Life without gas

[3beltwesty]

My old apartment in California had about 12 units per one common building; and about a dozen of the buildings. It was built about 1970.

Us renters had all electric heat, AC, stove, dishwasher.

The HOT water was via giant high recovery rate GAS water heater at the end of the building, with a recirculating pump.

Thus one had about instant hot water, that was paid by the apartment manager. Gas was only for these big hot water heaters in each building.

About every other building had a laundry room too; right next to the "service" room that had the giant water heater, cable and phone hookups, and electric meters. There was a firewall between the gas water heater and #1 apartment in the building.

*** From a renters standpoint, the apartment was "all electric" , since no gas line was available to a renter. There was gas; it just ran the water heaters or gas dryers.

The laundry room was a joke, sometimes never enough washers, never enough dryers. There was with say 24 apartments (two buildings one with the laundry room) only about 5 washers and 4 dryers. About all the time one was broken. Thus one had 4 washers and 3 dryers. At any given time the dryers were full and stopped and no tables if one wanted to remove others stuff.

The set up probably was ok if one did not have a job or had no schedule. I only used it a few times and about always went to a laundromat. One couple I knew removed anothers dry clothes since they were there for 1/2 hour already; the other couple got mad as hell. They to "get back" the couple I knew had a mystery person place manure in their clothes being dried, thus besides messing up clothes that dryer got ruined for awhile.

 

[toggleswitch]

Quote: When a gas pipe leaks in a New York City apartment building, the utility shuts off the gas to the entire building, until all the pipes in the building can be inspected or replaced. Can take months.

I dont know about that, but one learns quickly that one does call the utility anywhere, except in a dire emergency for just the above-mentioned reasons.

One shuts off the gas onself and gets a plumber out.

I am a firm believer in a back-up heating system. If you have a through-the-wall air-conditioner I recommend replacing it QUICKLY with one that provides electric or heat-pump heat.

PLEASE do not use a ventless (gas)heater in your house. These are a SEVERE and PERMANENT danger to one's health.

Best of luck.

P.S. i have been dying to find on YouTube that commercial advertisement for natural gas that has a song with "I"VE GOT GAS" in it. Hugely funny.

 

[sudsmaster]

A quick way to find a gas leak is to fill a spray bottle with a concentrated detergent solution. Then spray it on all the joints and valves. If that doesn't find the leak, try spraying the entire pipe.

It is not difficult to replace leaky gas valves. A bad joint would be another matter.

After I hired a plumber to extend the gas line to the laundry closet, and also install a shut-off ball valve on the line that goes underground to the workshop, I found a scent of gas in the crawl space. Sure enough, one of the valves that he replaced was leaking - the one to the gas furnace. It was a simple matter to replace it, once I found the correct size.

BTW, the pressure test can't be done unless all the older iron gas valves are replaced with modern ball valves, because, as I was told, the older valves can't take the pressure test. Which is why he replaced the one on the gas furnace. Wouldn't you know, that's the one that had a slight leak.

Given all that, I'm planning (someday) on extending the gas line under the house so I can have a gas dryer in the enclosed patio as well as a hookup on the outer patio (for the gas BBQ). Along with hot water line extensions for washers. Someday.

 

[mavei]

Toggleswitch,I couldn't agree with you more about those unvented gas heaters. I had unexpected heart surgery 3 years ago after I was diagnosed with inherited cardiovascular disease(I wasn't overweight and had nothing else wrong). Now I can't stand to be around those heaters -the products of combustion smell like chlorine(And I cook with gas). And most of the old houses here didn't have any type of permanent heat except these heaters,so I grew up around these. I show a picture of a typical unvented gas bathroom heater below,many of which are still in use.

The house is very warm thanks to Reddy Kilowatt. We have a permantly installed 2000 watt baseboard heater in the den,electric ceiling heaters in the bathrooms,and electric heaters in all the other rooms(each plugged into their own dedicated circuits),and a 50 gal electric water heater.
In the kitchen I have an electric cooking table with many electric utensils and 2 tabletop convection ovens(Once again they have a dedicated circuit of 4 outlets that can handle 4000 watts and another dedicated circuit one nearby. So I can cook and have been quite surprised at the results. I just have to hang the clothes to dry.

BTW, in case you were wondering why I don't get an electric stove,my electrician says it's too difficult to run a circuit into the kitchen (not that I'm interested in an electric stove.) The Kenmore gas stove is 5 years old-it's a barebones model similar to the Frigidaire FGF315 except with clock.Troublefree.

The plumber will try to come here tomorrow. They have been very busy.
Marc

 

[appnut]

That looks just like the heater in the bathroom of our 1961 house.

 

[mavei]

Here's another one-lit

This bathroom heater looks to be from the 1930s. It dosen't seem to be glowing as brightly as it should even though it's full on.

 

[polkanut]

Smart kitty!

 

[suburbanmd]

When a gas pipe leaks in a New York City apartment building.

.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/19/nyregion/coping-a-gas-leak-and-the-odor-lingers.html

 

[mavei]

Life without gas should end tomorrow

The plumber came over today,found and repaired 3 gas leaks in our attic,installed a new ball valve on the dryer line, and a new flue on the furnace.Everything's now repaired and up to code. The inspection (done by dept.of inspection and code enforcement)should be tomorrow. They will call and let us know when he is coming over. Upon completion,the inspector will notify the gas company to turn on the gas. The gas serviceman also has to change the meter and fittings because they're near the end of their life.

Total cost(including $380.00 inspection fee)$823.00. Well within budget.

