• Clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      Very common in the U.S. we have been marketed to for almost 100 years about gas appliances being better than electric. The common phrase “now you’re cooking with gas!” Started as an ad on radio shows like Maxwell Coffee Hour, Jack Benny, Chase and Sanborn, Johnson Wax, and Bob Hope around 1940. Now it just means you’re working hard/well, especially suddenly.

      • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Now it just means you’re working hard/well, especially suddenly.

        eh, the more we learn about gas appliances the more I think it’s gonna mean ‘you’re fine risking your children’s respiratory ability so you can have a fancy stove’.

        I mean, how much benzene comes out of an electric stove? none.

        https://www.npr.org/2023/06/16/1181299405/gas-stoves-pollute-homes-with-benzene-which-is-linked-to-cancer

        https://www.massmed.org/Publications/Vital-Signs---Member-Publication/Connection-Between-Natural-Gas-Stoves-and-Pediatric-Asthma/

        https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-health-risks-of-gas-stoves-explained/

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Agreed, and I wish I knew that when my kids were still little, but i section wasn’t available (in the US) then

          Anyhow, huge difference here:

          • a stove is open flame in the living areas. While there may be a vent and you may even turn it on, there’s a huge gap between the flame and vent. So yeah, you’re polluting your living space
          • a dryer is directly connected to a vent to outside. It may not be the best for the environment but it doesn’t affect the air in your house
          • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            a dryer is directly connected to a vent to outside. It may not be the best for the environment but it doesn’t affect the air in your house

            Does it have a pilot light? to me that’s the biggie; is there a source of gas that’s constantly on, being decomposed (via flame) leaving it’s traces around?

            Vents are great for lighter-than-air compounds; benzene unfortunately is heavier than air and will ‘pool’.

            • AA5B@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              No, modern dryers don’t have a pilot light. Most or all appliances no longer do, with the latest exception I’m aware of being fireplace inserts. I think it mostly depends on the age of your appliances

              My house was all gas when I bought it, and at the time I considered that a feature. Even back then, the only appliances with a pilot were these 1970s tech through wall heaters in the family room addition. At the time, I considered that a feature because I could have heat even if the electric were off. However I live in an urban area with very reliable power: it rarely goes out and usually only for minutes or an hour. I have never needed that feature. However, even there, they vent outside. I don’t know if it’s considered a”sealed burner” but it’s closed up in a compartment where the only way out is the vent (except when I have to relight the pilot)

              • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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                3 months ago

                unless you have a gravity furnace, that assumption - you’d have heat after the juice stops - might kill you. Without the electric blowers to move the hot air around, a gas furnace is going to build up CO2 and other waste products and won’t heat the house well because it can’t move the hot air.

                glad to see there’s no pilots on modern units, electrical starters are much more sensible.

                • AA5B@lemmy.world
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                  3 months ago

                  Nope. In this case it vents immediately outside. There are no moving parts. They don’t make them anymore

                  It heats up a radiator, so the room heats up by convection. There is a separate blower on the side to speed that up, but it’s not necessary to get the room hot

                  This is for a one room addition, so there’s no house circulation to worry about. It’s 20’x20’ so we can all sleep in there easily enough

                  • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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                    3 months ago

                    This is for a one room addition, so there’s no house circulation to worry about. It’s 20’x20’ so we can all sleep in there easily enough

                    ah, interesting case!

      • Wahots@pawb.social
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        3 months ago

        Huh, always heard the phrase as “cooking with fire”

        The firewood industry is slippery, haha.

    • invertedspear@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      They are so much better at drying than electric dryers. The gas heater dries out the air better so dries the clothes quicker. Electric just seems to make the clothes hot, but more humid. Depending on time of year and other factors they swing from a lot cheaper to operate, to eat more expensive. Not sure about the environmental impact of them though.

      • Guntrigger@sopuli.xyz
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        3 months ago

        Oh I don’t doubt it. Gas stoves are pretty common in the UK and much quicker at getting up to heat than most electric. However, the last 10 or so places I’ve lived around Eurooe haven’t even had gas connections, so I’m not sure its that common over here.