After 20 years of using an electric stove, I am considering changing to
a duel fuel range. One of the key features is the front control panel,
safer for me than reaching over steaming pots to adjust the heat! I am
not really familiar with gas ranges so would appreciate answers to the
following questions: Can the gas range be used during a power failure?
Will it light with a match, since the new ones don't have pilot lights.
Are the fumes dangerous? I am concerned mostly about using the stove
during power failures, (having gone through the Ice Storm '98 and now
the Blackout 2003!)so of course the exhaust hood would be inoperable. Is
natural gas a concern for asthmatics? ( and birds)? We have a gas
furnace and hot water tank, but they are directly vented to the outside.
any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. Please note I am
not looking for a professional type of stove as I cook only when I have
too!!!!!! :-)

myrna l wrote in news:vPN0b.29445$2Z.94852
@news20.bellglobal.com:

After 20 years of using an electric stove, I am considering changing to
a duel fuel range.

I've hear of food fights, but fuel fights?

myrna l wrote:
Can the gas range be used during a power failure?

Yes, most all gas stoves can be used during a power failure but most
ovens can not because the stove only uses electricity to light the
fire once but the oven typically keeps an electric heater element hot
all the time that the oven is 'ON' and won't work without it.

Will it light with a match, since the new ones don't have pilot lights.

Yes. You just need to be careful not to wait too long after turning on
the gas before you place the match near the jets or it'll go 'foom' and
might scorch your eyebrows.

Are the fumes dangerous?

Yes and no. You are burning hydrocarbons and this produces carbon
dioxide, water vapor and consumes oxygen. Typically this is not a
problem in most homes as the regular air exchange with the outside
is more than enough to deal with the results of cooking a normal
meal. To be on the safe side you could crack a window. In some of
the newer, super sealed, houses they require active air exchangers
to deal with this and other vapor build up in the house.

The problem is if you run the burners for a long time in a sealed
house or room and deplete a lot of the oxygen. The flame starts to
produce carbon monoxide instead of dioxide and this, with the less
oxygen, becomes dangerous enough to kill. This is why they tell
folks not to use their stoves as backup space heaters.

Is natural gas a concern for asthmatics? ( and birds)?

To the best of my knowledge it's not particularly dangerous to either
people or animals. Burning a candle is probably going to do more of a
number on them than a gas stove would because gas burns pretty clean
and candles don't.

If you, or someone you know, has some particular chemical sensitivity
or problems then perhaps you should visit someone who has a gas stove
and help them cook dinner.

You should note that they do sell stoves and ovens which do not require
any electrical hookup. They use piezo ignites for the stove and a
temporary (only lit when 'ON') pilot light for the oven which is also
lit with a piezo element. These piezo elements are similar to the
kind found on many butane portable stoves and BBB lighters.

Anthony

Thanks for the information. Much appreciated.

myrna l wrote:

Can the gas range be used during a power failure?

Anthony Matonak wrote

Yes, most all gas [cooktops] can be used during a power
failure but most ovens can not

Models which utilize a "spark ignition system" for the oven (like used on
gas surface burners) can often be lit manually without power to the range.
Whirlpool's latest spark ignition gas oven models however I believe can
*not* be used that way as they are controlled electronically by a computer
board. Check the product's owner's manual or manufacturer's web site to see
if it is stated or not.

Models with an oven that has a digital (electronic) oven control to set the
temperature would also not be able to be used in a power failure. The
surface burners still would be usable.

However, since you've asked about a "Duel Fuel" ranges, those use gas AND
electricity. Typically the surface burners are gas and the oven is *all*
electric. On one of these, the electric oven would obviously not work
without electricity.

Will it light with a match, since the new ones don't have pilot lights.

It is still possible to purchase "pilot ignition" models, however, they are
much more rare.

Dan O.
-
Appliance411.com
http://ng.Appliance411.com/?ref411=Gas+Ranges

=Ð~~~~~~

"myrna l" wrote in message
...
After 20 years of using an electric stove, I am considering changing to
a duel fuel range. One of the key features is the front control panel,
safer for me than reaching over steaming pots to adjust the heat!

Just want to mention
(if hasn't been already, this is an old thread)
there are slide-in and drop-in electric stoves with front controls, that are
less
expensive than the dual-fuels.