I love the speed and heat of gas but I will never have such an appliance in my house, except the gas furnace. An open flame is too risky in a frame built house. The possibility of a gas leak is also dangerous - a house destroying explosion or gas poisoning. I know I may be unecessarily alarmist. But on two occassions I did leave my
2000 watt range element at max for the hours when I was not at home. A similar mistake like that with a gas range would have left me with no home to come home to.
Gas would have saved you.
I've had gas for 58 years, electric for two in there some time ago. The only time I ever had a problem was when my daughter almost burned the house down with (mis)use of the electric range. It would not have happened with the visible flame of a gas burner. What you fail to see is the reason the electric was left on. You did not see the flame of gas that you would have turned off because you saw it. Gas would have been safer in your case, and in mine when my daughter left a pot unattended on an electric burner.
Yes, a couple of houses are damaged from gas each year, but so are people electrocuted or burned in fires stated by electricity malfunctions Funny that of 58 years of using gas, no problem, with two years of electric, the fire department had to be called out.
There is almost no difference. Electric elements certainly reach the ignition temperature of almost anything that can be dropped or fall on them. I can't imagine where leaving a gas burner on would be any different than an electric element.
Lots of luck finding anything without electronic controls.
What makes you think a Gas stove left on will be any more or less likely to start a fire than an electric? A burner with nothing on it? Neither should start a fire. A burner with food on it? Either will get plenty hot enough to start a fire. An oven? Either one should be regulated to a safe temperature by the thermostat.
People at various stages of life should not be allowed to operate certain devices, such as stoves, automobiles, etc. Any chance that's you?
I love cooking with a gas stove except for trying to SIMMER something on very low heat. The perfect setup for me would be a cooktop with at least one electric burner for that purpose. I also greatly prefer the ovens to be electric. They do make combo units with gas burners and electric oven, but that doesn't quite fufill my wish.
CWM
You just need a stove with a simmer burner..mine has a 5th tiny burner in the center, turned down it barely keeps a pot warm..which is just perfect at times. It goes MUCH lower than a normal burner. I have heard that an electric oven is better, but I can't comment on that, never had one.
Some cooking stores sell a flat, thick metal disk with a handle on it. Its purpose is to diffuse the flame so it's easier to simmer.
Thanks, Mikey. I've seen those, but they still produce a hot spot that is a problem for some delicate things. In my new kitchen I had a two burner electric cooktop with infinite temp control installed for this purpose. I used to put a heavy iron plate over a gas burner, but it was not as user friendly.
CWM
WTF did you just say?
Getting there. I am retired and live alone. I am normally pretty alert. But on those two occassions I had episodes where I am in a mental fog for weeks on end that I forgot even my own rule to always finish whatever I am doing at the stove first before leaving the kitchen. I have one of those "solid" pancake element stove where it is hard to know if the stove is on unless the pot is aboil. During those mental fog episodes I don't operate tools (eg.lawn mower, table saw) or so something where I can get hurt. But one has gotta eat. I don't have a car cuz' I don't use one enough to justify the expenses. My bicycle is good for trips to the mall (groceries, library, Dollar Store and MacDonalds, etc.) about 10 blocks away. There is a humongous multiple big box store business park 20 blocks away. The bus stop is just three houses away across my front door. Talkes me downtown in 40 minutes to my favorite restaurants. Max 1.5 hours by bus to anywhere cross town. I hardly of ever need to rent a car. For emergencies there are friendly neighbors and relatives further away. I never had to call in that favor yet. There is even a general hospital 12 blocks away. I've got it made. No way will I ever move elsewhere.
I'd hate to be around you, when you let loose.
my stove not real expensive has a simmer burner a small one and also a high btu one...
Isn't that pretty much what a double boiler is for?
Yeah, for small quantities. Won't help much for a 5 gallon pot of soup.
No, it really isn't.
CWM
This reminds me when cars were first electronic. The mechanic would charge you $500 to put it on "the machine" to determine you needed a new board for $70.
If you can isolate the problem, and buy a new board or replace the internal panel, you'd be better off than the route forced on you right now.
When my dad's starter went out in his car, he replaced the entire line for $100 instead of isolating the particular part (diagnosis $500 part $10).
How old is your oven, anyway?
Steve B wrote:
I can fix practically anything from 20 years ago and before. At least there were discrete parts where one can figure out the malfunction and replace/repair a component. With modern appliances and equipment just replace the function module. It is a problem enough to take one apart (concealed snap-on tabs) let alone ID which chip is for what and there are no replacement parts anyway. And how does one solder PCB micro traces that one can barely see as separate conductors. Pointless repairs applies to many plastic parts in that if one part fails the associated parts aren't going to last much longer anyway.
Any item $200 and under is a throwaway product if you can't fix it within 30 minutes. Professional repair services find it cheaper to replace modules. At best they may accummulate a box full of "repairable" modules and rebuild them as a batch by mixing and matching good parts from several modules. There is no money in finding out how things actually go wrong and fix that anymore.
What HE said.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.