[Greenbuilding] [BULK] Re: cost of electric versus natural gasand gasoline

[Jeffrey Osier-Mixon]

> I am working to restore a Garland 6-burner gas stove with 2 ovens  -
> Vintage 1975-ish   -  and I intend to put a good hood over it for
> ventilation.  How can I meter this stove to see what it is using?  
>   

One way is to plug it into its own fuel source for a while, and see how 
long it takes to go through that fuel source.  We did (ok, are doing) 
the same experiment with a 1950s Wedgewood stove.  Since it is our only 
gas appliance and we haven't quite finished the exterior grading yet, we 
don't have a tank or any gas plumbing in the yard.  We run it on a 
10-gallon canister, or a 5-gallon spare when the larger one runs out.  
It takes between a month and 5 weeks to go through the 10-gallon tank, 
depending on how much baking we do.

We do keep the oven pilot on, but no pilots for the burners, for the 
same reason you suggested---no reason to keep a light on all day and 
night if it isn't needed.  There isn't any way to test this stove 
without the oven pilot, as the oven won't work without it and thus it 
wouldn't be our standard usage, since we use the oven daily, and 
lighting the pilot is onerous enough that we just keep it lit and call 
it our "central heating".  :)  I can live with a stove that only 
consumes 100 gallons a year.

> Also, BTW, I have had it "adjusted" so that I have to light it each time
> with a match, no pilot, because I suspected a long time ago that it would
> use too much propane.  The only problem with this-  so far -- is that the
> 25" griddle covers the spot to light it, and is too heavy to lift off to
> light the burner.  Any suggestions  ?????
>   

The griddles are a pain to use without a pilot.  They are always heavy 
enough to be a pain to clean when they ARE working (in my opinion only 
of course).  We tried the pilot on ours, but it keeps one section of the 
stovetop dangerously hot all the time.  Now we tend to use ours as a 
giant hot plate to hold hot pans, though someday I'd like to convert it 
to an indoor grill.  For griddle-type activities we have a great 12" 
cast iron griddle that I think we found at a yard sale for a buck, 
well-seasoned and very non-stick, perfect for flapjacks and quesadillas 
and easy to transport to the sink for a rinse (no soap on cast iron!).

Do yourself a big favor and have a good gas plumber clean and test the 
stove.  Even with good ventilation, you want any indoor gas appliance to 
be very tight.  We found our stove on craigslist for $100 and paid a 
very good gas guy about $180 to clean, lubricate, and tighten 
connections, and now it works as if it were 1950 all over again.  The 
oven is incredibly accurate. 

If you really want to use the griddle, see if you can work with the 
plumber to devise some way of introducing a flame into the line on the 
way to the griddle, maybe with one of those long-nose butane lighters.

Old stoves rock!  Best of luck