Gas Range vs Electric Range

[blas87]

I have no idea when this range was purchased, but I have a feeling it's older than I am, perhaps more older than I thought. You gotta bear in mind, these are TV dinner sized apartments, there's no way they're giving you top notch appliances. I have a new-er fridge (I'm assuming it's later 90s), but I'm assuming the last one had probably well served its many years of service. These aren't exactly efficiency apartments, either, so you get what you pay for.

[Greenday]

This thread reminds me of a friend who had never experienced a gas oven or gas stove before. When she first tried to use either, she called me freaking out. She couldn't get the stove to work and when she used the oven, a weird smell came out. When I was finally able to get out there, I couldn't stop laughing. She was just turning the knobs to the low, without letting it actually click on. That's an honest mistake. But with the oven, I turned it on and she started freaking out about the smell. "That's the gas. You'll be okay." And the smell wasn't even strong either.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Like others have said, a gas range is the best sort of range to cook on, but an electric convection oven is the best sort of oven to use.

I was going to get a gas stove but decided I didn't want to hassle around getting a gas line run to my kitchen. I'm glad I didn't do that, because later that year we got rid of our gas pack heater and replaced it with a heat pump, and got rid of our gas service, thus saving ourselves thousands of dollars.

I found out that (and this is just what I have read, so do your own research on this) gas stoves may be linked to respiratory problems. Also, a gas leak inside your house could be deadly. This made me nervous. I love, love, love to cook on gas, but not so much that the risks seemed worth it to me. Plus, I know for a fact that gas ovens suck compared to electric convection ovens.

So I ended up getting a free standing electric glass top stove, which I ADORE. You really just cannot beat a convection oven. If you have never cooked with one, you will be amazed. Also, once you get used to cooking on a glass surface, it's very nice and does a fine job. And it's easy to clean. No spills down inside your stove.

I once spilled a pot of water I'd been using to boil the skins off of squid down into my old electric range once. Yeah. I'm just saying that a solid surface that doesn't let squid water seep into is probably a GREAT THING. Take it from me.

But anyways, the new glasstops have things like "bridge" elements for large griddles and "warming" elements. You can get element arrangements to suit your needs.

Also, I find that the new steel surfaces they use on appliances now (at least Fridgedaire ones...all mine are Fridgedaire) are easy to clean. I had a very old steel microwave that was impossible to make look nice so I was very much against stainless finishes. Then I found out they've improved them.

I can usually wipe mine down with plain water to clean. Tough jobs, fifty fifty water and vinegar. Very easy upkeep.

[tropicsgoddess]

I prefer gas. I can still cook something if the power is out for one and the best part is the heat distribution more even and it turns on faster than electric ranges.

[bara]

Reparing an electice range can often be as expensive as buying a new one depending on the probelm.

Generally gas ranges are far less costly if repairs are required.

[linguist]

when my old gas range finally gave up, my landlord replaced it with an electric range. after the first month, all else being equal, i saw my electric bill go up my almost 15%, while my gas bill dropped by less than 5%. this tells me that the old beat up gas range operated much more efficiently than my brand new shiny electric range.

[Tanasi]

When we remodeled our kitchen we replaced the stand alone electric stove with a propane-powered gas cook top and a seperate stacked convection oven setup with one having option steam injection. My house came with LP heat and a 500 gallon tank in the backyard. NG isn't available in my area so knowing that I wanted a gas cooktop the wife got a LP conversion. Now I have either 8 burners and 4 of those can bee converted to a flat-top grill or a regular grill. BTW LP produces considerably less water in the combustion process than NG, you get more heat for you dollar as you're not buying as much water.
In my rentals I have electric stoves. They're considerably cheaper to buy and maintain. BTW that yellow color is not baby shit yellow but Harvest Gold. A house I bought was completely done in Harvest Gold, the kitchen appliences, kitchen fixtures, bathroom fixtures and most of the wall paint. Harvest Gold was very popular in the 60's and 70's. Green was also popular as well as a brownish-rust color.

[HYHYBT]

I love both the green and the brown, and wish they were still available. Also almond, that was popular in the 80s.

(For much the same reason that I hate that car interiors, which until the mid 90s were available in almost as many colors as the paint, now only come in shades of gray, tan, and black.)

when my old gas range finally gave up, my landlord replaced it with an electric range. after the first month, all else being equal, i saw my electric bill go up my almost 15%, while my gas bill dropped by less than 5%. this tells me that the old beat up gas range operated much more efficiently than my brand new shiny electric range.

That doesn't work as you've stated it.

[wolfie]

when my old gas range finally gave up, my landlord replaced it with an electric range. after the first month, all else being equal, i saw my electric bill go up my almost 15%, while my gas bill dropped by less than 5%. this tells me that the old beat up gas range operated much more efficiently than my brand new shiny electric range.

But how much did your electric bill go up, and your gas bill go down, in DOLLARS? If you had gas heat and poor insulation (especially if the range was replaced just as the weather got significantly colder, so non-range gas use went up at the same time that range gas use stopped), a gas water heater, and a gas dryer (especially if you did a lot of laundry), while your original electric use was just lights that you were careful to turn off when not using, the fridge, and the TV, you could have a very small percentage drop in the gas bill and a large percentage rise in the electric bill even though the drop had a higher dollar value than the rise.

BTW LP produces considerably less water in the combustion process than NG, you get more heat for you dollar as you're not buying as much water.

