Gas Stove Band? We live in snow country. Oct. thru late March we often get snow. Our house is...

[usaf-vet]

... heated with a brand new natural gas heating system. The new gas furnace replaced the one I installed in 1987 (parts no longer available).

The new natural gas heating system includes a furnace and an outdoor heat pump (not geothermal) that can extract heat from cold temperatures. Really!!

For More on Heat Pumps see: [https://tinyurl.com/HeatPumpExplanation1 or https://tinyurl.com/HeatPumpExplanation2]

Ours is set to 30 degrees. When the house needs heat, the furnace starts, and if the outside temperature is COLDER than 30 degrees, the propane kicks in and ignites a flame, and the hot air is circulated to each floor register in the rooms.

If the outside temperature is 30 degrees or more (the cut-off point), the heating system EXTRACTS heat from the outside air and "pumps" it into the furnace fan system to circulate the warmed air to the registers in each room.

Three things have happened since the new system was installed. First, we received a $2000.00 rebate from a state program. Secondly, we received an additional $750.00 refund from our gas and electric vendor. Thirdly our flat monthly bill for gas and electricity was $286.00/month for 2022. Typically, this expense has increased by a few dollars each year. This year 2023 our new flat rate decreased by $80.00 each month. We are saving an additional $960.00 for the current year.

This means that in this first year, we will receive a $3710.00 payback, equal to a 38% payback for the first year. The future years we might look forward to saving ~$960.00/year (depending on many unknown factors).

NOW to the real reason I am writing this post. Obviously, we don't live in Texas, so we HAVE a stable, reliable electric provider. In the 40 years we have lived, we have seen maybe one or two electric outages per year. Some were caused by a significant accident taking out a transformer in our sector. These outages last a few hours before service is returned. Only once was there an extended outage in the cold winter months. During that outage, the temperature in the house dropped significantly. But we had one warm room in the kitchen. We could turn on our gas stove top and the oven, which kept us reasonably comfortable until the power was returned. We have carbon dioxide detectors in our kitchen area. And we cracked one of the windows to allow a little fresh air.

[maxrandb]

1. Loved the Gas Stove Bands last album

Smokey blues and Hot Rhythms.

[Effete Snob]

2. No one is banning gas stoves

[Mr.Bill]

3. True, but of course, the republicans

are framing this as "Joe Biden's jack-booted thugs are going to kick down your door and take your gas stove." And the idiots are buying it.

[raging moderate]

4. My gas stove is lit by an electrical system.

When the power briefly went out, last week and last month, the stove would not light. It is the kind that makes clicking sounds as you turn the knob. Is it possible to light these burners safely with a match? I have been afraid to try it, as we all know how explosive gas can be.

[dalton99a]

5. You can find out

Open the window to ventilate, turn off power at the panel, and use a match or lighter and see if it ignites

Do this in the daytime so you can see what you're doing

[Nictuku]

6. Yes

Just have the match ready (lit) then turn on the gas. In other words, don't have the gas on for long before getting the match near it. Should be fine.

That clicking noise is an electric starter that starts it up with a tiny spark.

[Kali]

7. stove top only can be lit by match or lighter, no problem

oven will not light without electric.

[Backseat Driver]

8. Yep, "electronic ignition" - my daughter and SIL have one of those

They also have a window very near and a CO2 monitor. The knobs to turn on the stovetop burners are in the front and click on to the highest setting. I guess it is possible to light the burners manually with long matches or battery powered BBQ lighter, and setting the burners to lowest point, but there's still a small bit of danger in doing so. She also says her monitor does increase but doesn't alert when the range is in use. In the past, their dog managed to turn on the burners, not once, but twice...past the "ignition" point (remember highest setting first). They took off the knobs when not in use. One can use the oven from controls at the back of the range and they've used that for additional winter heat to the main floor during longer-term extra-cold winter electric outages (remember the fan wouldn't distribute the furnace heat and only for hours not days) but mostly have been able to roast or grill food outdoors that might go bad from their freezers for themselves and their neighbors nearby who had electric ranges (ahhh...old percolator coffee and a Stanley thermos) during episodes like the remnants of Ike, a windstorm that took out power around the area for about one week.

[JHB]

10. Yes, it's safe. I have a similar stove and I keep a long lighter for it in case of power outages

Only had to use it once. You can use it for the burners easily enough, but the oven is more complicated. I have no idea how to use it to light that, and odds are power will be restored before you need to find out. I stuck to stove-top stuff.

Long lighters are pretty common for lighting propane grills for the back yard, so those should be easy to find. You can use long matches ("safety matches" ) too, but the lighter was easier to find so I bought that.

In a pinch you could roll up some regular paper/newspaper into something a few inches long, light it with a regular lighter or match, and use that to light the burner (then douse it in the sink). But better to have the right tools for the job on hand just in case.

[Retrograde]

11. I use a rechargeable sparker

My gas stovetop's igniter failed some years ago and we haven't gotten around to replacing it. I initially used matches, but the sparker is more reliable.

My mother had a gas oven that had to be lit with a match. That was scary when I was a kid. Her mother had a stove that burned both coal and wood, but I don't think I ever got to cook on it. If you're in a normally ventilated room there's not enough gas to explode - unless you can smell the adulterant they put in it so you can detect leaks.

It's not just people in snowy areas that have to worry about their electricity going out: floods, wildfires, and PG&E screwing around can also play havoc with the electrical supply. About 10 years ago my entire town - in the heart of Silicon Valley - lost electricity for an entire day because PG&E's idea of redundancy meant they put all main lines on the same structure - which got hit by a small plane. I was glad to have a gas stovetop that day.

[usaf-vet]

9. I realize no one is going to band Gas Stoves. In fact we JUST bought a new gas stove last Friday.

We bought it because....
1. The old one is 35 years old.
2. Parts for the electronic igniter are no longer available.
3. Two of the four burners need to be lit with a match.
4. Sadly, our locally owned non-corporate Sears store is closing because they can get products from Corporate Sears.
5. Their going-out-of-business sales had 50-75 percent markdowns.
6. We bought a $1700 dollar gas stove for $700.
7. And I want my backup emergency heat source for power outages.

Finally, many folks have been asking me what is a heat pump is and how does it work?
So I decided to put together a short explanation to use to explain it to friends.