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> Most range hoods in single family homes are externally vented, I wish this were true, unfortunately it's not. Most homes in the US, including freestanding
by tristor 4y ago
> Most range hoods in single family homes are externally vented,
I wish this were true, unfortunately it's not. Most homes in the US, including freestanding SFHs, use recirculating range hoods.
> that gas stoves result in CO and other harmful emissions that electric stoves don't, independent of what is being cooked.
This is true. It's also a negligible difference, and mostly immaterial if you are externally venting fumes when using the stove. The biggest issue is not the carbon monoxide and other emissions, it's the particulate matter that is given off when cooking, which happens quickly during cooking and irrespective of heat sources. Consistently breathing in high levels of PM2.5 has severe health consequences, including increasing risk for lung diseases and cancer, even when the particulates themselves are not carcinogenic. What's worse, many particulates given off when cooking /are/ carcinogenic, such as when searing meats.
Ventilation is the most critical aspect here. There are more important safety reasons why people should avoid open flames and direct heat in favor of electric induction, as well as environmental reasons as all-electric homes can be powered using exclusively renewable energy sources, these are much better arguments against using a gas stove than the air emissions, which are insignificant compared to cooking fumes themselves and both need resolved via ventilation.
> there is a behavioral problem, which is that most people use the kitchen hood vent as a way to exhaust smoke odors only
Agreed. One of the challenges in the US is that because most range hoods are recirculating and not vented, especially in rental/cheaper properties, people become effectively trained to not use it because they are very loud and not effective. Externally vented range hoods are both quieter and are actually effective, and train people to use them once they're exposed to them.
> many people end up disabling the smoke alarms near their kitchen rather than taking it as an indication that there is an air quality problem.
This is a real issue, and a big issue for fire safety as well. Most American homes also don't have carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide monitoring, both of which are major issues. We also have significant exposure to radon in the US, and no state currently legally requires landlords to provide mitigation and testing for radon.
There are myriad indoor air quality issues in the US, and proper ventilation can solve or mitigate almost all of them, and when it's present it does not train bad habits and may untrain bad habits.
- danans 4y ago> I wish this were true, unfortunately it's not. Most homes in the US, including freestanding SFHs, use recirculating range hoods. We must have very different anecdotal sample populations of single family homes, because I've only ever seen the recirculating types in condos and apartments, where they are done that way due to space/ducting constraints. But there is very little data available on this question. The closest I found was in this study relating specifically to California: "A survey-based study of 1448 detached houses built in 2003 reported that 80% had range hoods exhausting to outdoors and 4% had downdraft ventilators, while 13% had recirculating range hoods and 3% had no range hood or did not know [34]" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7729668/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7729668/ Those stats echo my own observations in two places: California and the Midwest. But it's possible that it's completely reversed in other places. Building codes can vary a lot, after all. I completely believe that recirculating fans are more prevalent in low-income resident properties, though. That's also something I've seen extensively. > Externally vented range hoods are both quieter and are actually effective, and train people to use them once they're exposed to them. People are really bad at diligently doing inconvenient things, even if it means an improvement in their health. My dentist is always on my case about flossing more, but I end up starting up a week or two before my cleaning. Also, we are bad at evaluating invisible or quotidian risks, which is why many have an incorrect understanding of the risks of flying vs driving. The long term solution to this problem is to require automatic makeup air ventilation systems for all kitchens in the codes, but that will probably be a long pull. As for indoor gas stoves, I imagine with time they will have the same trajectory as ICE cars. Remember that gas stoves were once the novel high tech replacement for wood and coal stoves, and also on the basis of the improved health and convenience, just as induction is today.