from Hacker News

Gas stoves are more hazardous than we’ve been led to believe (2020)

by nphard85 on 6/5/22, 1:46 PM with 122 comments

• by zeroonetwothree on 6/5/22, 3:04 PM

  There was a bunch of articles about this in 2020.

  After looking into the data my conclusion is the threat is overblown (big surprise), a large part of it is from cooking of any kind (heating produces particulates) and that if you take some basic precautions (open a window, use vent fan) the risk is very low.

• by poutine on 6/5/22, 3:41 PM

  My wife and I have allergies and are poor sleepers, as a result I religiously monitor air quality in several points in the home in order to manage the air. I find CO2 ppm over 1000 provides for headaches and poor sleep. Having a modern well sealed home means you rely a lot on an HRV to exchange the air, but sometimes you need to open the windows.

  After all the monitoring for years I can attest that the gas cooktop has a massive influence on poor air quality. The vent hood helps, but does not eliminate CO2. Keeping CO2 under ~700ppm in occupied bedrooms takes some work.

  For my next house that I'm building now I've put in induction, will never do gas again. Also supersized the vent hood and HVAC systems.

  Indoor air quality is such an unappreciated topic in home construction.

• by philips on 6/5/22, 3:03 PM

  Relatedly I found this video on electric kettles vs gas stove efficiency for heating water pretty illuminating too: https://youtu.be/_yMMTVVJI4c?t=763

  The summary is that a cheap electric kettle can boil water way faster and with far less wasted energy than a stove top kettle.

• by ineedasername on 6/5/22, 3:23 PM

  I think this may get the cause of health issues like asthma at least partially wrong. Perhaps natural gas plants a part, I don't know, but it tends to be used in cooking much more often in more densely populated areas which also happen to be in closer proximity to polution-producing industries.

  The infrastructure for running natural gas lines costs money, so it is most economical in these more densely populated areas. Within 30 miles of where I live natural gas is dominant, but further out from this suburb of a major city electric heat and electric stoves are significant more common.

• by xnx on 6/5/22, 3:02 PM

  In the near future, I think we will think about indoor air quality (VOCs, PM2.5, High CO2) in the same way we think about smoking.

• by dmtroyer on 6/5/22, 3:43 PM

  ::stares nervously at unvented landlord special 1970’s stove with multiple pilot lights that is always warm to the touch::

• by was_a_dev on 6/5/22, 3:35 PM

  Does no one use a kitchen extractor fan and have a CO monitor in their kitchen?

• by dontbenebby on 6/5/22, 3:03 PM

  OTOH if your power goes out, being able to bake a quiche and not freeze to death is useful.

• by VirusNewbie on 6/5/22, 4:48 PM

  Measuring an old gas stove in a tiny kitchen seems suspect, modern homes have kitchens in much larger open spaces. My kitchen is in quite a large great room with 11’ ceilings, in combination with running the fan I have a hard time believing it would cause the same issues as it does in some of the older small apartments.

• by kstenerud on 6/5/22, 3:41 PM

  Gas stoves are an anachronism anyway; good riddance to them.

  There has been no better time for electric-only cooking. Air fryers are FAR more energy efficient than ovens, and also cook faster. Sous-vide cookers are cheap and can cook certain dishes to perfection every time. Instant pot style pressure cookers cover most of the rest. And everyone already knows the convenience of microwave ovens.

  Unless you're cooking a big roast or bird or cake, most stovetop and oven cooking can be done better with modern tools.

• by backtoyoujim on 6/5/22, 3:32 PM

  Once my house has a battery large enough to where I won't end up going ballistic on my energy company for having 24+ hour power outages I am fine with moving away from gas.

  But I am not going to live with losing power a dozen times a year for up to a day at a time because a corporation wants my life to be the tip of the misery spear instead of their profit margins taking a hit.