Tag: cooking

Oven Power Trip

Bosch Oven Power Trip

Apparently, it is quite common in Singapore (and other tropical countries like Malaysia, Indonesia) that the electric oven cause a power trip (or short circuit) due to the high humidity. Basically, the heating element tends to attract moisture, and if the moisture accumulates too much it will cause a power trip. Since the humidity in the tropics is very high, the chances of this happening is also quite high.

There are two kinds of oven power trips:

  1. Oven power trips after a certain time (e.g. 5 minutes) from turning it on
  2. Oven causes power trip immediately upon switching on power

Clearly, Case 2 is more serious than Case 1. There is a simple solution for Case 1 Oven Power Trips that you may try: first switch on the oven to low temperature (50 degrees Celsius) to dry out the moisture. Only after reaching that temperature, then slowly turn up the temperature. This may solve your problem to stop the oven power trips.

For Case 2 Oven Power Trips, it is more serious, most likely you will need to call a professional to replace the heating element. For my case, I called the Bosch service repair on Friday, and they were able to come on Monday to repair the oven. It took less than half an hour, and it was free since my oven was still within the two year warranty period.

How to Prevent Future Oven Power Trips

To prevent future power trips or short circuits from occurring in the future, the ideal case is to use the oven more frequently (in all modes!). By “in all modes” I mean that you should use all of the modes, including the upper heater, lower heating element, and/or fans. This was emphasized by the Bosch repair man. (Previously I was only using one single mode, the “fan” mode.)

At the very least, one should still use the oven at least once a month (even if it is empty inside), to dry out the moisture, for a period of 10 to 30 minutes (recommended by many online sources as well as the Bosch repair man).

 


Bosch HBL5451UC 500 30″ Stainless Steel Electric Single Wall Oven – Convection

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Philips Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker

The keyword here is “stainless steel”, because if you look at many pressure cookers, the inner pot is made of aluminum alloy. The bad thing about aluminum is that it is linked to Alzheimer’s disease. For instance, this medical paper states that “Immediate steps should be taken to lessen human exposure to Al (aluminum), which may be the single most aggravating and avoidable factor related to AD (Alzheimer’s disease).”

Philips makes one of the best brands of pressure cookers, including the famous HD2137 model which is sold in Singapore. It can be bought almost anywhere, including the Philips Qoo10 official store:

[S$147.00](▼64%)[PHILIPS]PHILIPS HD2137/62 Viva Collection All-in-One Cooker | HD2139/62 Pressure Cooker

WWW.QOO10.SG

The default Philips pressure cooker, however, comes with aluminum inner pot, no matter which model. Fortunately, there is a solution, which is to buy the Stainless Steel Inner Pot from the official Philips website.

Highly recommended to upgrade to this stainless steel inner pot.

The stainless steel inner pot is suitable for the following models: HD2137, HD2237, HD2178, HD2145. It is quite pricey at $59 (Singapore dollars), but I think it is worth it considering that it should last for a lifetime or at least a long time.

Interestingly, Philips sells these pressure cooker models mainly to Asian market. I don’t find them in the American Amazon.com website. Perhaps the American diet (steak, burgers, fries) don’t really require the pressure cooker? I am not sure.

Do check out some of the amazing recipes possible using the Philips Pressure Cooker with Stainless Steel Inner pot:

Where can I buy Staub cast iron cookware in Singapore

One of the search terms for my website is “Where can I buy Staub cast iron cookware in Singapore”. I did some research and it sounds incredible, but one of the cheapest option is actually to buy from Amazon and ship it to Singapore.

This is a good idea for several reasons.

  1. Firstly, Amazon has certain offers from time to time that make Staub cookware extremely cheap. For instance, currently the Staub Cast Iron Round Cocotte, 4-Quart (3.8 liters) is selling for USD $99.95, whereas its original price is USD $407. Hence, even after factoring in the shipping fees of around USD $30, it is likely to be cheaper than anywhere in Singapore. (See the below Staub cookware, which is selling at $99.95 and ships to Singapore.)


Staub Cast Iron Round Cocotte, 4-Quart, Cherry

2. Local e-commerce websites may not necessarily be cheaper than Amazon. Be aware of a process called “drop shipping“. That means that the local website may not keep physical stock of Staub. When you order from them, they in turn order from USA and ship it to you! Hence, if you order directly from Amazon, you skip the middleman and it should logically be cheaper.

3. Amazon has extremely good customer service (that is how they became one of the richest companies in the world). If for any reason, your cookware is damaged (highly unlikely given the durability of cast iron), you can just lodge a complaint to Amazon and they will compensate you accordingly.

See also: Cast Iron Pan Singapore Review