On 6/1/2010 10:20 AM, ChattyCathy wrote:
> brooklyn1 wrote:
>
>>
>> Thermostat cycling is different from recovery time.
>
> Not really sure what you mean, but the electric wok I have gets good and
> hot for a bit, and then suddenly the thermostat just switches off the
> heating element and the temperature drops rapidly - then (when it feels
> like it) it kicks in again. It's done that since I took it out of the
> box, so it's not "old age" or something - and my MIL had a different
> brand and hers did the exact same thing.
>
> Probably does this because the element would "burn out" or some such if
> it stayed on at such high heat any longer - but it's highly
> inconvenient, if you ask me. If I need a wok to be very hot for a
> specific amount of time, I want it to stay that way until *I* turn down
> (or take it off) the heat myself... That's why I'm gonna buy a wok that
> can be used on a gas burner next time round.

Cheap way to control temperature. The expensive way is to modulate the
current. The cheap way works fine if you have enough thermal mass,
which clearly these do not.