dsi1 > writes:

> On 2/21/2012 8:30 AM, David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
>> Ed > writes:
>>
>>> On Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:32:05 -0600, David >
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> I stir-fry a lot, so a real high-power burner would be nice, but I'm not
>>>> interested in $4k stoves -- and I can't find any with above 20,000
>>>> BTU/hr burners anyway (I can find commercial stoves taking bigger gas
>>>> lines, and I can find dedicated Wok burners to connect to a gas line or
>>>> propane tank, but I don't have room for that). I can find 17,000 BTU/hr
>>>> burners on $1k stoves.
>>>
>>> Pretty much the max from what I've seen.
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Has anybody ever tested the actual heat transferred to a pot of water on
>>>> their stove? How did the measured BTU/hr compare to the rating?
>>>
>>> Not easily done at home. Most of us have nothing near what is
>>> required to measure that kind of heat.
>>
>> Oh, no, it's very easy. You measure three things: volume of water,
>> temperature of water, and time. All are easy to measure. A normal
>> instant-read kitchen thermometer that I'd expect us all to have goes
>> from about freezing (solidly below room temp, anyway) up to about 220F
>> (they cost about $8 new).
>>
>> What I did was measure out two quarts of water, read the temperature,
>> heat it on high for 5 minutes, and measured the temperature again. A
>> pint of water weighs 1.02xxx or some such -- "1" is close enough, so two
>> quarts is 4 pounds. One BTU is the energy to raise one pound of water
>> one degree F.
>>
>> So, the BTU/hr actually transferred into the water is:
>>
>> (finaltemp - originaltemp) * 60 / 5 * 4
>>
>> I had final temp 130F, original temp 67F, and I heated for 4 minutes
>> rather than 5, so (130 - 67) * 60 / 4 * 4 = 3780.
>>
>> (Which is not quite the number I got, so some random value in the
>> example here isn't what I actually did at home.)
>>
>> (Not all the heat goes into the pot and the water, some escapes all sort
>> sof different directions, and the pot isn't perfectly insulated, and for
>> that matter combustion isn't 100% efficient either, so the actual
>> measured heating will be less than the rating for the burner; online
>> discussions elsewhere suggested the rating will be roughly twice what
>> you measure with this procedure. I'm wondering if anybody else who
>> knows the rating on their burners has done this, to verify the 2x
>> factor?)
>
> My suggestion would be to keep a lid on the pot and make sure you do
> your measurements well before the boiling point of the water.

Yes to both (and I didn't use a lid; should have).

>>>> Does anybody have experience with the LG line of stoves? They're
>>>> relatively new, and might be at the point in the curve where they're
>>>> still offering aggressive pricing to build reputation, but have already
>>>> learned to make a decent produce. Maybe. There's a model that's about
>>>> perfect for my requirements, high-power burner plus dual ovens, that's
>>>> selling locally right at $1000.
>>>
>>> Sounds like a bargain at the price. I have no idea how LG appliances
>>> are, but I like my LG TV and LG computer monitor. I don't cook on
>>> either one though.
>>
>> We've got a washer of theirs that works -- slightly closer to a stove
>> than a TV, maybe. It's been good so far.
>
> We have a LG washer and dryer. The controls are not like any W/D that
> we've had before although it's easy enough to operate once you learn
> how. There's a big dial for the wash settings, an on/off switch, a
> bunch of buttons that I don't mess with, and a run/pause button that's
> sort of like something you'd find on a DVD player. There a pretty icon
> panel that I don't know how to interpret with a big numeric display
> that shows the estimated number of minutes remaining for the wash. I
> was somewhat shocked that the normal wash takes about 50 minutes.
>
> As it goes, we're pretty much an all Korean family. Even our car and
> my mother-in-law are Korean. So far, these K-products have preformed
> quite competently, although my mother-in-law looks like hell.

So, practical, but not necessarily pretty? :-)
--
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