wrote in message
...
On Tue, 31 Jul 2012 19:47:18 +0100, "Gareth Magennis"
wrote:

Hmmm, slightly off topic but here we go.


I have just had delivered, and installed, a new Gas Cooker. I am in the
UK.

It seems to me that the cooker is woefully inadequate.
A standard ring with a standard pan that fits the ring, will not make a
pan
of chips (french fries).

Similarly, the oven, which has a control up to Gas Mark 8, will not heat
the
oven higher than Gas Mark 5, and 45 minutes at Max failed to brown
properly
a Poussin for dinner tonight, and the garlic bread was similarly uncooked,
so my breath is going to stink tomorrow.


But the question is, how might you measure the power output of such a
cooker
to determine whether there is or isn't a problem with it?
All I know is that according to the Gas Safety Certificate given to me by
the installers, it is rated at 9KWHr.
(It has an oven and grill (mutually exclusive use), 2 standard rings, one
small one and one large one. I haven't a clue what this 9KWHr figure
actually means in practice)


Now, I know there are methods of checking microwave power by boiling a
known
quantity of water and timing it, so is there perhaps a similar method for
a
gas cooker?
(Obviously more difficult than the Microwave because the efficiency of
heating is going to be vastly different and very subjective).



Cheers,


Gareth.

I'm not sure how this cooker is built, but a common kitchen range
could have two burners, a grill, and an oven.

Here in the (former) colonies the usual oven has a thermostat that
allows setting the temperature up to at least 450°F (230°C for those
using a real temperature measurement system). In the absence of a
thermostat, oven temperature guages are available. If the oven cannot
be heated to the appropriate temperature for baking, something would
seem to be wrong. On the range I use the smaller oven will reach
400°F in less than 5 minutes - quite adequate for the kind of baking I
do.

Similarly the burners (presumably what you call a gas ring) will bring
a quart (liter to you) of water to a boil in about 10 minutes - about
the same time it takes me to brown a pound (half kilo) of ground beef
for whatever concoction I am preparing.

In the US gas appliances are set up for either natural gas (methane)
or LP gas (propane). The two gasses require different orifice sizes
due to the different energy content of the gasses. If a neighbor of
mine was complaining about a problem such as you describe, I would
suggest checking if the appliance was set up for propane rather than
natural gas.

PlainBill



So if a cooker had Propane jets and was run on Natural Gas, would it run
cooler or hotter?

(I'm running on Natural Gas)


Cheers,


Gareth.