I have one of the newer L.P. gas ranges that use electricity to ignite the gas burners and oven. In the event of a loss of electricity, the burners can be lit with a match but the oven cannot be lit according to the owners manual. This means that you could not bake even with a large supply of L.P. gas. Does anyone know how the oven can be lit manualy. I understand that all of the newer gas stoves are like this. Any help would be appreciated.

-- L. Crow (lcrow@gte.net), January 29, 1999

Answers

Consider Coleman Stove Top Oven.

C

-- Chuck, night driver (rienzoo@en.com), January 29, 1999.

My husband said that your stove would not work correctly. You would have to remove all the controls and the thermostat in order to bypass it. Do not tamper with the manufacturer's product. Look for an old stove that works without electronic ignition, and change the orifice to match the pressure of the gas. Used gas stoves are really cheap. If you live in California, Salvation Army in Northern California just got huge shipments of gas stoves from Mather's Air Force Base. For $75.00 you can purchase one, change the orifice and your in business.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), January 29, 1999.

Dear L., Consider a 12v auto battery and inverter. The electrical requirements for your stove are very minimal. However, if any embedded chips are not compliant, well, that's another problem!

-- Gerald R. Cox (grcox@internetwork.net), January 30, 1999.

Thanks to all who responded. The suggestion to use a 12 volt battery and an inverter was something I had never thought about. The spark must draw very little power so a fully charged battery would last a long time (If the 60 watt lite bulb in the oven was unscrewed} This should sove the problem and allow baking with gas during Y2K power outage.

-- L.Crow (lcrow@gte.net), January 30, 1999.

Just a reminder - the natural gas supply and electrical supplies aren't directly related. That is, you miight retain a safe, useable level of natural gas supply pressure for several hours (days, perhaps if use is low when industrial users aren't burning gas) after electric power is lost. Nat. gas supply uses "internally fueled" natural gas compressors (similar to jet gas turbines) to compress the gas in the pipelines an dsend it further downstream.

Its not immediately clear how reliable these gas turbines are, will be, and will remain to after remote power and remote instruments (telecom and satellite and remote main control switchboards) are affected by Y2K incidents.

Test your LP hookup and installation before hand, but you may want to defer keeping your stove on nat gas until you know its needed.

Keep the LP gas for the future, for heating.

Course, you could always just not cook with the oven too.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), January 30, 1999.