Help with buying a gas stove
 

We are looking to buy a propane stove that we can use without electric. Went to the local lowes and HD stores and they both told us that ALL of their gas stoves must have electric to work. That just doesnt make sense to me. Guess its some safety thing. Well, Im fine with the oven not working if the powers out, but the main reason we want a gas stove is to be able to cook when the powers out. Had someone tell me if that happens, I can mess with some kind of box in the stove to bypass that safety measure but I dont like playing around with that stuff. Does anyone make a good gas stove that you can use at least the burners without electric? If not, Im guessing Ill have to buy an older stove. Any clue what year they started the safety stuff Im trying to avoid? Just want a standard sized 30" stove and range and would really like one with the long burner in the middle for a griddle.

If anyone has any suggestions, Id really appreciate it.

I can't help you with that but you might try some of the smaller hardware stores. I foung our propane heater in one. If the electric goes off what good is a stove or heater that takes electric? Good luck Sam.

Unless things have greatly changed from maybe 2 years ago, when I looked at gas stoves, the electric is only needed for a electronic spark to light the burner since the stoves no longer have a pilot light.
The ones I looked at at Lowes, Sears, etc the surface burners could still be lit with a match if need be.

We have a Chambers built about 1930 - got it for free when my boss sold his house and wanted it out of his basement. Our stove, and I would guess most others of this vintage, has no electric anything - and it works great. You have to light the oven and burners with a match, and there is no timer, but that's not such a big deal.

We have lived in a succession of houses since we got this stove and one thing I like about it is that you can use it for propane or natural gas - the burner orifices are adjustable with a wrench.

There are gas stoves sold by places like Lehman's and Cumberland Store that do not require electric to start ... and a few companies that still make them. I helped a neighbor find one a couple of years ago and found several available. There are quite a few Amish and Mennonite groups in this area and you can also find them in their stores as well.

Here's the one at Lehman's.

http://www.lehmans.com/store/Applian...33300427?Args=

Here's a bigger one by the same company (Brown) in case you're interested in that.

http://www.brownstoveworksinc.com/36in/nm430.html

Most new stoves use spark ignition for the burners and a hot surface igniter for the oven. The burners you can light with a match, the oven will not operate without electricity since it has a safety on the hot surface igniter.

I have a gas cooktop and electric ovens (double wall oven). Why? A couple of reasons:

--the cooktop I can light w/a match and still use when the power is out, whereas like was mentioned above, the gas ovens won't work like that anymore

--I prefer electric oven for baking, especially since my top oven of the two is convection. Get alot more done in the same amount of time.

Check Craigs list....I got a real nice one for the summer kitchen last summer for $65

Premier brand has them. That's what we have. http://www.premierrange.com/gasranges.htm. Supposedly on that site there is a list of dealers.

My propane gas stove has electric ignites also, but the top burners will light with a match if electricity is off.

I understand that the burner ignition is electric spark. But, from what the appliance people at Lowes and Home Depot told me is that you CAN NOT light the range top burners with a match is the electric is out due to a safety thing on them all now.

What we need is a standard size 30" stove and want one with the full size oven in the bottom and one of the griddles in the middle on the top. The price really isnt that important as long as we can find what we want and its not just crazy expensive. Hoping to find one in stainless.

I will check out all the links and info posted. Thanks all.

I've never seen one you couldn't light with a match.
You could always ask the manufacturers.
The "help" at Lowe's isn't always right

For Y2K I got a 30 incher, no griddle, that had no electric...no timer, clock or light. It does have a pilot light which lights both the top and the oven. I got it at Sears and forget if I had to special order it or not.

I bought an Americana gas range from Home Depot about 2 years ago.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...atalogId=10053

It comes as a natural gas range but includes propane conversion parts & instructions. I converted it myself. It was a simple conversion.

The range has no power cord at all. The burners & oven ignite with pilots. Some people who have seen it are a little thrown with the idea that it has no clock, no timer, and no oven light, but you get used to it. Sounds like exactly what you're looking for.

If your local Home Depot doesn't carry it you can order one at the above link. Hey, $350 for a brand new 30" gas range isn't bad, and it comes in either white or black finish.

The appliance people are wrong. We bought a new one from Lowe's just before Christmas and we can light the burners with a match.

