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Not at all true, at least the part about it being unable to equal the boil of an electric stove.
This. I have no problem achieving a good rolling boil with my gas stove. Yes, a lid on the pot makes it happen faster, but that is equally true with an electric stove.
OP, a pot with a good thick bottom is best. The thermal mass of the metal holds and distributes heat. If you use a thin aluminum, you will see more of a point source where the flames are, because the pot doesn't transfer heat well. If you are using a small burner, this might be the problem with the edges of your boil.
Curious. Logically, you are correct. (Thank you for the correction.) My gas cooktop has a 1600 BTU and 1200 BTU burner, and my old electric cooktop had a 2,500 watt burner, which converts to only about 8500 BTU, and a temp that is about 500 or more degrees cooler, yet my felt sense was that the electric burner heated water in a pan faster than the 1200 BTU burner does. I can't imagine that Florida water was that much warmer to start with than Alabama water.
If I want hot water for a cuppa, I use the microwave anyway. 88 seconds for a cup, two cups to boiling takes roughly 3.3 minutes.
My gas cooktop has a 1600 BTU and 1200 BTU burner, and my old electric cooktop had a 2,500 watt burner, which converts to only about 8500 BTU
Some odd numbers here. The cheapest GE gas cooktop (NOT a designer fancy one) has four burners, rated at 5,000, 9,000, 12,000 & 15,000 BTUs. Perhaps some older ones have low BTU like you, but not anything made recently.
Your 2500 watt/8500 BTU burner would be smaller than all but the smallest gas burner.
Bottom line: Gas burners put out WAY more energy than electric burners.
Some odd numbers here. The cheapest GE gas cooktop (NOT a designer fancy one) has four burners, rated at 5,000, 9,000, 12,000 & 15,000 BTUs. Perhaps some older ones have low BTU like you, but not anything made recently.
Your 2500 watt/8500 BTU burner would be smaller than all but the smallest gas burner.
Bottom line: Gas burners put out WAY more energy than electric burners.
I think Harry dropped a 0 when stating the BTU of his gas burners. It all makes sense then.
Some other posters might be onto something if the OP's gas lines are not providing proper gas pressure. That would be unusual, and it could be for a number of reasons, but it would decrease the flow of gas and drop the heat as a result.
I think Harry dropped a 0 when stating the BTU of his gas burners. It all makes sense then.
Some other posters might be onto something if the OP's gas lines are not providing proper gas pressure. That would be unusual, and it could be for a number of reasons, but it would decrease the flow of gas and drop the heat as a result.
Curious. Logically, you are correct. (Thank you for the correction.) My gas cooktop has a 1600 BTU and 1200 BTU burner, and my old electric cooktop had a 2,500 watt burner, which converts to only about 8500 BTU, and a temp that is about 500 or more degrees cooler, yet my felt sense was that the electric burner heated water in a pan faster than the 1200 BTU burner does. I can't imagine that Florida water was that much warmer to start with than Alabama water.
If I want hot water for a cuppa, I use the microwave anyway. 88 seconds for a cup, two cups to boiling takes roughly 3.3 minutes.
I find your post amusing. You are obviously an analytical guy, converting watts to BTU, and then to degrees, comparing electric to gas (I think you dropped a zero though), and knowing exact times for microwaving various volumes of water.
At the same time you are working on a feeling that electric stoves bring water to a boil faster.
The way our brains work is weird, mine included. We are analytical and logical until we are not, and the boundaries can be pretty arbitrary.
I appreciate your gracious reply to my somewhat snarky comment. My apologies for being rather blunt.
I find your post amusing. You are obviously an analytical guy, converting watts to BTU, and then to degrees, comparing electric to gas (I think you dropped a zero though), and knowing exact times for microwaving various volumes of water.
At the same time you are working on a feeling that electric stoves bring water to a boil faster.
The way our brains work is weird, mine included. We are analytical and logical until we are not, and the boundaries can be pretty arbitrary.
I appreciate your gracious reply to my somewhat snarky comment. My apologies for being rather blunt.
Please do NOT apologize for being blunt. When I am wrong, the best thing for me is to come clean and admit it, and I try to make a point of doing so. If it takes a sledgehammer to make me check my facts, I'm fine with that. I did not find your comment snarky at all, merely a challenge to my incorrect thinking. I APPRECIATE facts. Having factual information is a good survival technique.
When teaching children, social grease can make their task of learning easier. Correcting an employee or subordinate might be done in private, but public forums are a form of debate where we all learn. If someone learns from my mistake, sounds good to me.
What is going on now in my little chickpea brain is setting up an experiment for a side by side test, using a standard copper coated 2 qt Reverware saucepan with varying amounts of water. It may take some time, as I have to dig out an old electric hotplate and measure the wattage, and I have other projects. I do want to do the empirical test to re-set my felt sense, which is still going "Yes, but..."
OK, a couple people mentioned "thin vs thick bottom" pots. I'm going along that line but in a different plane.
"I've tried multiple pots" is not satisfying to me. See, when I got divorced I was literally flat broke and she took most the pots when she moved out. So I took my last $25 and I went to KMart and I bought the cheapest set of chromed aluminum pots, so thin, that the handle flexed and made noise when you moved it, and transmitted every bit of heat down the length of the handle. It was impossible to boil water in that pot without a lid helping.
Fast Forward years in time, my ship came in and my bank acct was overflowing with good fortune. I went to Bed Bath and Beyond and I bought those Calphalon stainless steel pans with a fat-bottom and a subterranean copper disk. The pan is so wide in diameter, ALL THE BLUE GAS FIRE makes contact (so no flames licking up the side and scorching the pot). This thing boils water so fast in comparison, I was pleased. You do get what you pay for, and the cheapest-crap-made-in-China does not include 7 decades of cumulative knowledge of metallurgy in the product.
A workaround for quick boiling hot water, even faster than the Microwave that my daughter taught me: my little Mr Coffee, dont put no coffee in it. It can make 1-2-3-4 cups of hot water in like 70 seconds. If you're going to boil something like pasta, let Mr Coffee jumpstart the water and let the regular pot do the rest.
Just from my own personal experience, the only difference I see between electric and gas boiling the water is that my electric boils pretty evenly and my gas "rolls" towards the middle of the pot.
I prefer the gas because Ive noticed it doesn't cause whatever I'm cooking to boil over the way it has on my electric. And for the things I personally cook, gas takes so much less time than electric.
Isn’t 212*, 212* (minus the variables)? Most all bacteria is dead at 212*- but do you need 212* to cook spaghetti? Should tea brew in a pot at 212* (that answer is No for sure)?
Speed at which a pot boils is determined by the number of eyes watching it- the more eyes, the longer the time to boil. And just for informational purposes- unwatched pots boil-over and/or burn down houses. Funny how that works!
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