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We have been made aware of a product which has become available to allow induction hobs to work with pans that are not compatible with induction hobs. It is simply a piece of ferrous metal which the induction hob heats and if you put a pan on it the pan gets hot. It does make all pans 'usable' with induction but, if you really want to avoid buying new pans then it would be better if you bought a conventional inefficient electric hob rather than buy a heatpad to convert an induction hob into an inefficient and rather dangerous electric hob!
We would strongly advise against the use of these pads and would imagine that every responsible induction hob manufacturer would do the same for the following reasons.
The single main reason you shouldn't use a heatmat is: Most induction hobs control the heat by the power setting and the fact that the food acts as a thermostat e.g. water will not go above 100C, so you set the hob at a suitable setting, should you make a mistake or the pan boil dry the pan will overheat and if you dont smell the burning the hob safety thermostat switches the induction hob off when the pan reaches about 250C. With one of these heatmats the hob will heat it to 250C at a fairly low power setting and the safety thermostat will stop it going above 250C, you are using the safety thermostat as your control thermostat whilst taking the hob above it's designed working temperature. More importantly you have removed the 'safety' thermostat by using it as a 'control' thermostat and should it fail the hob will continue to heat until either it just dies, something melts or it sets something on fire!!!
Here are several other reasons not to use a heatpad /induction heatmat
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Induction hobs are efficient - not with a heatpad absorbing energy and heating the kitchen
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Induction hobs switch themselves off when the pan is removed - not with a heatpad
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Induction hobs only heat the pan - not with a heatpad
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Induction hobs run cool and therefore reduce the risk of injury - not with a glowing heatpad
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Induction hobs are fast - not with a heatpad
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Induction hobs are as controllable as gas - not with a heatpad
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Induction hobs are safe - not when their overheating system is used as control rather than protection as it is with a heatpad
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Induction hobs are easy to clean - not if a heatpad heats the glass so that food burns on to it when spilt
Induction hobs are a great innovation, designed to heat pans to cooking temperatures, they are not ideal and are less safe when asked to heat a third item to way above the cooking temperature so that some of that heat generated heats a pan to cooking temperature. The induction hob is designed to have a pan at up to 220 C on it (220 C is the point at which many cooking oils start to smoke and catch fire easily, its internal cooling system is based on that and the materials it is made from are based on that. To put a metal plate on it and fry would require the plate being heated way above 220C to fry effectively at high oil temperatures.
In addition to the above dozen reasons for not using these plates there is the fact that there is one good way to reduce the life of every induction hob on the market, that is to allow the internal electronics to get hot. We at Control Induction, like all manufacturers of quality induction hobs, put a lot of time and effort into giving our products a good internal cooling system, this cooling system is designed to remove heat which comes from a cooking pan on the glass. For any form of heatpad or plate to heat a pan it must be hotter than the pan. It is therefore obvious that if the plate or heatpad is much hotter than the pan it will transfer much more heat into the induction hob. Apart from the obvious energy wastage, undue strain is placed on the electrics of the induction hob and its life will be shortened.
It's not safe, it's not clean, it wastes energy and it reduces the life of your induction hob - please don't buy one, just buy some pans that work on induction.
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