global warming garbage. But it saves me more than it costs me.
They are great…to a point.
I have a nice one by Z Line. The “large” burner isn’t really a larger burner. It simply supplies more current, thus more heat. If I try to boil a 6 quart pot of water, the water in the center 8 inches of the pot will be roaring, while the outer two inches are not boiling at all. You have to stir the pot quite a bit to cook spaghetti. Forget cooking bacon. It will be burning in the middle and cool to the touch on each end. I was frustrated until I learned to accept its limitations. Unless you spend $10K or more, you don’t really get a “large” burner.
I can second the others who extol the induction cooking surfaces. One more nice feature is it only draws the full power you dial in when the cookware is on it. Forget to turn off the burner when you remove your skillet? No problem, it will shut down on its own.
Try Maryland. The idiots here have shuttered 8 or 10 power plants then have the nerve to blame the power company for rising rates.
They doubled this year for many people. We use natural gas for heat and cooking so it’s still possible to pay the bills.
Today is a bonus. My furnace needs a part to be installed tomorrow and isn’t operational. We’re heating the house with a diesel heater from our camper with the hose feeding through the window. I’ll heat the house all day with a gallon of diesel fuel. It used about ten watts to power the thing. If I wanted to I could hook it up to our battery for almost free heat.
WHAT IS LIFE OF A CHARGE???
I really like mine, just clean it often because spills can become permanent if you let them bake into the glass
Love my induction cooktop x 25+ years. Would never go back to gas.
Quick response, both to heat & to cool down. So easy to clean. Much safer for kids. Not one complaint. The cat jumped down from top cabinet & broke the glass on the 1st cooktop (Dacor) (heavy cat >5’ drop onto center of cooktop) Got a thermador 12+ tears ago. Kept the cat.
“Flexible like gas but no need for the big hood.”
The hood isn’t for the gas exhaust. It is for the cooking food smoke, heat, and smells.
I will only say I’ve lived in a house with gas for 75 years and every time the power goes out I still have stovetop burners to make tea, oatmeal and all sorts of things. I’ve never had any problems with it. I was in a house with electric for two months and in a couple of weeks I had concentric rings burnt into my palm because I forgot electric is hot even when off!
Keep your ductwork clean. Turn the heat down at night. Humidify the air.
I have an induction cooktop and I absolutely LOVE it! The only thing I would say, is get one with a large “burner”. Mine has two of the same size, and they’re a little small, so the edges of my larger pans don’t heat up as much.
You should NOT be using aluminum pans, period. Unless you want to be in the memory care unit.
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