My gas range developed a carbon monoxide leak. Thankfully, we have carbon monoxide detectors which saved our lives.
The Gas Company representative who came out told us that we need to run the fan every time we use the range. He said that it wasn’t necessary to use the highest setting, a lower setting is fine. He said that carbon monoxide pools behind ranges and that the fan will suck it up and blow it outside.
Personally, I want less rules/laws in life. Let me learn by my mistakes, let me decide if I want to take the chances to cook with gas. Let me decide if I want to wear a helmet when I ride my motorcycle. Let me decide if I want to purchase health insurance or not. And the list goes on and on. Enough already!!
I’m just so tired of other people deciding that they need to pass laws to protect me from me.
Laissez-Faire — leave me alone!!
The problem is when your actions create an issue for others.
You want to cook with gas? Knock yourself out. But creating a health hazard for other people who live in your house (now or in the future) is not your right. (Kinda moot since they walked that back, but thats the thread we’re in)
Want to ride without a helmet? Cool. Sign a waiver (like Florida requires) that the medical bills arent on the rest of us when you are involved in an accident (regardless of fault)…especially if you didn’t buy health insurance.
They’re not laws to protect you from you. They’re to keep everybody else from bearing the burden of your questionable decisions.
The initial comment seemed a bit stronger than just offhand. Asked about emissions, he (commissioner Trumka) said it’s “a hidden hazard,” and of banning gas stoves, “Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned”. Trumka pointed out after the flap got going, what he meant was banning future new sales, not taking anyone’s home stove. Note Trumpka is not the chair or head of CPSC, just one of the commissioners, but consumers wouldn’t necessarily know this. The attention-seeking political types who jumped the gun and started running around with their hair on fire should have known this, though.
As for “a leading cause of childhood asthma”, I’d say there is at least reason to question this factoid, and there are clear conflicts in the medical literature. Upthread at post #65, I linked a study from a reputable journal (The Lancet) in which no authors or funding organizations had conflicts of interest or an axe to grind (unlike the study that the media are all quoting now) which looked at about 500,000 children in homes in 50 countries and found no association between gas stoves and asthma.
Except mandating electric power wouldn’t reduce use of fossil fuels.
So? But it makes me feel better to drive an electric car and use an electric stove.
If municipalities plan to ban gas power, they need to ensure that the electric grid is stable.
Where I live, California, every time there is a storm, high winds or high heat many people are left without power. During the recent storms hundreds of thousands of Californians lost power. It has not been restored to tens of thousands.
My husband’s 92 year old mother lives in Berkeley. PG&E has been preemptively shutting off power during high winds so that tree branches won’t blow onto power lines and cause fires. She has had her power cut off several times for up to five days. If she didn’t have a gas range, she wouldn’t be able to heat food.
There is also a big push to reduce homelessness by building a lot of multi-unit housing structures. As we always have blackouts during heat waves due to people using air conditioning, banning gas power will exacerbate the problem.
Yep. I used to work in entertainment business management. My clients patted themselves on the back when they leased Priuses. They didn’t grasp that getting a new car every couple of years erases any environmental advantage of using alternative fuel.
Yup! PG&E is a mess, and has been so for many years (i.e. no investment in their infrastructure). Presented with the possibility of being consumed by state government they’ll hopefully improve things (like their ads say they are), but the current grid has not improved and pretty much gone downhill since I moved up here in 1998.
Don’t forget wildfires…
Similarly true on the East Coast, where I live. Our electric lines are above ground and our natural gas lines, while obviously below ground, are aging. Infrastructure investment in modern energy grid(s) is way overdue here for multiple reasons. Sigh.
It’s a big deal. But when it is windy, or snowy and their crap goes down, they simply replace it with the same old crap. I guess this is 'cause they want to get folks back up as soon as possible.
But what are they doing when they don’t have to restore power? Nuthin’! Putting lines underground will save them big time money in the future, but short of their advertising I have seen none of it.
I built my house in 2000, and it has underground connections to everything. Fallen trees in my yard have not caused a single issue. Hard to believe we still have bare wires running thru trees supported by cheap, crappy wood poles that won’t even support the added weight of insulated wires… sheesh!
For what it’s worth, a few solar panels and some batteries can generate enough power to run an induction cooktop regardless of the grid situation. I am aware that the absolute minimum investment to do this for basic induction cooking is in the high hundreds of dollars–and more likely to be in the thousands of dollars. And while it pays for itself in reduced energy costs, it’s yet another capital cost.
I also realize that solar for renters is a problem in the same way that renters usually don’t get to pick the appliances in their apartment.
For those with electric-only setups, a portable propane stove might be a good emergency item. I’m currently eyeing a $50 portable propane stove, just in case my electrical power fails. I hadn’t considered one before, but all y’all have convinced me I should have a backup just in case.
We own our single family home.
We’ve been told by solar energy companies that our house is not a candidate for solar due to our roof being small and our neighbor having a huge eucalyptus tree casting shade on our roof.
Ah yes, shading is always a fun issue when it comes to solar.
For every household and apartment dweller, the cost-benefit and scenario is probably going to be different.
I know some folks who spent a few hundred dollars on portable solar panels they can set up in their backyard if the power goes out. I know others who have set up solar panels on a small roof they built out in their yard or far away from the house (to have space to put the panels). And I know others who have tapped into a little hydropower in their stream, or have started wind harvesting. Yet others have gone with fossil-fuel powered generators (small to large in size).
But for many (and especially for apartment dwellers), there aren’t a lot of great self-sufficient energy generation options available. Some apartment dwellers will pick up a few kWh of backup batteries, and that can run a small oven or induction stovetop for a while–but it’s not a solution for long outages.
So yeah, no matter what we do, having a backup cooking option that doesn’t involve electricity may be the only option for a lot of people for some time to come.
BTW I know this is off-topic, but you may want to ask your solar installer about panels which don’t cut out when they’re partially shaded–and about a solar installation that’s detached from your house. Some solar installers don’t like doing things outside their normal box or don’t carry panels that would work for your house–but some can be very creative in finding the right and ideally affordable solution.
My husband was obsessed with adding solar panels to our house. He had several companies come out. They all said that solar wasn’t feasible for our house.
Our next door neighbor who has a larger roof and no shade trees next to her roof installed solar panels. It cost her thousands of dollars.
Thankfully, my range and heating are gas powered.
The assumption is that we will have the good sense to continue moving toward non-fossil fuel sources of electricity. Here in Upstate NY, some 95% of our electricity comes from hydro, nuclear, and wind. It can be done.
I have had a downdraft range for 17 of the past 22 years. It is not ideal but does fit the layout of my kitchen better than a hood would.
The idea is fine, although you would be the first person I’ve met who’s happy with the performance of a downdraft.
That’s odd. I was just quoted to have this done. It’s a few TENS of thousands, plus more TENS if you’ll need a new roof during the lifetime of the system. Even with the present tax credits, the break-even point is longer than I’m likely to live.
Also, removing and reinstalling the systems is $3-5k whenever you need roof work done.
