@Leo you probably need this? 
A smart panel that can allow you to optimize your power wall, among other uses.
Matt has a review of his install: This Smart Home Electric Panel Fixed My Tesla Powerwall - YouTube
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Oh very interesting. Iâll ask our electrician! Heâs coming out soon to add another charger for the Mini and a 50 amp circuit for our upcoming induction cooktop.
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You will love the new cook top!!!
Oooo. I love cooking with induction. Precise and consistent heating without all the wasted heat filling the kitchen and making this fat, sweaty guy even sweatier. Can I inquire what brand/model youâre going with? I have a GE Profile which has been fine but Iâve been disappointed by the reliability. Iâve had weird off-and-on issues where one side or another wouldnât stay on, which would somehow resolve itself after a period of time. Its just under five years old and has been going on for a few years (after the one year warranty, of course). Any problems are basically solved by replacing the board tray which is about half the price of the cooktop (which I havenât done). Replacing the glass top is most of the other half (which I have). Wirecutter actually couldnât come up with a pick for induction at all because of overall reliability problems across brands, which is super disappointing.
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We were looking at a Viking because the salesman says theyâre the best. Consumer Reports says theyâre the worst for repairs, though. So I donât know now.
Wonât buy GE - we had an entire GE monogram kitchen and itâs falling apart! Had to buy a new fridge and dishwasher.
I donât think any of the brands build anything that lasts any more. Certainly not the ânewest entrantsâ like LG or Samsung. A lot of the older brands seemed to have merged into one or two companies, focused more or branding than on durability, much like with power tools.
When I bought my fridge, stove and dishwasher, I went with the Sears [Canada] house brand, Kenmore Elite, because thatâs how you did it when I was a kid. (i.e. how my parents did it.) I got the extended warranties for each, which added thousands more to the total cost. All three of them had SIGNIFICANT repair calls in their first year, and none of them ever worked well/right. They actually took the refrigerator off site for more than 6 months, leaving me with a cheap low end rental aptartment model as a substitute, before they finally found the leak in the compressor tubing. The dishwasher was a a disaster⌠I had over 40 repair calls before my extended warranty wore outâI lost more money in time being off work than the damn thing cost me (and it was a high end model.)
My washer and dryer are the most expensive model of LG the year I bought them. (I was forced to go up market to get a natural gas dryer, or so the salesman lied to me.) Based on my experience with the kitchen appliances, I went with the extra warranty again. Lucky I did⌠the washing machine had to be completely rebuilt in the first 18 months. (And itâs acting the same way again, sadly, but is now out of extended warranty.)
Iâve become convinced that the days of buying a fridge or stove that you give away (still working,) because youâre just tired of the colour of it, like my parents did, are long gone. Now youâre lucky if you can get a major appliance that doesnât need significant repairs after just a few years, let alone one lasts a trouble free decade or more.
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We went for a Miele, when we bought a new dishwasher. It was a quality brand and it doesnât have any fancy IoT features that would make it a security nightmare after 6 months. It âdoes what it says on the tinâ, it washes the dishes (and cutlery and pans etc.), nothing more, nothing less. Hopefully it will last longer than the 8 years the old one did.
The same for our induction hob, the installer never set up the corner properly and it overheats when we do a big meal (E.g. Christmas), then the big plates cool down and donât provide enough heat to keep things on the boil (the manufacturer came out and did what they could, but the whole corner will need to be reworked to provide enough ventilation, when we get a new hob). We will probably be replacing it next year. We also has a 2 field induction hob that is portable and we use it in addition for Christmas, as well as doing Kartoffelpuffer (German potato pancakes) in the garden, they smell too much in the house!
We will probably be looking at a Siemens.
We do have a Samsung (non-smart) fridge, which is pretty good, but it is only 5 years old, so too early to tell if it was a good investment. The same for the Samsung washing machine and Beko dryer.
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Really glad to hear you like induction. Weâd like to replace the gas for environmental reasons, but I have to admit as a cook I love the instant heat. If induction can be quick and accurate and offer a good low simmer Iâll be very happy. Sounds like it can!
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Yep. Induction is great to cook with. I love to cook and have had gas ranges and stoves since I moved out on my own. After I moved in with my wife, who had an electric glasstop range, I was dying. Our second year tax return home project was new range, stove, and hood. While researching, I learned about induction and have been sold on it since. You do have to get used to it and alter how you cook somethings. Stir-fry is the main thing. Without contact, you donât have heat, so no flinging veggies around over a flaming eye, but I learned from Cookâs Illustrated that most stovetops donât get the nuclear level of heat you need for real Chinese stir fry cooking anyway and moving stuff around on a pan with a large surface area is nearly as effective. I find induction to be very precise and, as long as youâve got good pots and pans, can get ripping hot in moments. As with any new range, you have to learn what âmedium heatâ means, but once you do, you get very consistent results. I just wish there was better general reliability in appliances these days, I guess. Seems like you ought to get more than a few years out of a $1500+ appliance.
Youâve got me all excited! Thanks!
The electrician was out yesterday - we need a 50 amp circuit. As soon as itâs in we can get the stove-top.
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