Having a cooktop hob is one of the best things anyone can add to their kitchen. So whether you want to add another cooking solution to the ones you already have, cooktops are the perfect solution to that problem.
Some of us don’t know that there are different types of cooktop bobs and therefore may not be able to differentiate an induction hob from a halogen hob as they both look similar. In this article, we’re going to show you how to recognize an induction hob.
What is an Induction Hob on a Cooker?
Induction hobs are those hobs that heat your pots or pans directly rather than heating a hob ring that then transfers the heat to the pot. The induction hob performs this operation by the use of magnets or electromagnetic fields which in turn leaves the surface cool to touch and doesn’t heat the kitchen. The hob is designed to create a magnetic force under the surface of the cooker which then activates and cooks food when a pan is placed on the hob but the pan must be magnetic.
The circuit is only completed when a pan is placed on the hob which in turn heats the pan. But if the pan isn’t magnetic, the hob won’t function at all.
Description of an Induction Hob
An induction hob is designed to look like a non-induction ceramic glass hob with a pitch-black surface. You can’t know if a hob is an induction hob by just looking at it however to know if it’s an induction hob you have to see if it works with regular pans or magnetic pans.
If they work with magnetic pans, then they’re induction hobs but if they don’t then they are halogen hobs. If you tried testing the hob with a supposedly magnetic pan and it doesn’t work, take a magnet and test the pan to see if the fault is from the pan or the hob is faulty. Stick the magnet to the bottom of the pan; if it sticks then your pan is ok and the fault is from the hob but if it doesn’t stick, you may need to get new pans.
Induction Hob Safety
To ensure that this equipment preaches the modern value of safety, its engineers created the surface to not get hot. Therefore you or anyone with no idea of how the cooktop surface works can place their hands on the surface directly without getting it burned. Even if you’re cooking and there’s a spillover onto the surface of the cooker it won’t burn or cause a circuit breakage making cleaning the surface easy and the cooktop perfectly safe.
Induction Cooktop Speed
Induction cooktops are very different from other types of hobs as they heat up more quickly than other hobs and save energy and time on cooking. While a 12KG gas burner takes about 36-40 minutes to boil 5 gallons of water, an 1800 watt induction hob would spend 20-22 minutes boiling the same amount of water. An induction cooker also functions as a gas cooker in terms of a temperature change as you can almost feel the effect of the temperature change on whatever you’re cooking.
Induction Cooktop Units
The induction cooktops are available in different models that include countertops that can be placed on your counters. Most of these units have a safety feature that shuts of the cooker when nothing is placed on it or you have an empty pan on it. There are also drop-in and slide-in units available for your use in case you’re contemplating buying one.
Conclusion
With these few descriptions, you can recognize an induction hob wherever you see one. They are not hard to recognize just take a few notes of their design and features.
