I have four burners on top of my range, two pilot lights. It's not always like this but when I walk by the oven I can smell gas a little. The smell is at the pilot lights that are lit. I adjusted the flame as low as they can be and still work. I can't find any gas leaks. Does this give any clue as to what might be wrong? It's an old Tappan range, not sure how old but it's new enough that it has a black glass range door if that helps. Thanks
Go and buy a new one. It'll bake better and your house will smell better. Make sure you have the shutoff valve behind the stove. You may need to do some plumbing.
This is good advice. If you can afford to do so, buying a new gas range would be your best move. You can buy a model with no pilot light. The electronic igniters work very well.
The gas connection at the rear of the range is by far the most likely location of a leak. Humans don't have great directional accuracy in our olfactory sense, so it can be difficult for us to tell from which direction a smell is coming. Beagles, however...
Last year, I did my homework and bought a Frigidaire Gallery Series gas range. I have been very happy with the purchase ever since.
Why are so many folks on this newsgroup so anxious to tell folks to scrap the old and buy new, especially when his range requires a minor leak repair, at worse?
I don't believe in filling landfills with useable stuff.
Buying a new range without any pilot lights will save only a minor amount of energy and certainly won't save money. Why would a new range automatically bake better?
My 38 year old range bakes f "Use it up, wear it out. Make it do or do without."
I suppose the above is an archaic concept in our over-indulgent society...
So even if he gets a new stove, he may still have a problem.
You got me. You'd think this group was called alt.home.replace .
Don't know. A simple gas range can last forever, I think.
Absolutely.
And then when it's time to retire, will there be enough money?
When I was in my 20's in the 70's and lived near a college, I made a small bit of money fixing things for students. One customer in the girl's dorm wanted me to fix a sewing machine and something else. When I went to look at her stuff, she had a 12" B&W tv on the table not far from the window with a very bad picture. I lived about 4 blocks away, and had a perfect picture. But I was using an abandoned tv antenna on the roof and I had line of sight with the Empire State Building (before the WTC was built)
I told her, for free :), that if she wanted a good picture she should get some lamp cord or other wire and connect it to one or two of these two screws and throw about 3 or 4 feet of it out the window. (She was in a 10-story steel frame building, and maybe next to another building the same height. But I'm pretty sure she would find some signal if she put the wire outside of the building.
When I came back, I hadn't been able to fix the sewing machine iirc, but I had fixed the other thing.
And she had a new 12" B&W tv on the table not far from the window with a very bad picture. Instead of taking my advice, she had bought a new tv. And the picture was no better.
For the work I had done, she offered me the old tv. And I thought it was at least the price I had quoted her, 10 or 15 dollars. So I gave her the same advice I'd given her the first time about how to get a good picture, (she said nothing about having tried that the first time) and I took the old tv home, where I got a perfect picture, just using the rabbit ears.
While I hate to ruin a perfectly good mindless rant, you do realize that it is possible to sell an old range, rather than putting it into the landfill? Also, places like Goodwill and the Salvation Army take such donations, if they are in reasonable condition.
If most people held on to their old appliances as long as you do, there wouldn't be much of a used appliance market. When I was just starting out on my own, new appliances were out of my reach. The used appliances were the only things that I could afford. There will always be members of our society who will benefit from that segment of the market, or from such donations.
So, it is not so much of a crime against humanity for someone who considers his range to be 'old' (or insufficient in some way) to replace the unit with a new model, if they can afford to do so. In fact, such a practice is a vital part of our economy.
I hardly said that the above was a "crime against humanity". Perhaps your arguement is valid IF most used appliances are resold. Most aren't in my area.
Sears and other retailers contract with a trucking/disposal company who pick up the old units and bring them to a storage area near a local Sears wharehouse. They contract with a local guy who picks a few parts off of them and the carcasses are then disposed of. For a time the carcasses were sold off to a scrap metal company. Lately, scrap prices are apparently so low that most are simply hauled off to a landfill.
In another town where I have property, "white goods" must be taken to the local recycling center. Again, scrap prices are so low that it costs the town money to have them hauled away by a recycler.
