Precision cooking where the Control Freak is absolutely best in class although the American version is perhaps a little underpowered with only 1800 watts. Software is indeed important for these types of induction plates.
General use as the main stove where wattage is way more important when for instance you want to boil a big pot of water or get a pan screaming hot. I’d venture that software is way less important for these - I need power.
I wouldn’t want to rely on a PIC as my main stove - they’re just not powerful or quick enough in my opinion.
So far, induction has been used professionally for maintaining temperature–or relatively small adjustments near the boiling point of water. In addition to hobs, Vollrath has made units that keep large volumes of soup warm–for example. I don’t think they’re high wattage–and I don’t know they work, but I doubt they’re very fast in warming up large volumes.
The problem I’ve observed–even with 1800 watts–is that induction starts to increase temperature on a log scale, and surge dangerously–so much, that it triggers an automatic shutoff. Rapidly increasing temperatures on induction is one of the most problematical applications. That’s an example of an application where software makes a difference.
For commercial use, Vollroth mounts four units together somewhat like a stovetop.
All the units I’ve been using are intended for commercial applications that involve subtle alterations through software controls. My Vollrath mirage has 100 power settings, and both fahrenheit and centegrade switchable adjustments across a broad range.
A multi sensor control freak would add capabilities I don’t currently have.
No that’s an PIC specific phenomena and an application where cooling fans - not software play a role. Hence why the Control Freak has two powerful cooling fans to avoid it.
Full sized hobs do not in my experience suffer from the same issues. They’re much more powerful and have been used in homes for decades in Europe by people who rely on them as their main stove.
I’ve only dealt with commercial units intended for catering. I’ve never considered the American induction home stoves, but I have gotten some portable home units for my son and several friends that were pretty good at long simmers.
I use my two induction hobs and one infrared hob as my main burners in my home kitchen. I also have two separate portable ovens–one small and one large. Everything can be taken out for catering projects.
My two Vollrath units are both 1800 watts, but the one with the advanced software heats water twice as fast.
PICs are great for applications like simmering a pot for a long time. You can put them in the corner and forget about them. That’s their sweet spot. For most other applications I would personally prefer a full sized hob. For precision cooking, the Control Freak does stand out, though.
What exactly do you think this software does? Heating water is a question of transferring energy to the water at max speed. If the difference between your units is that stark, then clearly one of them cannot be delivering the same wattage as the other in practice.
If you wish, you can go to the Vollrath site and review their videos where they give their explanation–shouldn’t be too difficult to find the links. I haven’t looked at comparisons between the units for quite a few years.
I can’t seem to find any mention of any software that would explain your observation that one 1800 watt burner heats water twice as fast as another 1800 watt burner.
the manufacturer, Vollrath, provided an explanation that led me to expect a noticeable difference, and I validated it by direct observation-comparing the units–side by side.
Any more detailed information concerning what they’ve done must come from Vollrath.
Aren’t they just deliberately lowering the output through software? So that you have 2 units with different capacity?
Theoretically, 1800w is 1800w. That should result in the same output. But software can be used so that the 2 units will have different capacities.
I know for example that BMW tune their software so that the exact same engine can deliver 20% more horsepower. The engine has the same theoretical power output but software can be used to tone it down.
I’ve never - on a gas stove - experienced warped pans. Anybody did?
The kind of pans we are talking about, e.g. Demeyere, Mauviel, De Buyer, they can withstand a lot of abuse. They may scratch and all but in terms of functionality I haven’t lost one iota over the past decade treating my cookware the way I do.
But the unit with the software is twice as fast as the other one - that doesn’t sound like lowered output?
I know the newer models have software that enable more increments in power to allow for higher precision, but I am still a bit unclear on how the software boosts the output so that it boils water twice as fast despite having the same rating
I can’t say for sure if one of my pans have warped slightly on my gas stovetop since I don’t really test it and it has to be seriously warped for me to notice it on a gas stovetop.
But the infamous Bosch induction stovetop my father has (and his neighbours) has warped 3 pans that I have seen with my own eyes - a Mauviel M’Cook frying pan, a Matfer Bourgeat carbon steel frying pan and a Demeyere Apollo frying pan.
The pans can still be used, but they are definitely warped. They are all spinners.
Warping can happen as long as there are uneven heating or sudden temperature change. Warping a pan on induction is only half the story. The other half is that… a warp pan becoming increasing uneven heating on induction. Whereas, a warp pan work better on a gas stove. I am not promoting gas heating or demoting induction heating. Just pointing out some consequences.
The lowered output is for the other one, the slower one. So theoretically they will have the same high output, but for one unit they use software to tone the power down.
I’m just making an (educated) guess here - other than this I don’t see an explanation.
Yes, I know about warping on induction and electric. On chowhound, VFish always pointed this out for her electric cooktop. But on gas? Both Claus and me use gas stoves.
