Anova Sous Vide Circulator (Part 2)

[gfweb]

Way cheaper than the amount of gas it takes to heat up a cast iron pan!

[tdatta]

6.1 kWh over 22 hours is pretty good. Any idea what it took to get up to temp? I assume that holding temp will use far less energy than getting up to temp.

[chris_s]

6.1 kWh over 22 hours is pretty good. Any idea what it took to get up to temp? I assume that holding temp will use far less energy than getting up to temp.

Water comes out of my faucet at 120°, so I included the warm-up consumption in the 6.1 kW

[Indy D]

Thanks for doing this analysis, I have been curious about this as well. Interesting to note that you did this in a metal pot. Using a more insulated container would surely make this more efficient. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

While reheating some frozen chicken for tonight's dinner I found a possibly novel use for the Anova.  Which use had very little to do with chicken:

 

As is my wont while dinner was cooking I was summoning a zombie.  All went well till I tried to get the lid off the half liter canning jar that holds my tincture of cinnamon.  The lid was stuck on tight.  Very tight.  I tried a jar opener to no avail.  I ran hot water from the kitchen faucet over the lid.  No joy.  I had visions of blood and broken glass and melting ice.  (Feeling somewhat fortunate that I had on a cinnamon colored flannel shirt.)

 

Then I noticed the Anova in the pot next to the sink.

 

I held the lid of the jar in the 65 deg C water bath for a few seconds.  The lid came right off.  That alone was worth the price of the Anova.

[lesliec]

I had an email this morning announcing that the beta version of the Anova app for Android was available.  I haven't got home yet to really put it through its paces, but I did notice that the recipe amounts, when they're by weight at all, are in Imperial units.  I can switch Fahrenheit/Celsius but nothing else, it seems, which is sad.

 

Anybody else tried it?  How have the Apple aficionados found their version of the app? 

[Chris Hennes]

Well, I finally managed to kill one of my Anova circulators. Actually, I'm not really very sure what I did to it... I ran a rather lengthy unheated sous-vide thaw job out on my back patio in just-above-freezing temperatures, put it away for a couple months, and when I came back to it the unit tripped my breaker upon being plugged in. The good news is that Anova cross-shipped a replacement overnight when I inquired about repairs.

[Montizano]

I just got a precision cooker and a cambro 12l container.

Tested it out yesterday with 10l of water. It took about 40 minutes to go from 75f to 140f (a bit more than 1.5f/min). I've heard that the pc is only a bit slower than the Anova one, but serious eats* has the Anova one heating 4 gallons (~15l) from 80f to 140f in 20 minutes (3f/min). That's over twice as fast to heat 50% more water! A 25% increase in power should not give such a drastic increase in speed.

What results are others seeing?

-monti

*http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/12/sous-vide-circulator-review-sansaire-nomiku-anova.html

[dscheidt]

I just got a precision cooker and a cambro 12l container.

Tested it out yesterday with 10l of water. It took about 40 minutes to go from 75f to 140f (a bit more than 1.5f/min). I've heard that the pc is only a bit slower than the Anova one, but serious eats* has the Anova one heating 4 gallons (~15l) from 80f to 140f in 20 minutes (3f/min). That's over twice as fast to heat 50% more water! A 25% increase in power should not give such a drastic increase in speed.

What results are others seeing?

-monti

*http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/12/sous-vide-circulator-review-sansaire-nomiku-anova.html

 

My results are in the same ballpark as yours.  I haven't timed (or measured the volume of water, for that matter, I use a large soup pot most of the time).  You will get much faster temperature rise if you cover your water, as a substantial amount of heat is lost to evaporation.  Ambient temperature also makes a difference in how much heat is lost, as does the amount of insulation in the container. 

[palo]

I start with hot water from the tap that's close to my target temperature, never timed it but it doesn't take long. I also use a small beer cooler that I've fitted with a 2 inch rigid Styrofoam lid in which I've cut a small hole for the Anova, I also put a weight on the lid to seal it. Temperature loss is minimal.

 

p

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Mine seems to heat much faster than that...nothing scientific, but I did just finish dinner cooked with the anova.  For me heating time has never been an issue.

[scubadoo97]

I start with hot water from the tap that's close to my target temperature, never timed it but it doesn't take long. I also use a small beer cooler that I've fitted with a 2 inch rigid Styrofoam lid in which I've cut a small hole for the Anova, I also put a weight on the lid to seal it. Temperature loss is minimal.

p

I also use the hottest water from the tap, some where around 125f when I lower my Anova PC in the bath and also use a lid for the Cambro with a cutout for the IC. Maybe 10 min to hit a target around 140+. I rarely ever use my Anova One these days

[Montizano]

Jo,

Are you using a cambro 12l container? I got much better results using a stock pot but it much smaller (I'll check the size this morning). If I have to preheat I will, just want to make sure there is nothing wrong with the unit.

