The Camel Conversion Project

[Tango]

Wow!...Pricey little puppies!

[PDBreske]

Just a quick update: I'm definitely getting rid of the propane cooktop in my kitchen. The idea of fire cooking wasn't a big deal, even after the accident, but the other night I was watching a movie and one of the characters started a gas stove and the click-click-click of the starter kind of freaked me out. I can't go back to that, and getting rid of it makes my mother happy. Unfortunately, I can't sell it or give it away. It's been exposed to an explosion and there is also a slight chance that it was the source of the leak that caused my accident, so I'd be liable if anything happened to the new owner ... and I doubt anyone would want to buy it if I tell them it nearly killed me.

So, it looks like electric cooking is in my future and I'm looking at induction cooktops. Provided I use ferrous metal cookware, it heats faster and more efficiently than electric coils or infrared. Plus, it doesn't get too hot and cools quickly, so I can get creative when I design the countertop where it will be used. (I'm thinking of a sliding drawer on the opposite side of the bus, across from the current location.)

In medical news, my right elbow has regained enough range of motion that the surgeon says we can start working on the left side. Surgery is scheduled for the second week of October provided we can get all the other related appointments lined up before then.

Already I'm doing so well that I was able to participate in our local First Friday ArtWalk last week and did quite well for myself, selling a dozen unmounted prints and a few mounted and matted prints. I was very happy that night.

[somewhereinusa]

I have a couple of induction hot plates and love them, although I haven't used them all that much. They do need some room for air circulation, they have a cooling fan with vents in sides and bottom.
Good to hear about the health progress and sale of prints.

[family wagon]

I'll be watching your induction progress with rapt attention (ok, maybe that's a little overboard). I too think induction is appealing. (I'll pack a portable propane camp stove in a storage bay, but would prefer to not use propane most of the time.)

I shopped online for a time and several units on Amazon had a zillion positive reviews. So I read the negative reviews to see whether they had any substance to them. It seemed that everything had a surprisingly small heated zone in the center, so if you put (say) a 10 or 12 inch skillet on then your scrambled eggs would cook in the middle and be runny out around the edges, or pancakes would burn in the center before they're even ready to flip at the outside. Another complaint was that larger diameter cookware like that was often related to overheat shutdowns, making it impossible to actually cook anything. Finally, though many had a large range of heat settings, I got the idea that usually it really only varied from "medium" to "high" and it was difficult if not impossible to get a true "low" heat for a gentle simmer. These were enough to discourage me from even buying one to try it out.

Mostly I searched for "portable induction" because I don't want a full residential 30" wide 4-burner cooktop (neither its size, nor its price!). Maybe that alone put me into the cheap works-but-not-great segment. If you can find a 1 or 2 burner induction unit that has the even large-diameter heating and full-range heat control that gas gives, I'd love to hear about it. I don't have a budget, per se, but I think US$350 is the pain point at which I'd say "ok fine I'll stick with propane."

[nat_ster]

I just saw a induction cook top at sears for $160, single burner.

It had settings from 1 to 10, a lock, and a timer.

Without a pan on top, it shut down in a few seconds.

I'm waiting for a sale before I buy one.

I hope they work out, as I would like to buy 2 or 3. Then I can just have countertop, and stow them away when not needed.

This also allows for modular use of electricity when not connected to shore power. The ability to use multiple 15 amp circuits.

Glad to see your back posting again. I look forward to updates.

Nat

[PDBreske]

Yeah, I really like that the induction technology knows when a pot or pan has been removed from the surface. That's pretty neat.

And I may be posting again, but don't expect any bus updates for a while; I'm still mostly unable to handle any power tools and my strength is still way down from what it used to be. Working on it.

[nat_ster]

Just knowing your still with us is good enough for me.

Nat

[CaptainInsaneo]

I would take it, I should also point out my first job out of high school was a gas grill, gas light, gas/wood stove service job and I have rebuilt more of those valves than I can count. PM me if you don't just want to throw it away I'll pay postage.