Marc

 

[whirlcool]

You see those bathroom heaters in houses all over the place down here.
About 10 years ago we lost a good friend due to one of those.
He turned his bathroom heater on and got in the bath to relax.
His wife found him in the morning, dead in the tub. Cause?
Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Seems a bird built a nest in the outside vent to the heater, causing the fumes to come inside.

 

[toggleswitch]

So are those vented or unvented?

 

[combo52]

UNVENTED GAS STOVES

If you have any concerns about being near unvented gas appliances the gas stove is by far the worst offender. Be sure that you have a good range hood vented to the outside and use it even when you turn on the tea kettle. I love gas appliances but draw the line at having a gas stove in my kitchen [ I have one on out on my screened porch in case of power outages ]. Gas stoves are allowed to emit over four times the carbon monoxide by AGA than gas furnaces and water heaters which must be vented to the out doors.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Marc. I am glad that your troubles are almost over. Tom

 

[mavei]

Life without gas...

...is now over. Gas company serviceman cane over about 2pm today,replaced the meter,and turned on the gas.Even suggested spraying grass and weed killer around the meter so I won't cause damage to the line by using my string trimmer. very friendlyand courteous man.

I was also surprised to find out how many gas appliances are now illegal:
unvented gas heaters(for apparent reasons)
antique radiantfires (same as above)
floor furnaces(burns)
vented wall heaters(even though they are vented, and new ones have combustion spill switches to shut off the burner in case of a blocked flue, there is still a problem of backdrafting because of their design and combustion products spill out the bottom of these heaters)
antique gas ranges with match-lit ovens/burners
antique coil water heaters(no safety devices)

Thanks to everyone who contributed their suggestions and stories.

 

[DADoES]

 
My grandmother has both a gas range and an old-style, freestanding gas space heater. Local/state codes prohibit gas taps in bedrooms and bathrooms, so it's in her kitchen opposite side of the house from the bedrooms. Bathroom has an electric heater/vent in the ceiling. The gas heater and a window unit with heat (also in the kitchen) are her main heat sources in the house. I run the window unit to pick up the kitchen heat, circulate it across the house, with the thermostat set so that it doesn't trigger unless the small gas heater can't keep up.

 

[toggleswitch]

Quote: Gas stoves are allowed to emit over four times the carbon monoxide by AGA than gas furnaces and water heaters which must be vented to the out doors.

Thank you John! I'm thankful that at least you dont think I'm nuts when I say and state/repeat the proven research that gas stoves (and ALL UNVENTED GAS APPLIANCES) are a health hazard. GAS APPLIANCES ARE SAFE ONLY WHEN PROPERLY VENTED!

Studies n the UK DEFINITIVELY show that children who grew up in homes with gas cooking have PERMANENT repsiratory ailments at TWICE the rate of those that grew up in homes with electric cooking.

Why woould anyone want to breathe in carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sufuric oxides and nitrous oxides? The body itself is trying to get rid of carbon dioxde; it is a poison to us- plain and simple.

"My grandmother had unvented gas heaters for 50 years" doesn't mean there is not a better way.

 

[combo52]

GAS STOVE & INDOOR AIR POLLUTION

I have had several very good customers over the years who were devoted gas stove owners. But when they got a cancer diagnosis the stoves left the house fast. Remembering one good neighbor who lived down the street from us, when they remolded the kitchen around 1987 asking what sort of range to buy, I suggested a GE electric one. To which she said never. I was shocked when I drove by the house a year or so later to see a box out by the driveway from a new GE electric range. I short time later her husband told me she had been diagnosed with brain cancer. She went on to full recovery and lived 15 years longer, but every-time I saw her she couldn't stop talking about how wonderfully the GE range cooked and baked. My question is why wait till you have cancer to enjoy all the wonderful advantages of Electric Cooking?.

 

[tomturbomatic]

I have told the story before about the EPA researcher who had a meter for measuring air quality that he was using to take readings at a busy intersection along 14th St, NW in Washington, DC at evening rush hour in the 1980s. He recorded his readings, but forgot to shut if off when he went home. He got home and set the meter near the door in his kitchen, turned on the gas oven to fix dinner and went upstairs to change clothes. When he got back down to the kitchen, the meter was going crazy with higher readings for nitrous oxide and other pollutants than it had measured at the rush hour intersection along a major commuter artery with bumper to bumper traffic for blocks. It scared the hell out of him when he considered what he had been inhaling right in his kitchen.

You also have to face the fact that when many of us were growing up, the stove was on for three meals a day unless no one was there for lunch. There was no microwave oven and no fast food, shocking as that may seem to you youngsters reading this. Granted, houses were not as tight as newer ones are, but almost none had vented range hoods. I also remember that many evenings, especially in the winter, when mom was fixing dinner, the normally blue flames would have orange flashes in them. I asked her what that was and she said it was impurities in the gas due to high demand. I don't know if that was right, but it was something that did not happen at other times.

Does anyone remember entering an apartment building and immediately detecting the smell of gas stoves? If you inspected the stoves, you would find a little deposit of carbon glowing orange along the edges above the pilot lights. Maybe it is different now with more of the ranges changing over to pilotless ignition, but it was an unpleasant odor to me and could not have been healthy to breathe over a long period of time.

 

[toggleswitch]

I noticed that orange and yellow tinges to a normally blue natural gas flame tend to exist more at times of rain and or high humidity.

I have also noticed that the heat emitted from the flames while cooking APPEARS TO VARY varies based on the high or low pressure weather patterns. (Well, it may be the boiling point of water that varies sightly! Not the flame-size (gas pressure) delivered to the burner). LOL

Good feng-shui or not, I avoid gas cooking when I can.

 

[polkanut]

Call me oblivious to the obvious but, we all have to die of something sooner or later.  So for now, I'm keeping my gas stove because I'm too damn stubborn to change.