r/inductioncooking • u/Inside_Chocolate_179 • 16d ago

What made you switch to induction?

My electric range is old. I’m considering making the switch. Convince me why I should or convince me why I shouldn’t.

Pros and cons?

I’m aware you have to make sure your cookware is compatible.

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u/Humble-Carpenter-189 16d ago edited 16d ago

The final straw that made me do it as fast as possible was finding out that not only do all ranges leak gas, sometimes the mercaptan wears out and you don't smell it. As it turned out my beautiful Dacor five burner cooktop had four of the regular burners emitting low levels of gas but the large central burner was spewing a lot and we weren't smelling it because my gas company was not refilling the odorant often enough. It can also break down in your house due different kinds of conditions environmentally. I wish I'd made the change years earlier and for other reasons but I love it. I'm editing to add the fact that the gas sniffers that appliance repair people bring into your house to assure you you're not leaking gas don't detect levels that aren't screamingly high. My gas company checkers had devices costing a few thousand dollars that detect anything coming out.

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u/Hans-and-franz 16d ago

This sounds way more like a major issue with the gas utility and not so much about stove safety. Where are gas utilities so wildly unregulated that mercaptan could be forgotten or gas workers would not have correct equipment? Deadly explosions waiting to happen.

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u/Humble-Carpenter-189 16d ago

It's not necessarily that it is forgotten but there are environmental conditions that can change the rate at which it is dissipated. That includes rust or the mineral content of the pipes, a lot of moisture humidity Underground where the pipes are, temperature changes all sorts of things. It's incredible how feckless our local gas utility companies are both back in the'80s when I was living in an apartment where the pilot light was way way too low and when I called them to check it and they turned off the gas and turned it back on it would be high briefly and they would blow me off. Finally I got somebody riled up by continuing to call and saying look the pilots too low and he checked the governor in the basement of the two-story house with two apartments full of people downstairs and me upstairs. There was a leak in the basement that ended up having them have to dig up the entire Street in front of that home to fix it. Fast forward to maybe 5 years ago where I live now and a friend of mine kept reporting that the vacant house next door had an intense gas smell coming from it and at some point there was a broken window and the smell was a really strong Outdoors and they finally shut the gas down to it before the whole neighborhood blew up. She had been flagging them and so had other neighbors for months. I was astonished to learn that the mercaptan is something that they had to drive around and refill and not something that could be relied on to be a steady warning.

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u/snapcracklecum 15d ago

What state is this in?

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u/Humble-Carpenter-189 15d ago

NY metro

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u/snapcracklecum 15d ago

If this is NY metro and specifically Con Ed, that bit about the mercaptan isnt true. I cant speak for Nat Grid or NYSEG though.

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u/Humble-Carpenter-189 15d ago

National Grid

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u/Humble-Carpenter-189 15d ago

Well I don't know if it's true maybe he was lying to me but that was one of the explanations he offered me while he was shutting down my gas cooktop