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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    melb
    Posts
    25

    Default Aluminium pot modifications for induction cooktop

    This is a bit of a weird one. Planning to switch to induction cooktop and have a giant aluminium steamer which will not work on it. Im thinking it would be good to bond some stainless to the underside of it so I can use it on the induction cooktop but dont know what the best way is to do this. I read that you cannot weld SS to Al

    The other option is to buy some stainless steel plate, prob 5mm for the base and get some thing flexible SS if it exists and make my own pot so to speak and keep the exisitng upper layers to use. it would give me an excuse to buy a tig welder and learn how to do it but there is a high chance I stuff it up and just becomes an expensive failure.

    I have searched everywhere for another suitable steamer in SS but cannot find anything.

    For those who dont know what a steamer pot is/looks like its this:
    https://www.harveynorman.com.au/toqu...en-silver.html

    The bottom layer is essentially a pot where you put water to boil and the upper layers have holes on the bottom for the steam to travel up to cook the food. Its used a lot in asian cooking.

  2. #2
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    7,182

    Default

    I've uses a couple of Al saucepans and still sometimes use a coffee percolator on our induction cooktop for while.
    For the Al pans I uses a 6mm thick stainless disc our local steel merchants cut as slugs out of the sides of big SS tanks.
    For the percolator I sit it inside a small cast iron fry pan.
    AS SS is not very conductive and the Al pots are old and dented and maDe poor contact with the SS this method was really slow. In the end we just bough new pans.
    Cast iron with the Al Percolator make good contact and works a treat when teh coffee mACHINE BREAKS DOWM.

  3. #3
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    7,182

    Default

    I've uses a couple of Al saucepans and still sometimes use a coffee percolator on our induction cooktop for while.
    For the Al pans I uses a 6mm thick stainless disc our local steel merchants cut as slugs out of the sides of big SS tanks.
    For the percolator I sit it inside a small cast iron fry pan.
    AS SS is not very conductive and the Al pots are old and dented and maDe poor contact with the SS this method was really slow. In the end we just bough new pans.
    Cast iron with the Al Percolator make good contact and works a treat when teh coffee machine breaks down.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Toorloo Arm, VIC
    Age
    39
    Posts
    1,270

    Default

    Define massive.

    Bigger than this? https://www.handyimports.com.au/cata...9/category/76/

    They've got plenty of other choices here if that's TOO big, but I don't think any are bigger.: https://www.handyimports.com.au/stai...oods/pots.html

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Location
    Geelong, Australia
    Age
    57
    Posts
    2,651

    Default

    They have a 226L one too!!

    Just a thought, for a steamer, could you just throw a stainless disc inside the bottom of the pot loose?

    Steve

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    Norwood-ish, Adelaide
    Age
    59
    Posts
    6,540

    Default

    As I discovered to my disgust, not just any stainless either. Must be magnetic, so no (relatively cheap) 304.

    Michael

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Murray Bridge S Aust.
    Age
    71
    Posts
    5,942

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Jekyll and Hyde View Post
    Define massive.

    Bigger than this? https://www.handyimports.com.au/cata...9/category/76/

    They've got plenty of other choices here if that's TOO big, but I don't think any are bigger.: https://www.handyimports.com.au/stai...oods/pots.html
    Struth, I could boil my washing in one of them.
    To grow old is mandatory, growing up is optional.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Alexandra Vic
    Age
    69
    Posts
    654

    Default

    Dumb questions, does it need to be SS, won't MS do, and does it need to be fixed to the base of the ali pot?

    We have a nice expensive European induction hotplate unit in the kitchen, and an assortment of SS cookware and some Ali frypans that have some form of steel insert cast into the base. One of our existing SS frypans would not work with the induction hotplate and was passed along to a friend with a basic electric hotplate set. That pan was part of a set of Raco pots and pans, all the other pots in the set work well with the induction unit.

    My understanding is that there needs to be magnetic material in the base of the pot as the induction coils need to find a magnetic response to establish that there is cookware located on the top of the hotplate, and that whatever is there needs to be conductive so that the currents can be induced in the pot base to generate heat. Effectively the base of the pot works as a shorted turn in the secondary of a transformer, but the control system regulates the primary current to control the heat generated.

    Therefore I suspect that a flat disk of smooth MS maybe 2-3mm thick placed between the ali pot and the hotplate would serve the purposes of providing the magnetic response to allow the induction unit to operate, and allow the circulating current to generate heat and transfer it to the pot resting on top of the disk. Overall effectiveness would be determined by surface contact between the disk and pot, but the same situation would apply if the pot did not have a ferrous base insert and you tried to add a SS base to the pot by any means.
    I used to be an engineer, I'm not an engineer any more, but on the really good days I can remember when I was.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Near Bendigo, Victoria, AUS
    Age
    72
    Posts
    3,102

    Default

    The best idea above is just putting the disk of ferrous metal (anything a magnet will stick to) inside the bottom pot. I suspect a disk of mild steel that's been nickel plated would work even better than stainless steel and won't rust (the reason for using SS).
    Cheers, Joe
    retired - less energy, more time to contemplate projects and more shed time....

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