6 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:
I tried to make a pretty graph for show and tell, but I lost patience. Anyhow with a thermocouple at the center of a 28cm induction compatible copper pan on the Paragon set to 150C, the temperature stabilized between 136-138C. I did not measure the temperature under the coil area.
Pretty graphs are indeed a pain. Thanks for taking the time to test that out, graphs or no graphs.
We should probably use the same thermocouples, the same pans and the same environmental conditions to measure. But for this test, I think we're okay having distinct environments.
I placed a 28cm Falk Copper Coeur frying pan at room temperature (~22C) on an 1800W Control Freak (US version). I turned the temperature up to 150C, to match the Paragon's setting. As a stress test (i.e. to induce initial overshoot), I used the high-wattage (fast) ramping setting.
I applied a Pro-Surface Thermapen (0.4C accuracy, type K thermocouple) to approximately the center of the pan.
The temperature rose quickly and overshot by 10C or so (largely due to the ramping speed, the copper pan composition and the fact that the induction coil is a ring a few inches from the center of the pan). The Control Freak regulated its temperature down and then back up, using a feedback loop to determine how to maintain a 150C temperature (+/- roughly 1C) with my pan and configuration. The temperature initially stabilized to 150C +/- 4C while it was working through its feedback loop (and it seemed to be working extra hard to figure things out, possibly exacerbated by the surface Thermapen).
The Control Freak then settled the pan center into a controlled temperature at 150C +/-1 C. My Thermapen (with spec accuracy of 0.4C) measured 150C or 151C for more than a minute.
This was an interesting "minor stress test". A few notes:
1. The Control Freak has a medium-sized coil and is spec'd for pans "up to 26 cm". This pan is a frying pan, so its base is close to 26cm but it is indeed a "28cm" pan so it's technically oversized. I usually use pans in the 14cm to 24cm range.
2. With highly-conductive pans (like the Falk Copper Coeur and the Demeyere Atlantis), I generally use a slower ramp speed to warm up the pan with minimal overshoot. So it was interesting to see the machine figure out how to ramp temperature quickly and then adjust to the power+temperature feedback loop.
3. The Control Freak's display shows its contact temperature reading at the center of the pan. That temperature reading was always within 1-3C of my Thermapen's reading and generally within 1C. It is measuring the bottom of the pan and the Thermapen is measuring the top, so that's an interesting observation.
BTW, I hardly ever cook food at temperatures over 100C on the Control Freaks. 60C (for warming), 70-80C (for most cooking) and 95-100C (for steaming and some cooking) are where I usually use it. I know it's designed for temperatures up to 230C or so--and there are presumably some good "quicker cooking" applications for that--but given that the chemistry in most foods changes in the 40-100C range (i.e. "cooks") I usually cook with precise temperatures and don't go above 100C. When I boil water, I usually do so with a setpoint just a few degrees above 100C--but of course the water cools itself at 100C until it gets superheated.
Also, I did measure the pan temperature at the edge of the pan out of curiosity. This is more of a note on the pan than on the Control Freak (since the pan is both oversized and also because it's a pan optimized for a narrow gradient of temperature rather than a tight temperature across the whole bottom). With the pan stabilized at 150C at the center (and the machine set at 150C), I measured around 138C at the edge of the pan.
