Stoves are a pretty big source of directly-inhaled NOx pollution that is pretty much unregulated. Turning on the vent can help if it vents outside (many do not) but often not by enough to bring things down to a won’t-give-kids-asthma level.
I recently was looking for a rental all over CA since I’m remote. I found something like 90% or more vents either don’t exist, or vent directly into the home. It’s really frustrating…
Induction range and battery backup w/solar beats gas ranges all day long. I’ll never go back to gas except for camping.
All you need to have is one gas leak before you realize that gas stoves aren’t worth it. Besides this is California, you can literally Grill year round.
Our home came with a gas stove. Was ready to get rid of it once it died. But a few years ago, there was a multi-day electrical outage. The stove could still be lit with a match, so we could at least have warm water to wash and cook.
Local utility has also been jacking up electricity prices (30% last time). Suspect people want to keep their gas stoves for the sake of reliability and cost, despite pollution concerns.
Meh. That’s what I have a propane grill with side burner for. I converted to induction 2y ago after being a gas-only zealot for years. I’ll never leave induction now!
My solution to that is to maintain a camping stove and a connector to a 20lb propane tank. You can cook for a couple weeks with that if need be, but don’t have to breathe the fumes on a routine basis.
Camp stoves that run on propane tanks you buy at the grocery store or run on “white” gas are great emergency preparedness devices.
Californians do love gas stoves, and also seem lax about proper ventilation. I even have a friend with gas (no hood vent) who’s child has asthma🤦🏻♂️. I’m not a big fan of Newsom, but I think he’s kinda right about this. Labeling on new gas stoves has almost no impact. They should require the gas company to send state-published information about indoor air quality with gas stoves. They could require hood vents to have CO sensors that turn on automatically. Almost anything would be more effective than another warning label on new products.
How about building standards where gas stoves must have mandatory venting? Builders will of course say too much red tape, gas companies will donate to politicians and we’ll be stuck here for 20 more years.
Better to just ban them state wide.
It would be better to impose a ban on new gas stoves, but the gas companies reliably fund campaigns for state legislature, so we didn’t have the votes to get something like that as far as the governor.
Bummer one day.
