Venting for old stove

[davidj]

We're thinking of getting an old apartment-sized Wedgewood cooking stove for our cabin, something like the ones at the bottom of http://www.applestoves.com/SpecialStoves.htm.  They look cool, are the right size, don't need AC, seem to last for decades and can be converted to propane.  However, some of them have gas vents and some don't.  Does anyone know if I need to vent one of these?  If so, does it have to be a full class B gas vent?  Or does a propane conversion, a vented range hood and decent gas mean they're no worse than a modern stove?

[MountainDon]

I could be wrong, but other than cosmetics and bells and whistles, are there really any differences in the operation of a 50 year old gas/propane stove and a new one? Maybe I'm looking at it too simplistically? Gas is fed to the stove. The gas burns using air from the room. It gives off CO2 and water vapor when adjusted properly and operating correctly.

I think it would be nice to have the exhaust vented outside, but here where we live at least, it is not mandatory.


FWIW, our 20" Hotpoint in our cabin did not come with any warnings or instructions to use a vent.

[John Raabe]

You do have to be careful about propane leaks from things like pilot lights that blow out. Natural gas is lighter than air and will dissipate, while propane is heavier than air and can pool at the floor or in a closed room. And, then, it can go boom!

[MountainDon]

That is a good point. When the pilot on a range top goes out the propane still flows. A build up might take a while but it could happen. We have a propane detector alarm. As well I placed an easy to get at shut off valve right at the top back where the range slides back to the wall. We can shut it right off very easily. We shut that when we leave. I also have valves at the fridge, water heater and the wall heater.

http://www.safehomeproducts.com/shp2/showcategories.aspx?category=1240

[davidj]

You do have to be careful about propane leaks from things like pilot lights that blow out. Natural gas is lighter than air and will dissipate, while propane is heavier than air and can pool at the floor or in a closed room. And, then, it can go boom!

I guess this is a good argument for having two propane appliances next to each other in the kitchen, so if one pilot goes out hopefully the other will burn the leaking gas before it gets to the level where the house is going to explode!  The propane alarm is a great idea - I'll add it to the list of smoke detector and carbon monoxide alarm.  I wonder if there's an alarm I can get to tell me when one of my numerous alarms isn't working!!

I was assuming the oven vent was for carbon monoxide (CO), as is the case with other gas appliances.  It also only vents the oven - the rings are obviously unvented.  And the mysterious thing is that some models have an obvious vent pipe connection, whereas other superficially similar ones just have a grill that is clearly designed to vent into the room.

Reading around, even modern cooking ovens produce a fair bit of carbon monoxide - it seems to be the case that they're only allowed to be unvented because they are thermostatically controlled and have a reasonably low duty cycle.  Open the door and use them as a room heater and even more modern appliances produces enough CO to be dangerous! 

[considerations]

My propane stove in the 5th wheel has an extra detent on the oven knob.  The first setting is "off", the second is "pilot", then it has marks for the various temperatures.  When the knob is set to "off", there is no gas going to the oven.  To turn the oven on, I set it to Pilot, wait about 20 seconds, then light the pilot in the oven....then set it to the desired temp. 

The burners have a central pilot, but I do not use it, and never smell propane, I just turn on and light the burners when I need them.  I don't know why the stove top works that way, but after 10 years  with no whiff of propane and no booms, I have to think it is ok.

Hope this helps.

[pagan]

We have an old Hardwick propane cook stove in our cabin and have never set off the carbon monoxide detector, and that's even when baking cookies...lots of cookies. We could smell the propane, but cracking a window open a bit resolved that issue. Our place is very small and tight, yet we've had no problems.