United States moving to ban Gas Stoves

My understanding is that common CO detectors don't respond fast enough to a life threatening fire. That is why smoke detectors are still required. And why a CO detector is likely unnecessary in a home without other possible CO generators, and without an attached garage that might leak into the dwelling.

 

Many higher end chefs and restaurants have already, or are now, converting to electric induction. All the control and quick response of gas, but with far lower emissions, better air quality, ...

... and the kitchens are considerably less overheated, a great benefit to the workers in there. One news article indicated that after one restaurant's conversion, the kitchen was 15-20 degrees cooler.

No more than now. This regulation won't require removal of existing units.

How does this follow? This won't cause a ripping out existing gas service.

 

A side observation, since going with hybrid Prius and now fully battery powered Tesla, I notice the only times I smell car exhaust is on the road in city traffic. In frequently I'll roll up my windows and/or pass a stinker to avoid the ICE car stink.

Bob Wilson

 

Yeah ours was on a set of 30A fuses in a 90ish year old Federal fusebox until yesterday afternoon. Now it's all modern.

We bought a range that doesn't require 50A solely because of overhead for regulatory matters... we got a really powerful one to cook hard and fast.

And as luck would have it, every pan in the galley already attracts magnets. Can't wait to see what this does with my cast-iron wok.

--

And a new branch:

Kitchen ventilation

When we bought the house, there was what looked like a vent in the kitchen. There was a duct going out to the outside, stuffed full of rags and insulation, and no blower installed. Wires run to the location already, as if somebody was meaning to do it but it never happened.

About four years ago we hired a crew to put in a big Grainger inline blower and a variable speed control, and it has been fantastic. They inserted it into the duct up in the attic above the kitchen.

I had only ever had the crummy metal hoods with the weak little blowers, not always vented to outside. Getting a real vent system changed everything.

We can steam tamales without turning the kitchen into a sauna.

We can process our garden full of spicy peppers into hot sauces without needing gas masks.

The little bit of oil smoke from seasoning the cast iron gear- gone.

We can do Wisconsin-style fish-fry Friday without a funky smell lingering on Saturday, the list goes on.

With the wide-range variable voltage controller we can clear the room fast or make it close to silent while still giving a useful draft.

It was a huge upgrade for our kitchen in terms of quality-of-life.

 

Yes, as @Trollbait has already explained to me, I understand that a CO detector is probably not needed in a house without combustion appliances. But that was not the question I asked. I just wanted to know if the CO does not get produced if something in the house catches fire. I was wondering if there is an inherently different chemical reaction in the CO produced from combustion appliances exhaust as opposed to an accidental fire.

 

As long as the fuel has carbon, some amount will be turned into CO. It primarily comes from localized in the flame, oxygen deficits and can't really be avoided.

Bob Wilson

 

That was my understanding from the very elementary lesson in the physics (or chemistry?) class I have taken long, long time ago. Hence, my original question.

 

"No soup for You !"

 

People with birds know to avoid PTFE non-stick cookware.

I've heard a fast food chain had to precook their burgers for some locations, because their grills resulted in particulate emissions that exceeded the zoning permission.

It would be unreasonable to ban people from certain cooking methods. If the research shows gas stoves being a health risk above that of the cooking itself, maybe banning them is.

Yes, on the exhaust system, but what will a bigger impact on improving interior air quality in millions of homes. Changing building codes to require that better venting, or banning natural gas stoves? The former will only effect new construction. Old homes will be stuck with their current ventilation until a major renovation, or they are torn down. Replacing the stove in existing homes is more likely to happen.

There is nothing about each that prevents the implementation of the other.

And some places have regulations covering those VOC emissions, and some decry them as being a police state.

In many enclosed public spaces they aren't.

 

My point was that, even though house fires do emit CO, a CO detector is not a reasonable substitute for a smoke or fire detector. It doesn't react fast enough for most fires.

 

It seems that this discussion is focusing almost entirely on just a possible ban, and giving short shrift to the other mentioned options. So, as a reminder, here are some of the other possible choices:

Also:

"In an interview with Bloomberg, Richard Trumka, Jr., a commissioner at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said the agency would consider a range of options, including restricting manufacturing or importing gas stoves and/or putting emissions standards on the products, ..."

 

"People with birds know to avoid PTFE non-stick cookware." That's a big favorite of mine @Trollbait

Bird lungs are different from others in a way that makes them very sensitive to teflon thermal decomposition products. But that's as far as I understand it. People can also get teflon fume disease, but at airborne levels that will clear the neighborhood of sparrows etc.

 

CPSC is getting out of the kitchen:

U.S. Isn't Considering Gas Stove Ban, Actually

Too hot in there

 

@tochatihu there are not many birds left around here this time of year. At least not until I fill the feeder outside my window. Than the hearty flocks so up in droves and fight over access to the perch. Than disappear again when the feeder is empty, with only the occasional re visitation of one or two trying to get the last of the seeds frozen inside the feeder.
teflon, what'll they think up next?

 

These are the bad stoves:

Half a million lives could be saved yearly by | EurekAlert!

 

These are the bad stoves:

Half a million lives could be saved yearly by | EurekAlert!

 

it's like london circa mid 20th century

 

Carnies in coal mines weren't just for brightening the place up.

Got a whole thread for that elsewhere.

Reminds me that a coworker once lost a canary due to a gas leak in his building.

 

When I was about 7, my family moved to an old house which at first had only a wood (or was it coal?) cook-stove. My mother, having been accustomed to an electric stove at our previous house, was definitely not fond of it. It did have a flue to the outdoors, I think. As soon as possible, my uncle installed wiring for an electric stove.

 

The Greatest Show Under the Earth?