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Electric range with "variable" heat?

post #1 of 3
11/8/09 at 3:27pm
Thread Starter 
All electric ranges and cooktops I have seen regulate the heat by turning the heating elements on and off.

So a cooktop (burner) will turn on FULL blast for a little bit, then turn off, then back on FULL blast, then off again.

With a gas range, you can adjust the flame and thus the heat to be steady at a set amount of heat...

So the question is...

Is there an electric range/cooktop which "adjusts" how hot the heating element gets?

And the heating element would be on all the time, just at different levels of heat - like a gas range.

Does anyone make anything like this?
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post #2 of 3
11/9/09 at 8:39am
The short answer is no. All electric heating elements are either on or off. Some units will have a switch that cuts half of the voltage to make an element a warming element, but again it will either be on or off as it cycles.

The long answer is that if you get a unit that has electronically controlled surface elements, the unit's computer software will cycle the element in a precise fashion to simulate the heat control and flexibility of a gas burner. For example a regular electric range uses a simple infinite switch to run the surface element, as the element draws current a bi-metal spring heats up and cools down in the switch cycling the element. In an electronic unit, you set the power level with a potentiometer (like a volume dial on a radio), and the computer then pulses electricity to the element to maintain the desired temperature.

One side note, the electronic controlled models are almost always a glass topped stove, or induction.

Examples of the electronic controlled units would be the Kitchenaid Professional model # KESK901SSS range of products and the Frigidiare Gallery Professional model # FPES3085KF, which can be seen on their websites.

Of course their are others in higher price ranges, like Wolf and Viking.
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post #3 of 3
11/24/09 at 10:21pm
That's great! That's quite a very informative post. Thanks for your share.
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