Not to sound like the mud hippie that I am but, you might look into juicing adding some ginger and turmeric to juices is easy and helps with the joints. Also a good rock oolong tea, it said to be good for the joints in Chinese medicine, personally I just like the taste of them. Keep on getting better.

[The-Breeze]

I bought a 12" Nuwave Induction Burner on one of those shopping channels almost a year ago now.

I LOVE IT !!!!!!!

I haven't even used my kitchen stove since I got it. It handles a 12" pan with no problem.

It's a NuWave PIC Pro/Titanium. The heating surface is located inside the larger silver ring. It will heat up to a 12 inch pan but from the ring to the end of the pan will take longer to heat up (about an inch & a half from ring to edge of burner)

The temperature range is from 100/low to 575/sear. On the Pro the settings can be increased by 5 degrees and the timer can be set between 1 second up to 99 hours / 60 minutes.

You can also set the timer & temp to cook for X amount of time at 1 temp and automatically change to another temp for another X amount of time. Once the temp is set it will not increase past that & if using the timer will automatically shut itself off after the preset time.

Using this has completely spoiled me and I use it ALL the time. Since I bought it at the time that you could get 2 of the older versions with free goodies for the same price I decided to give it the 30 free trial and see what I thought.

One of the major reasons I went that route is that reviews about the TV 2 for 1 version were all real bad about returns & how much it would cost & blah, blah blah. With the shopping channel I knew from the get go that if I decided to return it after using it for 30 days I would only be charged $6.99 to return it.

As this heats up so fast I can cook 2 or 3 things at a time and serve everything hot.

I even bought the NuWave Oven and the first thing I cooked was a 12 pound turkey on Thanksgiving. In fact with the oven & the burner I was able to cook all of Thanksgiving dinner.

Sorry I took so long here but as you can see, I am sold. I had even bought a propane stove for the bus and before we even got it installed I had completely changed my mind.

[PDBreske]

After that testimonial, I looked up the Nuwave and I like it. But based on what I know about my lifestyle and eating habits, I've decided to not buy a replacement cooktop until I've lived in the bus for a few weeks with nothing but the microwave/convection oven. If I find that I cannot live without some other means of burning food on a skillet or in a pot, I will probably get a portable induction unit. We'll see what happens.

[family wagon]

Yeah, wow, I hope The-Breeze somehow gets the commission for my purchase of the NuWave PIC Titanium 2015! I'll let you know how it goes in a week or so. Meanwhile.. I kind of have my eye on filling my patriotic duty on black Friday by buying a convection microwave oven. At first I thought I wanted an electric wall oven for the bus, and would deal with running the generator for the rare times when the oven would actually be used. But it'd be fantastic if we could get the job done with a convection microwave instead.

[nat_ster]

Great info guys.

Nat

[The-Breeze]

I keep editing as I hear more ...it's been on for just 37 minutes & they have already sold 3000 plus units

update 1:00am sold about 5000.

That's my last update for the night...going to see what's on other channels to see what else is on sale today that I JUST have to have LOL>>sorry!

Read up on it on QVC.COM & watch the video. Will also be able to watch edited versions during the nite & day tomorrow on the QVC & QVCP channels.

QVC must have read about my testimonial on here, cause today their "TSV" (today's special value) is the NuWave Pro Plus 8-in-1 digital Oven with additional metal rack for $89.96 with S&H of $7.00. It will be available at that price for 24 hours & then back to it's normal QVC price, usually about $30 or $40 more. AND you can get it for 4 payments of $22.49 (no interest)

It just came on at midnight so I don't have a clue what makes it a Pro Plus 8-in-1....I'll keep watching so I can find out what it is.

I see that they have a bunch of colors available which I know will be exclusive to QVC. I want the turquoise one. Some of the other colors are blue, red, white & eggplant, all exclusive.

Well so far I can see that it comes with 2 racks that can be stacked for double the cooking space. That's cool I hope they offer that extra rack for us old style users.

