Is this one of those things we will look back at from the future and say: “I can’t believe that we did that?” like leaded fuel?
Is this one of those things we will look back at from the future and say: “I can’t believe that we did that?” like leaded fuel?
We have a propane stove due to being out in the middle of nowhere and the electric company taking 13 months to bring power to our lot. It was an expensive purchase, and I am not really looking forward to replacing it
Could someone smarter give me the “Explain like I’m five” level of info I need to prioritize this replacement?
While waiting for electricity, cook outside on a BBQ or camp stove as much as possible and open windows for a cross draft when cooking inside.
Once you have electricity, make sure you have a properly installed range hood that vents to the outside. Turn that fan on before lighting the stove and let it run for a little bit after.
I remember reading somewhere that that deals with the vast majority of the issue.
You can help out the range hood by using the back burners as much as possible.
You can reduce the use of the stove quite dramatically with an electric kettle, a microwave, and things like crock pots, toaster ovens, and electric frying pans.
One note on the BBQ: my wife does virtually all of her baking (breads, cakes, muffins, etc) on the BBQ, weather permitting.
We are also in the middle of nowhere. While we’ve always had power, it was only recently upgraded from 30 amp service to “real” power.
I hope your stove is one that runs without pilot lights. Pilot lights suck a lot of propane, and would have a proportional effect on emissions. When we switched away from pilot lights, out propane use went down from about 350 pounds a year to 250 or less.
Combustion byproducts (and gas leaks) in the house are really, really bad for your health. Should be at the top of your list health wise.
Thanks I will raise the priority a bit.
It still likely means another year with it, but it is now on the list with the propane water heater (tried to replace this over the weekend but the electric unit I was sold was damaged and the store was closed for St. Jean Baptiste day.), and the digging of a well so I can stop buying bottled water for cooking and drinking - and pumping from the creek for washing.
My grandparents died from carbon monoxide poisoning due to a propane stove (they were using it in their porch as a canning stove, to make pickles – carbon monoxide flooded the house). I’ve assuming you, at a minimum, have a carbon monoxide detector? Everything else coming from the stove kills you slowly.
Thanks. Sorry to hear about your grandparents. That is terrible.
Ours is a proper stove installed by a gasfitter, not a little countertop camp stove. And we do have multiple CO meters around the house. The camping water heater is a bigger problem. But I am replacing that this weekend.
It was more than two decades ago now. I try to see some black humour in it now. How many people do you know who’ve died in a “tragic pickling accident”?
Glad that you’re taking precautions. Learning from other people’s mistakes is a lot safer than learning from your own.
Assuming it’s properly set up a gas water heater and gas furnace are not bad because they have proper ventilation. But a gas stove is much more open, and many people don’t run the exhaust fan because it’s too loud. If you’re stuck with it make sure you run the exhaust fan on high and I would even open the windows.
The water heater is the worst offender in our house. It was never intended to be fulltime use. But I am getting rid of it this weekend. The stove on the other hand will be at least a year.
Our living situation is very different than most though. This wasn’t a choice. It took hydro 11 months to bring us power so we had no choice but to cut corners to make life somewhat livable in the absence of grid power or a budget for whole-house solar.