Most folks who buy new appliances don't bother to sell their old ones. They simply have the new appliance dealer arrange for disposal as mentioned above.
I find that hard to believe since steel prices are at an all time hight right now. Perhaps the ones that are landfilled are mostly plastic construction?
Your community is very different from mine. Most people have their old appliances hauled away by the same company that delivers their new appliances. Sears and many smaller shops contract with one of several companies who salvage working appliances for resale, use at the local community college, Salvation Army, Goodwill and for parts. The remainder, consisting of valuable steel, get sold for scrap at good profit. I don't know where you got the idea that scrap prices are low. Steel is at a premium.
A portion of the material certainly goes to the landfill, but there are enough used appliance outlets in the area for folks to know that a major portion does not go to the landfill. Since we were focusing on WORKING appliances, it is certain that the vast majority of them go to resale or non-profit donation.
So, upgrading ranges is still a reasonable option for responsible citizens.
Doug, I like your way of thinking but I dont know how to proceed. I had a plumber come out and say no leaks at the connection but he was not an appliance person and could not tell me if the stove might have a leak and when in doubt replace. I had an appliance repair person look at it but since the burners work, oven works, pilot lit, thats all he was concerned with. No one can smell. The smell is different from pure gas coming out of an unlit burner. Could it just be something else. It came with the house when I moved in. I dont ever use the oven. It is not spic and span inside but as good as it will get. I use the burners and turn the exhaust fan on , vents outside, whenever I pass and smell something. I probably to just get a new one for peace of mind. I did get a carbon diox detector which is plugged in the adjoing room. thx, Barb
Since Doug posted his question on April 2, 2006, I have a feeling that it's time to say, "Ladies and gentlemen, Doug has left the building."
But, about your kitchen range/oven -- you can probably call your local gas company and tell them you have a faint smell of gas in the kitchen the next time that you smell it. They will probably come right out for free and check it out and will tell you if there is a gas leak anywhere (including in the flexible gas line or any of the connections). Let us know what they say.
You're asking the wrong people first. The NG company will leak test _very_ thoroughly down to pinpointing the precise location(s) with a very sensitive probe for no (or minimal) charge(*). It's part of their mandate/service.
If you eliminate gas leaks that way first, then question is whether the odor occurs while in use or only while sitting idle other than pilot(s?). Either way, it's likely an incomplete combustion issue with whichever is the one and those issues can also be resolved; typically by cleaning orifices that get plugged over the years and similar generally relatively simple fixes.
The CO detector won't find raw gas; it will alert to a dangerous global (roomwide or at its location) CO level but that is highly unlikely to ever arise from a very small localized source such as a single stove burner or pilot. A central furnace w/ a leaking manifold, yeah...
The probe the NG has likely has the facility to detect multiple and/or will have other sensors with him. That service might be a separate charge, I don't know in general.
(*) I'm going on places where I've lived which includes three states, (VA,TN,KS) where that is (or at least was when in each) part of the State Corporation Commission or whatever they call the oversight board for the utilities. It's a public safety issue they're charged with and the service is factored into their rates. It's possible there are areas where there is a service fee; I don't know but would think even if so it still would be better service for less than the commercial repair folks.
I think a simple gas stove and oven should last 200 years at least. And from what I hear, the new ones with electronic parts barely last at all. But people buy new because it's pretty or to keep up with Joneses they've never even met.
Tom and DP are right. I would suggest you also call the previous owner of the house, not with an accusatory tone or any suggestion that you woudl sue (since i'm sure you have no case anyhow.) but just asking if they have any ideas about what it might be. It could easily be something they fixed or had fixed once which started up again years later. But calling the gas company is more important than calling the prev. owner.
It's true in the 5 other states I've lived in and I'm sure it's true in all of them.
Do you folks remember the gas explosion that took place on the South side of Indianapolis about 5 years ago. It turned out it was caused on purpose by the owner. It's a shame the dummy blew up or burned down his neighbor's house too.
You don't have as much gas OP but if you smell it you should fix it.
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