Oh and one thing I failed to mention yesterday is that I can disassemble it quickly & stack it into a 12" wide space about 6" or so high. Easy to find a place to store when not using.

Also with my burner...I bought it in white with black letters vs the black with white lettering as it is super easy to read.

If your considering, I would go for this deal use the he-- out of it for 30 days and send it back if you don't want it. The return shipping charges are most usually under $10 and there will be no questions asked they will just return you your money within a week of receiving it back. Of course you will be out the return charge. In fact you can just pack it back up, slap the return label on it & give it to your postman.

[The-Breeze]

Haven't heard from y'all about your PIC. Did you get one? I still love mine.

[PDBreske]

Originally Posted by The-Breeze

Haven't heard from y'all about your PIC. Did you get one? I still love mine.

Nope, didn't get it yet. Good to know yours is still highly rated!

[nat_ster]

I'm trying to find one here in Canada as I type this.

Not having any luck.

Nat

[onemanarmy]

Wow. read from start to finish, quite an ordeal, but glad to see the bus has not been given up on.

Were you home alone when the explosion happened? Did the explosion 'put itself out' and no more damage was done?

Also, you are against the generator....can the batteries keep up with microwave, tv, cooktop, refrigerator, lights, etc. if you are somewhere without shore hookup?

[PDBreske]

Originally Posted by onemanarmy

Wow. read from start to finish, quite an ordeal, but glad to see the bus has not been given up on.

Were you home alone when the explosion happened? Did the explosion 'put itself out' and no more damage was done?

Also, you are against the generator....can the batteries keep up with microwave, tv, cooktop, refrigerator, lights, etc. if you are somewhere without shore hookup?

It was just a flash fire that lasted maybe a second or less; there were no lingering flames after the explosion. I was alone in the bus, but it was parked right outside my folks' home; they heard the explosion and came a-runnin'. They've also been a huge help during my recovery.

The LiFEPO4 battery I want to get will easily handle the load, but the choke point will be the 2000-watt inverter. I'm confident I can keep my power demands below that limit when I need to. All interior lighting is LED and the greatest demands will be when using the microwave and/or the computer and all its accessories. The two chest freezers are very efficient—drawing less than 120 watts each when running—and the small window air conditioner draws only 560 watts when cooling. With my heavily insulated floor, walls, and ceiling (and almost no windows), I should be good to go. And the longer I have to wait before getting back to work, the cheaper the cost of the solar panels I want to install on the roof. (See? There is a bright side to getting blown up!)

[family wagon]

Yes, I did get the PIC back in late September. I've liked it so far. One of the first tests for it was pancakes on cast iron. Wow, it brings an empty skillet up to temperature fast!


A small disclaimer is in order: I normally cook pancakes on an electric griddle; it's been a LONG time since I did them in a skillet. Also, these were the first set I did on the PIC, so I didn't have the ideal temperature figured out yet. That said, the browning on the pancakes shows it's hotter in the middle and cooler toward the edges, but I think it's usable. I've ordered a set of 3-ply cookware with an aluminum layer in the middle; maybe I'll test that out soon to see whether it conducts heat out to the edges better than the cast iron does.

The thing I've used the PIC for most is actually pressure canning. Those turkey poults I posted on my build thread in the spring grew up all summer and I've just finished packing them into jars. (Two toms at 32 and 35 pounds dressed, and a 20 pound hen went to the freezer. The toms were enormous!) The PIC was convenient for this because once the canner was pressurized, I could turn the temperature down in 5 or 10 degree steps to minimize water loss without causing pressure/temperature to drop too low. Also, once it was up to pressure, I set the time feature for 90 minutes so it would automatically turn off when the processing was complete.

The two-plate model Offgr1d mentioned in her build thread might be a nice one to consider too, but I already had this one when that one was mentioned, and I'm content enough for now. Thanks again, Breeze!

[megapiment]

So after reading many posts, a conversion should be something along the lines of:

pull out seats
pull out old floor + isolation
pull out unused wires
raise roof (optional)
isolate
decorate
make pancakes