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Do your gas appliances actually work when the power is out? I guess you could light the stove with a match but aren’t most boilers going to be electrically cont

Do your gas appliances actually work when the power is out? I guess you could light the stove with a match but aren’t most boilers going to be electrically controlled such that they won’t work without power. It also seems like a bit of a weird reason to me as a big reason. But maybe you get a lot more power outages than I do. (I would imagine somewhere with a gas main, where gas heating can be economical, would not have very frequent or problematic blackouts. With no gas main, you use butane/propane which is not so economical). Plenty of people have camping stoves lying around which can be used in a pinch.

bombcar 4y ago
It all depends on the devices and how they're setup. If you're in an area that gets really cold AND has intermittent power (which is not uncommon, snow and ice on the lines can take down power) you can either design your setup to work without external power (think: emergency generator, etc) or you can design parts of it to be usable in an emergency (think: stove you can light with a match, fireplace; kerosene heaters, etc). My gas furnace will not ignite without power and the power necessary to run the blower is 15 amps or so, wiring in a portable generator would be simple. The water heater works without any power whatsoever. The stove has electric ignition but you can light it without power. The oven needs power (I think? never tried it).
vel0city 4y ago
Gas water heaters usually have a thermopile for their controls. Once the pilot is lit which can be done with one of those ignition clicker buttons (purely mechanical). There's no electric hookup to my water heater, nor have I ever had an electric hookup to any gas water heater. Gas is also often more reliable than electricity as gas is practically always buried while electricity has many overhead lines in the mix.
mlyle 4y ago
My stove does. My water heater does, but the little recirculation pump on it doesn't so it takes longer to get hot water at a distant faucet. My central heat does not.
jjav 4y ago
> Do your gas appliances actually work when the power is out? Yes. The gas stove does not need any electricity, same for the gas water heater. It's nice to be able to cook and have hot water showers during blackouts. The gas furnace does require electricity to run the fan, but it's not much. So running the furnace to heat the house during a blackout is easy to do with a small generator to power the fan while all the heating BTUs come from gas. Here in PG&E land (might be the most expensive electricity in the country, but at least it's the most unreliable!) these are nice advantages.

bombcar 4y ago

It all depends on the devices and how they're setup. If you're in an area that gets really cold AND has intermittent power (which is not uncommon, snow and ice on the lines can take down power) you can either design your setup to work without external power (think: emergency generator, etc) or you can design parts of it to be usable in an emergency (think: stove you can light with a match, fireplace; kerosene heaters, etc). My gas furnace will not ignite without power and the power necessary to run the blower is 15 amps or so, wiring in a portable generator would be simple. The water heater works without any power whatsoever. The stove has electric ignition but you can light it without power. The oven needs power (I think? never tried it).

vel0city 4y ago

Gas water heaters usually have a thermopile for their controls. Once the pilot is lit which can be done with one of those ignition clicker buttons (purely mechanical). There's no electric hookup to my water heater, nor have I ever had an electric hookup to any gas water heater. Gas is also often more reliable than electricity as gas is practically always buried while electricity has many overhead lines in the mix.

mlyle 4y ago

My stove does. My water heater does, but the little recirculation pump on it doesn't so it takes longer to get hot water at a distant faucet. My central heat does not.

jjav 4y ago

> Do your gas appliances actually work when the power is out? Yes. The gas stove does not need any electricity, same for the gas water heater. It's nice to be able to cook and have hot water showers during blackouts. The gas furnace does require electricity to run the fan, but it's not much. So running the furnace to heat the house during a blackout is easy to do with a small generator to power the fan while all the heating BTUs come from gas. Here in PG&E land (might be the most expensive electricity in the country, but at least it's the most unreliable!) these are nice advantages.