Scary facts about gas stoves.

[Bsuds]

I'm glad now knowing this that we don't have one.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/gas-sto ... -1.6394514

[The_quiet_one]

Oh wow .
Thanx sudsy

[Glacier]

I've known this for a long time because I just used simple logic. My furnace has to be vented to the outside and any other gas appliance like my fireplace but somehow I'm able to have an open flame burning in my kitchen that is not vented!

I do like gas, and know that there is some pollution but I think the article is exaggerated a little bit.

If I wanted to switch I couldn't because I only have a 100 amp service, and with an in-law suite I don't have the power to have two electric ranges. I keep a window cracked in the kitchen, summer and winter.

[YzzzR1]

Bwahahaha. No agenda here.

Dr. Melissa Lem is a Vancouver family physician and president-elect of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. The group ran an ad campaign last year highlighting the negative health impacts of natural gas, including those linked to:

Pollution from natural gas extraction, such as birth defects and cancer.

Climate change caused by leaking methane, the main component in natural gas and a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Indoor air pollution from cooking with natural gas. WTEff???

[The_quiet_one]

Bwahahaha. No agenda here.

Dr. Melissa Lem is a Vancouver family physician and president-elect of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. The group ran an ad campaign last year highlighting the negative health impacts of natural gas, including those linked to:

Pollution from natural gas extraction, such as birth defects and cancer.

Climate change caused by leaking methane, the main component in natural gas and a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Indoor air pollution from cooking with natural gas. WTEff???

Wonderful doctor with great information.

[Bigbacardi]

This is a joke.
If you don't have an exhaust fan running when you are using a gas cooktop, the. You deserve the Darwin Award.
Of course there is toxic fumes.....you are burning a fossil fuel.
No study needs to be done. Only common sense and good judgement.
But those are in short supply these days, most likely caused from all the bubble wrap we surround ourselves with today.

[maggiedoon]

I didn’t know that vent hoods don’t necessarily vent outside, many just filter particles and flow back into the room. As the article said, the gases arent vented outside in that case. I wonder how many people run their vent fan thinking it is venting outside?

And what about all of the other gas appliances? Furnace, water heater, dryer? All those need to be replaced too.

[GordonH]

No matter how clean burning a fossil fuel burns there still is exhaust, this is big reason many places that have indoor forklifts are now using electric.

[Silverstarqueen]

This has been known ever since forever, it's just I think that people get used to what they have been using all along. The vent hood thing is a problem, I think most people would assume a vent hood actually vents whatever is coming off the stove.
https://rmi.org/insight/gas-stoves-pollution-health

[Bigbacardi]

I am unsure why there is not a clause in the gas safety code that interlocks the exhaust fan with the gas stove.
It is extremely unsafe to have a gas stove operating without a fully functioning exhaust fan.

[seewood]

From that article : Ventilate while cooking. "Before this study, I never turned the hood on," Jackson said, noting that studies show most people don't because they're noisy.

But he's changed his habits after seeing the pollutant measurements. "Now I always turn the hood on, and I nag my friends and family to turn the ventilation hoods on when they use the gas stove, every time."

Jackson cautioned that many hood fans don't actually vent outside — they simply run air through a filter before dumping it back into the room. "And that is problematic because those filters do not scrub noxious gases."

Kahan said hood fans can help, but they only cut pollutant levels in half.

I read through the article and not once did it mention if the measurements were taken with a hood fan on/off, or was the fan ventilated outside, or what setting the fan was on.
We love our gas stove and would never go back. We will crack a window open in the kitchen, turn the fan that is ventilated to the outside on high and cook. So far, I can't remember turning the stove or oven on without the fan also engaged. Habit I guess.

[Muzza]

I didn’t know that vent hoods don’t necessarily vent outside, many just filter particles and flow back into the room. As the article said, the gases arent vented outside in that case. I wonder how many people run their vent fan thinking it is venting outside?

And what about all of the other gas appliances? Furnace, water heater, dryer? All those need to be replaced too.

I believe it is now mandatory for them to vent outside, especially for gas stoves. It should be in the latest building code.

[Merry]

I grew up in a home that had a gas stove and oven, and a gas boiler that also supplied hot water on demand, and suffered no adverse health effects. Back then, nobody had stove fans so, even though I think they probably do help improve ventilation, I don’t think the absence of one is as bad as that study implies. In the U.K. almost everyone had gas stoves and heat when I was young, and everyone seemed to be just fine.

When I first moved to Canada I had an all electric home, because we lived in an area where there was no gas. And I hated my electric cooktop. So the first thing I did when I moved to an area with gas service, was change the cooktop. However, I still have an electric oven, because I prefer electric for the oven. I just find gas works better for the cooktop.

We have a gas stove and oven in our RV, and I would think that if pollution from such things is a problem anywhere, it would be the most likely in an enclosed space such as an RV. But I love camping, so I’ll take my chances.

[maggiedoon]

From that article : Ventilate while cooking. "Before this study, I never turned the hood on," Jackson said, noting that studies show most people don't because they're noisy.

But he's changed his habits after seeing the pollutant measurements. "Now I always turn the hood on, and I nag my friends and family to turn the ventilation hoods on when they use the gas stove, every time."

Jackson cautioned that many hood fans don't actually vent outside — they simply run air through a filter before dumping it back into the room. "And that is problematic because those filters do not scrub noxious gases."

Kahan said hood fans can help, but they only cut pollutant levels in half.

I read through the article and not once did it mention if the measurements were taken with a hood fan on/off, or was the fan ventilated outside, or what setting the fan was on.
We love our gas stove and would never go back. We will crack a window open in the kitchen, turn the fan that is ventilated to the outside on high and cook. So far, I can't remember turning the stove or oven on without the fan also engaged. Habit I guess.

Is it possible to have your own house tested, just so you know your own risk level? I mean, the researchers in the article thought everything was fine in their homes too, until they tested and discovered it wasn’t.

I dunno, just a thought.

[Silverstarqueen]

From that article : Ventilate while cooking. "Before this study, I never turned the hood on," Jackson said, noting that studies show most people don't because they're noisy.

But he's changed his habits after seeing the pollutant measurements. "Now I always turn the hood on, and I nag my friends and family to turn the ventilation hoods on when they use the gas stove, every time."

Jackson cautioned that many hood fans don't actually vent outside — they simply run air through a filter before dumping it back into the room. "And that is problematic because those filters do not scrub noxious gases."

Kahan said hood fans can help, but they only cut pollutant levels in half.

I read through the article and not once did it mention if the measurements were taken with a hood fan on/off, or was the fan ventilated outside, or what setting the fan was on.
We love our gas stove and would never go back. We will crack a window open in the kitchen, turn the fan that is ventilated to the outside on high and cook. So far, I can't remember turning the stove or oven on without the fan also engaged. Habit I guess.

Is it possible to have your own house tested, just so you know your own risk level? I mean, the researchers in the article thought everything was fine in their homes too, until they tested and discovered it wasn’t.

I dunno, just a thought.

No test is necessary. If you cook with a gas stove, and it isn't vented to the outside you have the same pollutants as any other. Without venting, they hang around in your home until a fan+ open window or vent clears them out. For people with any respiratory issues, this could make them worse. In the good ol' days when there were people smoking in homes, the gas stove was just one more thing,accepted, and no big deal. Now we have standards for outdoor emissions, but someone forgot about indoor pollution from gas appliances.