Got gas?

[DDSBYDAY]

  My new old house has a gas range.  Wow!!    I had no idea what a difference it makes.  Everything from popcorn to homemade pizza needs tweeking.  I have not tried homemade bread yet but I am really  looking forward to giving it a go.

[Dotch]

I take it you've always had electric DDS? I grew up with LP gas then had electric when in college and for about 3 years once I got out. While I could make it work it took a little more anticipation on the stove top in particular. The ovens were fairly idiot proof. When we got married I figured the wife would probably want electric because that's what she grew up with. She surprised me though and insisted on gas. Since then we've run both LP and natural gas. I prefer either type as the control is more immediate on the stove top as opposed to taking the pot off the burner until it cools down slightly. Maybe the newer electrics are easier to get along with but I still cuss every time I have to flip French toast on the electric griddle for Lion's Club. I can hear the thing cycling, getting up to the set temp, then shutting down until the thermostat tells the element kick in again. Like trying to cook on a temperature controlled roller coaster!  confused-3316.gif 

[mike89]

so agree Dotch!!!

[delcecchi]

If I had my druthers, which I don't, I would have dual fuel.    That means a gas cooktop with an electric oven. 

[mike89]

interesting combo

[Dotch]

If I had my druthers, which I don't, I would have dual fuel.    That means a gas cooktop with an electric oven.

I don't use the gas oven all that often although I have no real problem with it either. It does a great job on pies when I manufacture one and Mrs. Cheviot can make bars and cakes like a champion. It's just easier and quicker a lot of the time to stick stuff in our larger model toaster oven, especially for leftovers like pizza.

[Gunner55]

We had gas here for the longest time. That way when the power went out for a while, we still had a stove. Now we don't have to worry, if the power is out for more than 30 seconds, the propane generator kicks in & it can run everything. So we have electric.

[mike89]

propane generator

how do these work compared to gas?? 

this is new to me.

thanks Gunner

[Gunner55]

It's hooked up to the 500# LP tank that we use for our furnace. We've had it run 2-3 even 4 days at a time & not have to worry. Auto transfer switch hooked up to where the power comes in & when power is out for 30 seconds it kicks in. A little spendy but cheaper to do when under construction than later. It's a 20kw so no problem running everything. Generac or Coleman, I think

[Auggie]

My Genny is dual fuel. Gasoline or LP. Not as big as yours Gunner, but I can run the whole place. And I don't have the auto start. Still have to turn a key! But it sure is nice when the whole area is dark and we don't miss but a few minutes of anything.
What I really like about the LP is not having to feed it every 6 hours. No up in the middle of the night anymore!

[mike89]

that sounds like good units.

[Gunner55]

Yeah, I kid people by tellin them the generator is big enough to run the lights at a airport.

[Dotch]

That sounds like a purty sweet unit Gunner. I've got an older 25KW Onan pto generator that takes a lot of gymnastics to get online. Plenty big enough for us. Got it from a dairy farmer who needed a bigger one because he couldn't run his silo unloader, milking machines and barn cleaner at the same time. By the time I find the pto shaft, get it hooked up and engage the double throw switch on the pole the tractor will run out of gas or the power will come back on! 

[HD]

That's the size I got...20K... I wired a plug into the main breaker box with a fuse box when I wired the house. Mine don't kick on automatically. But, it's not that big a deal to plug it in and go. Just kill the main breaker and flip the other. I can run everything, welder, AC....etc...

[delcecchi]

Strictly speaking you need a switch that prevents back feeding to the line when using the generator.   Frying the guy from the utility that is trying to fix your line is a "bad thing" as martha stewart would say. 

[HD]

Yup Del, that's why I switch off the Main panel breaker box. The barn is wired separate, so when the power comes back on, I know to shut it down and switch back.

[delcecchi]

They sell special switches to prevent you from forgetting.  Might even be code.   

[Gunner55]

The auto transfer switch is pretty handy for us, that way when we are in S Mn./ N Ia. & the power goes out up here we don't have to worry about coming back up to a mess. It's been years now but my sister & her family came up once after the power had been out & come back on while we were not here. They walked in to find that the small chest freezer that was in the entryway of the old cabin had not came back on when the power did. The smell was horrible, in fact it was so bad we had to get rid if the freezer as we couldn't get the stench out. We had to bury all the food too. Funny thing about it was that everything else in the cabin was fine, as we had 2 other refridgerator/freezers that were OK. After doing some checking it turned out that the outlet where the chest freezer was plugged in had the power come back on but the freezer didn't start back up.