MDC 3500W Induction cooktop - question

[CDS]

Hi all,

I recently finished some renos to my garage so I could use it as a workshop. Living in a colder climate I have a good industrial space heater hooked up to a 30 amp outlet. That got me thinking that I could probably hook-up a powerful induction cooktop to that powersource and do some home brewing in the garage. I went ahead and purchased an MDC 3500W induction unit, because it seemed to get good reviews. I found an adaptor that allowed me to use the same outlet that I use for the heater. So far so good!
The problem is, I did my first test tonight, using my 15-Gallon Spike kettle filled with 5 gallons of water. On high, it took the cooktop 1 hour to get the water to 208 degrees - never achieved a full boil.
I was curious if others have similar experiences, or if this is below normal performance. Since this is my first attempt at using induction, any tips or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[JAReeves]

I am researching induction brewing at the moment and stumbled upon this thread. If you are willing to share, I am wondering what you have learned in the last year about your 3500w induction burner and the brewing process using it.

 

[Barbarossa]

Hmmm yes I also wondered about 3500w induction for a condo friendly 10g batch setup. Tell us more!

 

[CDS]

Sure thing. Just an FYI, my equipment set-up is BIAB.

I actually didn't end up using the induction unit until last September, but since then I've done about 10 5-gallon batches with it. It's performed very well for me. I've kept fairly detailed stats on all of the brews.
I have to heat the garage in the winter. It's typically sitting at around 18C (~64F) on brewday. Water out of the tap this winter has been between between 7 - 10C (45 - 50F). At those temperatures, it's taking the induction anywhere between 35 - 45 minutes to heat 7.5 gallons of water up to strike temperature (say around 70C or 157F).
After mash, to bring it up to a boil generally takes about 30 minutes.
Overall, I'm very pleased with the brand and model I got. It's sturdy, quiet, and since I'm doing this out of my garage, much safer than using propane! Seems quite precise and responsive to temperature adjustments too.
I was initially worried that the surface area of the burner was too small for the diameter of my pot, as there is a stainless steel lip around the burner that prevents the bottom of the pot from making contact with the surface of the burner, but it turns out that's not actually a problem with induction.

If you have questions that I haven't answered, let me know. Happy to help.