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Gas stoves are more hazardous than we’ve been led to believe (2020)

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101–110 of 131 posts

Re: Gas stoves are more hazardous than we’ve been led to believe (2020)

#101
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is extremely common, even default in the US in my experience, to not have vent fans not actually... vent. As a renter, I don't really get a choice in the matter. Opening a window significantly is also pretty unfeasible most of the year.

Do you also have a gas stove? I’ve lived in lots of places that have unvented blowers but none of them had gas. Would be against code in almost every city in America.

The last 2 houses I have lived in both had gas stoves and unvented blowers. Both recently built.

Re: Gas stoves are more hazardous than we’ve been led to believe (2020)

#102

Once my house has a battery large enough to where I won't end up going ballistic on my energy company for having 24+ hour power outages I am fine with moving away from gas. But I am not going to live with losing power a dozen times a year for up to a day at a time because a corporation wants my life to be the tip of the misery spear instead of their profit margins taking a hit.

Where do you live ? Dozen times a year power outage sounds very rough.

Just wait until the bean counters force everyone to only use electricity for energy. Grids will be overloaded and will go out consistently. They will also just turn off your electricity if you do something they don’t like.

Re: Gas stoves are more hazardous than we’ve been led to believe (2020)

#103
post #8

OTOH if your power goes out, being able to bake a quiche and not freeze to death is useful.

How are you heating your home? Most methane furnace designs use electric blowers to actually get the heat into the home (at least in North America).

The power needed to run a small fan is a far cry from what is needed to power a stove and the rest of a household. Battery, generator or even manual power would be sufficient.

Re: Gas stoves are more hazardous than we’ve been led to believe (2020)

#104
post #69
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, gas stove unfortunately. I can't speak to code, but most people I talk to share this experience -- I assume there's grandfathering at play.

It's just illegal and no one complained or enforced.

I just looked it up and section M1503.1 of the 2018 International Mechanical Code has an exception for range hoods which allows most to be used ductless. Some states, CA for example, don't allow this but the majority of states just follow the IMC code.

Re: Gas stoves are more hazardous than we’ve been led to believe (2020)

#105
post #44

My wife and I have allergies and are poor sleepers, as a result I religiously monitor air quality in several points in the home in order to manage the air. I find CO2 ppm over 1000 provides for headaches and poor sleep. Having a modern well sealed home means you rely a lot on an HRV to exchange the air, but sometimes you need to open the windows. After all the monitoring for years I can attest that the gas cooktop ha…

No post body was provided.

Re: Gas stoves are more hazardous than we’ve been led to believe (2020)

#106

There was a bunch of articles about this in 2020. After looking into the data my conclusion is the threat is overblown (big surprise), a large part of it is from cooking of any kind (heating produces particulates) and that if you take some basic precautions (open a window, use vent fan) the risk is very low.

On the other hand, here is some actual data a guy took in his kitchen showing that the indoor air quality was as bad as the big wildfires near his house: https://twitter.com/curious_founder/status/14817464603789926...

Re: Gas stoves are more hazardous than we’ve been led to believe (2020)

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you live ? Dozen times a year power outage sounds very rough.

Just wait until the bean counters force everyone to only use electricity for energy. Grids will be overloaded and will go out consistently. They will also just turn off your electricity if you do something they don’t like.

By bean counters you mean environmentalist / climate activists convincing politicians ? A common meaning of bean counters - who only cares about money - would never do that.

And if you think general populace in the first world countries will suffer through consistent blackout, I think you are utterly and completely mistaken.

Re: Gas stoves are more hazardous than we’ve been led to believe (2020)

#108
post #100

Gas stoves are an anachronism anyway; good riddance to them. There has been no better time for electric-only cooking. Air fryers are FAR more energy efficient than ovens, and also cook faster. Sous-vide cookers are cheap and can cook certain dishes to perfection every time. Instant pot style pressure cookers cover most of the rest. And everyone already knows the convenience of microwave ovens. Unless you're cooking a…

I don't think you'll find a single cook who would prefer electric. Literally no one.

Easily disproven by comments in this and other related threads.

Re: Gas stoves are more hazardous than we’ve been led to believe (2020)

#109
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Electric kettle uses the same footprint space as a stove kettle.

Are you suggesting people put their electric kettles on the stove? Or that people place their hot kettles on the counter?

When it's not on the gas stove, it has to go somewhere.

Re: Gas stoves are more hazardous than we’ve been led to believe (2020)

#110
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s probably pretty close to a wash. A gas stove is about 40% efficient. A good combined cycle has power plant is about 60%, transmission is about 90%, and an induction stove is about 85%. That gives a net efficiency of 46%.

So that's better if you're sourced by gas, and _way_ better if you're sourced by a renewable method? Looking at the national grid [0] in the UK, 40% of our energy came from gas, and most of the rest is renewable energy or nuclear. That significantly swings in favour of electric kettles. [0] https://grid.iamkate.com/

Well you have to consider the margin. If you change out your gas stove, where is the extra bit of electricity going to come from? Probably gas, although they may build some more renewable if enough people switch.

A gas stove is one of the last things that should be converted, because heat is the most efficient use of fossil fuels.

In general, any conversion of heat energy to mechanical or electrical energy will have a fairly low efficiency, so switching an energy source in a way that adds such a conversion will have at best a small benefit.

On the other hand, switching from a gas to an electric car requires an extra heat->mechanical conversion step at the power plant, but it removes a heat->mechanical conversion step in the car, so in general this is a favorable trade.

You can also get a favorable trade in home heating if you replace a gas furnace with an electric heat pump, or a gas water heater with a heat pump water heater, because the heat pump can get effectively well over 100% efficiency.

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