Induction Reasoning......

Just so I don't have to guess ... is the Marketplace show that you've linked the same "government funded radio" story you mention in paragraph 4, or was that a different one?

 

The idea that gas stoves could be banned is hilarious. Who'd enforce the ban? The Gas-tapo?

Anyway...

 

T minus 21 days to our induction range installation.

Electric upgrade went well. Countertop guy coming in next.

In my travels I've been put up in short-term apartments, some of which included kitchens. A fraction of those included induction cooktops. So I reckon I've cooked 20-odd dinners on them while on the road recently.

If those were fair examples of the breed, I'm going to have a lot of fun cooking with this new rig.

 

My gas stove identifies as electric, so that's that! (I can play their stupid games, too!)

What's extra funny is that almost ALL RV's have gas stoves, for obvious reasons. Are we going to "ban" those, too?

The stupidity of the extremist-leftists are just jokes writing themselves!!

I have a copy of the US Constitution...these clowns REALLY need to start reading it! (Especially politicians who swear an oath to protect and defend it yet they often do the opposite.)

In other news, Wyoming lawmakers are proposing we ban EV's! How fun is this???

https://www.wane.com/news/wyoming-lawmakers-propose-ban-on-electric-vehicle-sales/#:~:text=(The%20Hill)%20%E2%80%93%20A%20group,safeguard%20oil%20and%20gas%20industries.

 

How many here are crying about the loss of lead paint, or the dirty emissions from cars?

There is evidence of of public health issues with the use of gas stoves. Methods to address this risk is being considered. Possible solutions include emission regulations for stoves and better venting requirements. This will be applied to new stoves or construction. Sources just talking about a ban are just looking for something to be outraged about.

Lead paint wasn't pulled off the shelves, and you weren't required to strip it off or paint over it. If a ban on gas stoves happen, it will only apply to new, and not existing, stoves.

Oil and gas is used for a lot more than fueling cars. Not sure how much banning EVs would protect them. Are they also going to ban hydro, solar, nuclear, and hydro power?

 

A bunch of talking heads had a lot of fun with the word 'ban'. My understanding was that even if CPSC had wanted to institute a 'ban', it would have been a lot like the way other such things get handled: after year 2032, or whenever, we don't want new ones going in. I could probably keep mine forever, and for a long time find a replacement at the Re*Store if it breaks. But saying it that way doesn't get the blood pumping quite like "God. Guns. Gas stoves."

I read the Marketplace show transcript. My takeaway: maybe there are more aspects of "the pros and cons of Induction cooking" than the guest spoke to. On the the other hand, I didn't notice the guest speaking outside of expertise at any point; the aspects that he did speak about were exactly the kinds of things you'd expect a person directing a climate and energy research program to be knowledgeable about.

The linked Good Housekeeping article bothered me for the first four paragraphs or so with how garbled it got the physics: there's a fine line between "I'm explaining this complicated physics to dummies" and "I'm making this physics complicated like a dummy". But the article does go on to touch on aspects of the experience of cooking on induction, an area that wasn't really in the Marketplace show.

This article seems about comparable to the Good Housekeeping one, but with a less cringey treatment of the physics:

Pros and Cons of Induction Cooktops and Ranges - Consumer Reports

It still says "it generates energy from an electromagnetic field below the glass"—no gang, it ain't generating the energy, your friendly neighborhood power plant did that—but I'll take one minor word-choice quibble over a paragraph of gobbledygook any day.

Some more specific efficiency numbers can be found here

2021-2022 Residential Induction Cooking Tops | ENERGY STAR

... though compiled, of course, by the people I pay through my taxes to quantitatively evaluate such things, which may be anathema to some.

I live in a part of the country where natural gas hookups are common, and I kind of like the redundancy of not necessarily losing hot water or cooking ability with an electric outage. I actually haven't used my gas range for a while now; it's a vintage one, and the burner valves had started detectably leaking, and I bought some high-temp gas valve grease to restore them, but wouldn't you know, it has the exact type of valve reported to be impossible to disassemble and restore, so I turned the gas off behind it while deciding what to do next, and that was several years ago.

Hmm, I wonder if I could get an induction drop-in cooktop and redavinate it into the top of my vintage range. The oven would still be gas, but probably accounts for less usage than the burners anyway.

The other irksome point for me is that for a good part of my early adulthood I had a motley collection of cheap cookware picked up at various times, mostly aluminum, but some time back around when I switched from renter to homeowner, I celebrated with a whole set of matching Farberware stainless. And now I check on Farberware's web site, and yes, they do sell stainless cookware that works on induction, but at least according to their site, the set I have ... doesn't. Sheesh.

Also, I enjoy supporting the Re*Store with my appliance purchases, and I haven't started to see induction units showing up there yet.

Gas stoves that are less vintage than mine often have electronic controls that complicate the "still works in an electric outage" argument. Maybe the top burners can still be used. Oven more likely a lost cause. Had a friend who lost a cake that was in the gas oven when the electric went out. My vintage oven, however, would not miss a beat.

 

Dang, should I swap out my resistive stove top and oven for gas fired ones to take umbrage? I don't think so.

This is just more "owning the libs," right-wing nut, Q-anon nonsense. Ban gas lines and large propane tanks to new developments and then update new construction building codes. Over time, the 'problem' is solved.

Bob Wilson

 

Touch screens can be the Achilles heel of stoves, regardless of their propulsion method.

 

I don't think that you have to go to the feds to outlaw gas stoves. All you have to do is to ban installing NG lines to new construction, as has already happened in San Francisco as of two years ago. That way you don't need any expertise or even feasibility studies in order to write the regulations that force the change.

https://lpdd.org/resources/san-francisco-natural-gas-ban-in-new-construction/

Excerpt from that web site:

Unfortunately, it fails to take into account the impact of shifting all that new load to the electric grid. Currently, the power supplied to the SF's grid requires that they burn a lot of gas every day to handle the peak load. It's another case of tackling climate change by shifting the pollution to another area.

 

They went to electric ignition to conserve fuel. I guess you could use a match.

 

Our venerable gas fire place (installed when the house was built, around 1980) has a mechanical spark producer. You push down a spring-tensioned button and ptoing, there's a spark. It's electrical, but mechanically generated by the button push I assume?

 

Piezoelectric?

we have one on the gas grill, but the gas fireplace is automatic

 

Piezoelectric sounds like a good back up feature, for any gas appliance, in a power outage. Central heating furnaces included. If it could be done safely.

 

I need to unplug my gas stove to see if it'll work during a power outage.
I'm pretty sure the oven won't work, since the igniter is a electric heater coil. I've already had to replace it, when the oven stopped working.
Range has an automatic sparker; but I'm pretty sure if the sensors sees heat - the gas cut-offs won't engage.

I'd rather know what's going to work in a power outage, than being in an outage and finding out it isn't going to work. If it doesn't work; I'll probably move my camping equipment to a more accessible location. So I don't break my neck in the dark, trying to get to it.

PS: don't forget to notify your cell carrier; if the signal strength of your phone goes down during an outage. I'm pretty sure the backup systems didn't kick in on my nearest tower. My signal strength went from full bars to 1-2 during my last outage; indicating the closest tower to me died/shut-down. There are suppose to backup / safe guards in place since everyone relies on their cell phone. Land lines never went out during a power outage.

 

They do wear out, or, at least the ones on gas grills corrode or gum up to the point of no longer reliably working.