9 Comments
5 hrs agoLiked by Lloyd Alter

99% of mobile living/travel i.e. RVs have propane stoves! Talk about small enclosed spaces...

When I started a discussion thread on a widely read RV forum the outcry was so much that the moderator took down the post and canceled comments! The same tired arguments..."People have been cooking with gas for generations...we see no problem..." type of replies. As an RV owner and live in one 6-7 months every year to escape the Michigan Seasonal Ice Age...I realize most only come with propane cook stoves as electric requires "Shore power" and 50 AMP service. Even the onboard generators are usually not sufficient to power an electric stove top. We simply do not use ours and rely on an Instant Pot and the convection - microwave combo. Reminds me of the DDT days when it was assume safe for people as they did not drop over instantly when they came in contact with it.

Expand full comment
author

My tiny home had an alcohol stove. Slow but it worked!

Expand full comment

As Ken Firestone points out below, an induction cooktop works very well and does not need a lot of amps to operate. A friend with a camper is doing this and is very satisfied. She is now searching for ways to get hot water without using a propane heater.

Expand full comment

I’ve had an induction stove for nearly 5 years. I should have gotten it sooner.

Expand full comment

Thanks for this. Far too few people know about this. Sometime in the near future, we'll look back on this era with amazement that we brought such a volatile, dangerous gas right into our very homes. I'm glad municipalities are enacting bans on methane in new buildings. I wrote a humor piece about this a while back: https://open.substack.com/pub/juliegabrielli/p/cooking-with-gas?r=4cg2x&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Expand full comment
author

that's very good.

Expand full comment

Thanks, Lloyd! An experiment in delivering bad news with a smile . . .

Expand full comment

Unfortunately, like almost everything, this issue is a political one. "Woke liberals are coming for my gas stove."

The quote from Ronnie Jackson is typical Republican nonsense.

Expand full comment
4 hrs ago·edited 4 hrs ago

When I purchased a CO2 monitor (for classroom use) I was shocked how quickly C02 shot up when I turned on the gas stove. Obviously lots more wasn't being vented either. Love our not expensive, easy to clean, fast, safe (fire/burns), and easy to use induction range.

Expand full comment