-Monti

[EnriqueB]

I never use my sous-vide equipments to initially heat the water. I start from hot tap water (around 50ºC) and if the target temperature is much above that, or if I'm reusing water, heat it in the stove. It is much faster. Also, home units are usually cheaper because they have just the required power to maintain a given temperature, but are quite slow to heat the water from ambient temperature. Many manuals even recommend against using the unit for initial heating and say the machine life is increased if water is heated by other means.

[paulraphael]

To heat much faster, the circulator would need to always be plugged into a 20 amp circuit, and not be sharing it with anything else that draws a lot of power. This kind of constraint goes over better in a commercial kitchen than a home one. I've never found it to be an issue ... as others do, I start with hot water from the tap, and often cook sous-vide jobs back-to-back.

[nickrey]

Another vote for starting with hot water. The circulators are designed to maintain water temperatures accurately not to heat water up quickly.

[Barrytm]

I have the Anova One, and normally use it in a pot on the stove with a silicone cover on the top.  I nearly always turn on the Anova, set the temp, and then turn on a burner and watch the temp reading on the Anova and turn off the burner when I am within a few degrees of the set temp.  I try to make sure that the gas flames are under the pot, not overlapping the side where the Anova sits. 

[NWsFirst]

If you're mathematically-inclined, a 120V 15A circuit can provide about 1800watts of power, which is equivalent to about 6000 BTUs per hour ("...the amount of work needed to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit"). Let's assume that the Anova is of this power level.

 

The volume of a pound of water is 454ml. If your 12L Cambro was half full, 6L of water is 13 pounds worth. If the heater was 100% efficient, you could calculate (I say "you" because I have been drinking cheap wine and eating expensive cheese) how long it would take to heat this quantity of water. But It isn't that efficient. So once you do the calculation, that's the minimum time it would take.

 

Once confident of the outcome, have some good white wine, and expensive cheese.

Edited September 23, 2015 by NWsFirst (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Tonight I was/am cooking again with the anova.  This time at 55 deg. C.  The starting temperature of the bath from the hot water from the tap was close to 55 deg. C.  The anova reached temperature before I could think about timing it.

 

I don't see the issue, but I too have some cheese.

[Montizano]

Thanks for the feedback. I do tend to use preheated water for all the reasons mentioned above. I was just concerned because of the serious eats article which said 4 gallons in 20 minutes for the Anova one. I haven't calculated the theoretical heating rate, but I'm guessing there was a typo in the article (4qts perhaps, instead of 4 gallons?).

-Monti

[weedy]

just to agree,

 

I have 127F tap water.

to reach it's cooking temp (almost always between 132 and 144) takes my A1 less than 5 minutes from there

 

 

also, FWIW, on a multi-day cook I have found covering the top of the 12l cambro (which is what I almost always use) with cling film works best and has the least evaporation. Much better than the plastic cover with cutout I was using for a while.

 

But on short cooks (less than 4 hours) I find a cover unnecessary on all counts

[Shalmanese]

If you're mathematically-inclined, a 120V 15A circuit can provide about 1800watts of power...

The Anova One is 800W, the first generation Anova was 1000W.

[haresfur]

If you're mathematically-inclined, a 120V 15A circuit can provide about 1800watts of power, which is equivalent to about 6000 BTUs per hour ("...the amount of work needed to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit"). Let's assume that the Anova is of this power level.

 

The volume of a pound of water is 454ml. If your 12L Cambro was half full, 6L of water is 13 pounds worth. If the heater was 100% efficient, you could calculate (I say "you" because I have been drinking cheap wine and eating expensive cheese) how long it would take to heat this quantity of water. But It isn't that efficient. So once you do the calculation, that's the minimum time it would take.

 

Once confident of the outcome, have some good white wine, and expensive cheese.

 

Don't forget a PID controller will slow the ramp as it approaches the set temperature so it doesn't overshoot. You won't be able to change that part no matter how much power you have. I suppose your PID settings could be wrong or not best for your container but I wouldn't worry if it holds the proper temperature once it is reached.

[Montizano]

@weedy - that aligns with my experience, the pc will go from 127-137 with 10l of water in about 6 minutes.

@haresfur - I measured several intermediate points, well below the pid rolloff (pc was actually set for 160 to avoid this).

Ill have to run through the calculations when I have a chance.

-Monti

[daveb]

I just start mine early enough that time is not a factor.  I suck at math.