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cuemein

Induction stove useless :-(

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Hello... looking for some help/ideas. We have an all electric 2015 Tiffin Phaeton.  Though I love the no LP factor, not being able to get 50amp hook-ups at many parks (and at the rallys) presents a problem.  The induction stove won’t work!!!  Are there 2 burner induction cooktops that will work when only 30 amp service is available???  Any ideas of what a solution to this could be????  Any help would be appreciated! 

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cuemein.  Welcome to the Forum!

I'm all electric.  You got to shut off AC and Microwave.  Then it should work!  I have a Electric stove & it draws a lot more amps than yours.  If you need all the burners at the same time, then it will  not work!

Carl

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We carry one of the portable propane stoves with us just for such an event. They can run off the green propane bottles and we keep a couple of those. The stove will burn for quite a while on one bottle, and it actually is a great little stove. They also make two-burner models but we went with the single burner because it's really easy to stow away.

When we were in Gillette on 30-amp hookups, the choice was using our electric stove or running the a/c. Since it was pretty warm we weren't keen on shutting off the a/c, so I pulled the propane stove out, set it up on top of the closed electric stove cover, and in two minutes was ready to cook dinner.

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cuemein,

Welcome to the FMCA Forum.

Please clarify something for us-- is your induction stove wired 240 VAC (i.e. requires TWO hots) or is the problem excessive draw while on anything less than 50 amp electrical service?

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Make sure that you are using induction ready cookware, aluminum, stainless steel (without iron clad) or ceramic cookware  will not work on induction stoves. Induction uses magnetism to generate heat. We have been using induction for several years and have had zero problems while using the proper cookware.

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The owners manual should say how it should be connected-- hot, neutral and ground OR TWO hots, neutral and ground.

Also,  when you say it won't work, does it do anything if it is the only 120 VAC device you are using?

Does it just not try to operate or does it try and the breaker trips?  If tripped breaker, which one-- CG breaker? Coach main breaker? Stove breaker?

Lastly, what amp breaker is the stove on and is it a duplex (two breakers pinned together just like the main breaker on 50 amp breaker panels).  That will also tell us if this is a 120 or 240 VAC appliance.

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My True Induction 2 burner has a standard 120 volt plug and runs fine on 30 amp service but if I have both Acs running I have to turn one off.  It also runs off the 3000 watt inverter.

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I also have induction heat cook top and it will not work with the dryer running but otherwise it is fine. Make sure you are using induction heat pots and pans, use a magnet to determine if they will work. If they are magnetic you are good to go. Mine works on 30 or 50 amp and we really like the system, it also works on my invertor. 

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If it has a digital readout (most induction units do), and the readout lights and shows correctly I think all is well with voltage. How many burners are on it? I did a little research on the Tiffin Phaeton, it appears that they are using 220/240 volt units due to high wattage, and of course these will not work on 30 amp service since it is 120 volts. Other people with these units are cranking their generator while cooking to get around this problem. There are several countertop units available that use only 120 volts, these units are very inexpensive and work really well. My wife uses our countertop model outside on a picnic table all the time, she doesn't like to smell the cooking food inside the coach.

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1 hour ago, kaypsmith said:

If it has a digital readout (most induction units do), and the readout lights and shows correctly I think all is well with voltage. How many burners are on it? I did a little research on the Tiffin Phaeton, it appears that they are using 220/240 volt units due to high wattage, and of course these will not work on 30 amp service since it is 120 volts. Other people with these units are cranking their generator while cooking to get around this problem. There are several countertop units available that use only 120 volts, these units are very inexpensive and work really well. My wife uses our countertop model outside on a picnic table all the time, she doesn't like to smell the cooking food inside the coach.

Kay, the 120 volt units use around 1300 watts, doable with 30 amp service = apx. 3600 watts . Thinking that each heat plate draws the same so 2 plates would equal 2600 W. pretty well  taps out a 30 amp riser.

There are a number of coaches that now use induction and I'm a little behind the curve on requirements.

Rich.

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Thanks Rich, I looked around the internet to learn that Tiffin does use 240 volt units in their coaches, the key complaint from other users is that the elements on these units is 1800 watts, that's 15 amps per element, not very doable with just 30 amp service, and the users complain that the units will not turn down low enough to just simmer food. My little 1300 watt unit will simmer and work all the way up to 400 degrees, and is thermostat controlled in 5 degree increments. One of the best things about induction cooking is using stackable cooking utensils, use one burner and stack the boilers on top of each other, it works great without mixing the foods in the same pot or pan.

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Goodness/ I must be a dinosaur. I like propane fired appliances. When you don't have power, you can still cook without having to run the genset. 

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I have a 120v, portable that I plug in outside when grilling steaks or pork, works great for beans or other foods that I can't grill...Linda has one also! :P:) We used them 2x in Gillette, I had 30A.  I did use Genny once...Rain!  Lots of others did the same! 

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The induction cooktop that Tiffin used in 2015 year models is a 240V Cooktop. This is why when I ordered my 2015 Phaeton, I specified a gas. cooktop. The cooktop can be changed to a 120V cooktop, Tiffin made this change in later years. The 120V cooktops cannot have both burners on high at the same time, as they pull more than 30 amps together.

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In our case changing from propane is near impossible. Propane dependent equipment/ water heater, two furnaces, three burner range with gas oven,, and a Dometic fridge that uses propane when no other power is available.

The cook top is nicely covered by a two piece hinged Corian cover. Previous owner did a lot of stuff with grand children. Oven baked pizza probably a requirement.

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23 hours ago, obedb said:

Goodness/ I must be a dinosaur. I like propane fired appliances. When you don't have power, you can still cook without having to run the genset. 

Me too!  I love the flexibility to be able to cook on gas while boondocking.  Also have 4 burners, and I've used up to 3 at one time.

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On 7/27/2018 at 5:14 PM, obedb said:

Goodness/ I must be a dinosaur. I like propane fired appliances. When you don't have power, you can still cook without having to run the genset. 

That's why we carry the portable propane burner - no problem cooking without electrical hookups. Best $50 I spent on accessories.

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