With both LP and natural gas, if the supplier is doing things properly, you're not buying any water - the water is PRODUCED during combustion. Natural gas is methane (CH4), while LP is a blend of propane (C3H8) and butane (C4H10). For each molecule burned, natural gas produces one CO2 and 2 water molecules, while LP (assuming pure propane) produces 3 CO2 and 4 water. Unless each methane molecule gives more than half the heat of each propane molecule (unlikely, because 2 methane would have 2 carbon to burn, wile each propane has 3, so with propane you're getting the heat of burning an extra carbon), LP will produce less water than natural gas for the same amount of heat. Whether or not you get more heat for your dollar depends on the relative prices of natural gas and LP.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Gas every time. I used electric til I moved into a new flat, which had a gas stove. It's so quick! And it's cheaper than the electric, too.

[linguist]

That doesn't work as you've stated it.

how not? if both ranges were working at similar efficiency levels i'd expect a roughly equal percentage drop in my gas bill as the percentage rise in my electric bill. since that didn't happen, i can only surmise that the electric range was using much more energy to do the same amount of work.

But how much did your electric bill go up, and your gas bill go down, in DOLLARS? If you had gas heat and poor insulation (especially if the range was replaced just as the weather got significantly colder, so non-range gas use went up at the same time that range gas use stopped), a gas water heater, and a gas dryer (especially if you did a lot of laundry), while your original electric use was just lights that you were careful to turn off when not using, the fridge, and the TV, you could have a very small percentage drop in the gas bill and a large percentage rise in the electric bill even though the drop had a higher dollar value than the rise.

the dollar amount is largely insignificant, as the per unit charges are different for each, but the rise in electricity was ~$35 while the drop in gas was ~$5. as i said, all else was equal. this happened in the spring when the weather was nice, so i was using neither heat nor air conditioning, my water heater is gas, but i used no more hot water than usual, and my dryer is electric, but i didn't do any more laundry than usual. i am careful to turn off lights when not using them, and i keep all my electronics on power strips that i turn off when not in use to prevent any passive electric usage. in fact, that month i was working a lot of overtime, so i was home less often than usual to use lights or electronics.

[Andara Bledin]

That makes me wonder just how much passive electric usage the range was using.

^-.-^

[HYHYBT]

how not? if both ranges were working at similar efficiency levels i'd expect a roughly equal percentage drop in my gas bill as the percentage rise in my electric bill. since that didn't happen, i can only surmise that the electric range was using much more energy to do the same amount of work.

Because other than the range, the gas and the electric lines are running different things. If you want which one is more efficient monetarily, you need to compare how many dollars it takes to run each. If you want to compare efficiency in terms of energy use, then you need to look at BTUs and compare *those* unit-to-unit, not as a percentage of each bill.

For example: suppose, for simplicity, that both are equally efficient energy-wise and the cost per unit of energy is the same for both utilities. If your starting bills are $100 for electric and $25 for gas, and your stove accounts for $10 of that, and you switch from the gas stove to electric, your new bills will be $110 and $15. Even though the efficiencies in both dollars and BTUs are the same, one has gone up 10% and the other has dropped 40%.

You can also get fluctuations of more than your change within what seems like the same usage, especially when you consider that they might have gone the same number of days between meter readings both months, or might even have skipped one or both and estimated. (They often do that, as any difference is corrected the next time they do read it.)

It could be a lot worse. Dad replaced his gas furnace and AC with a heat pump this past summer, and then a couple months later the gas water heater with an electric one. He wants to compare each of them separately to the old ones. Comparing upcoming bills with old ones, in no matter how much detail, will only show the combination... and special circumstances mean the bills from the in-between time are useless for comparison as well.

(They got a new floor too, right after the heat pump, which involved exposing the subfloor. The subfloor is composed of diagonal strips which do not quite touch, meaning the whole floor basically had holes in it (even not counting the rotted spots) which lost a good bit of cold air into the crawl space. The rotted spots meant the roof was bad, and they wouldn't lay the new floor until that was fixed because it would warp, and then Grandma died and the whole family showed up. So the floor was partially open for some weeks, in the hottest part of the summer, which had not happened before and is unlikely to happen again. Since I didn't have to pay for this, the worst part was the furniture and large appliances: out to the carport for floor removal, back in for use during roof repair and funeral, back out for new floor installation, back in to use, back out for sanding and finishing of the floor, back in again. Plus wallpaper removal and painting, because the leaky roof had grown mold under there too. Good thing the walls are plywood; formerly-dry-wall would have been ruined itself!)

[Shangri-laschild]

She was just turning the knobs to the low, without letting it actually click on. That's an honest mistake.

She would have had trouble with my parent's stove. It doesn't actually have a pilot light so you have to use matches as well To this day, I still get a little edgy about lighting the oven after the one time when I did it wrong and ended up with shorter eyelashes! (instead of sticking the long match in and slowly turning on the gas, I turned on the gas all the way and lit like I did with the stove burners)

It took me a while to get the hang of anything other than my parent's stove. My friend's mom freaked out when I helped her bring in groceries and I put them on the stove for space. Seeing as how there was no pilot light in the gas stove I was used to, you could put anything on top of it, no problem. Getting used to cooking on electric when I was used to gauging by flame height was weird too. I had to relearn all the heat settings I needed for stuff I had been cooking for ages! It wasn't too bad though. I still like my parent's stove though and honestly if I could have any stove, it'd be one like theirs though not all of that decision is based off the cooking sidel. They have one similar to these: http://www.antiquestoveheaven.com/universal.html and I always liked being able to roast marshmallows inside.

[HYHYBT]

Do new gas stoves still have pilot lights? The last couple I've used had electric spark things that lit the burners.