Some thoughts on compassion, a case of interest, and Randy gets into Tango mode...
Yesterday our propane bottle ran out of propane, which was a non-problematic affair. The good news being that our spare tank was full, so changing over took only a few minutes. The bad news was that it was raining, so I got wet. That said, there was nothing on the stove cooking where a momentary pause might create havoc.
The 20 pound bottle lasted 96 days, providing most of the meals consumed in that time period at a cost of only $0.26 dollars a day.
I’ve been trying to get my head around the idea of induction cook-tops on boats. Researching induction cooking on boats is problematic as most info is about how great having an all-electric-boat with scant discussion on how it really works.
Some say I’m way behind in terms of tech, and my life would be better with an induction stove. Mostly citing the price of propane as I could run an induction stove on solar.
While I suspect some can run an induction stove on solar, it requires more solar panels and a larger battery bank.
I love solar panels and readily admit they are a needful addition to any cruising boat. Still one only has enough room to deploy them, which limits the number of watts available.
The scary part for me is the god-awful amp draw of the induction cooker combined with an inverter. One test I’ve seen boiling just enough water to make one cup of coffee came out at eight amp-hours.
With that sort of draw, I shudder to imagine what sort of mayhem a large pot of chili will impact on my battery levels. Combine that thought with the time it takes my solar panels to replace that amount of energy and I get nervous.
Worse yet, I’ve had bad luck where inverters are concerned. As an inverter is a needful chunk of an induction system, I’d feel the need to have at least a spare inverter as a backup. The same might go for the actual induction cooker as well, since longevity of home electronics aboard cruising boats can be a dicey affair.
Suddenly, the whole idea of an induction cooker looks a lot less like the best thing since sliced bread anymore.
At least for the moment I'll be sticking with my ENO propane cooker as it does everything I want at $0.26 dollars a day.
Listening to the Iron Leg Radio Show
So it goes...