I'm repeating what others have said. You should be able to light the burners with a match if your electric goes out.

I bought a Kitchen Aid gas stove last March and since then have had the electric go out and I have been able to light the burners with a match, no oven, but it's good to have the burners.

I like the fact that my stove has a bread proofing mode and a dehydrator mode, these options are really handy.

We also bought an Americana stove from HD 2 years ago. Last I checked they still carried those. They are an old-fashioned pilot light operated propane / natural gas stove & oven. Perhaps their availability is regulated by state law and varies from place to place?

Yes, you can indeed light any gas stove top burner with a match. It's the oven that will kill you. Most of those newer electric ignition stoves use a 400 - 600 watt heating element to ignite the gas in the oven. It's a killer load in an off-grid setup. I know of no way to light an electric ignition oven with a match... if anyone else does I'd love to hear more.

I love our anti-electric stove and can't imagine why anyone would want to consume electricity to ignite propane. The Americana is a fine product with excellent burners and an evenly-heating oven.

We bought all new appliances at sears about 3 years ago . The range is natural gas & has electronic ignition . The burners can & have been lit with a match .

Thanks everyone for the help. Im guessing like some of you mentioned that the appliance people at these stores were simply wrong. I understand not being able to use the stove without electric, but the range being useable is something we must have. Calling the manufacturer is a great idea to confiirm that they can be match lit. Ill do that. We have looked at alot of the antique gas stoves and would love to have one, but it looks like almost all of them have a tiny oven compartment. We need the full size oven.

Thanks all so much for the help. I wish the people at these stores knew about the products they were selling and we would have bought a stove from them already.

I just bought a Premier Gas/Propane Stove, it has good old fashioned pilot lights for the burners and the oven. If the power is out I can boil, bake or broil, whatever I want. Why don't you take a look at their website and see if you can find what you want there!?

http://www.premierrange.com/gasranges.htm

I just went to their website, if you click on 30" Ranges you will see that the third one down seems to be exactly what you are looking for!!

Model GFK 5S9W

Gas Pilots
30" Range
5th Burner & Built-in Griddle with Stainless Steel cover
10" Backguard with Tempered Glass
Windowed Door
Chrome Heat Reflector Trays
Plus all Quality Features


Emmy

I ordered the 36" SS version of the Premier through Lowes. I was determined to get a stove with more than 4 burners (that didn't cost an arm and a leg) that had the capability of lighting both the oven and the burners when the power was out.

It cost a little more than what I expected when I went stove shopping when I remodeled my kitchen. To keep my budget in line, I chose not to replace the dishwasher in order to get this stove.

Would I do it again? You bet! No hesitation at all. For day in-day out use, the electronic iginition is handy. If the power goes out, no problem. Just pull out the stick ligher or long fireplace matches to light whatever is needed.

BTW, their customer service is good, too. When my stove arrived a couple of the castiron grates were warped. They immediately shipped replacement grates. No questions asked. Didn't have to return the original ones either.

There are other things I like about the Premier, such as the grates covering the whole top of the stove. Makes it much easier to move pots and pans around. Easy to move a hot pan off the eye and have somewhere to set it. Good support for big stock pots and canners. I could go on, but I'll just stop here and say, do check out the Premier.

Don't give up on finding a stove that will do what you want it to do, rather than what someone else has determined what you can and can't do.

Lee

NCLee, that is a SWEET stove!!

I went on the low end, 30", four burners, no bells and whistles and only paid $248 at Menards.

Emmy

Ten years ago I bought an Amana gas stove with pilot lights. They told me then that this would be one of the last - they were going to all electric ignition in the next year or 2. I bought the cheapest one they had because I didn't have much money. I thought I'd be replacing it eventually, but it's still going strong.

One thing to keep in mind . Up to 1/3 of the gas you buy can be wasted by continuously burning pilot lights .

Nathan,

Inside the oven should be the operating instructions. At Menards today, I remembered this thread and found a Whirlpool stove manual that had a statement that if the electricity is out for a prolonged period , you can light the burners with a match. Oven, no, 'cause it has an electronic ignititor. Starts out slow like a toaster, then reaches full 'glow', and then electronically turns on the oven burner gas valve. Otherwise, by the time the ignitor was up to full power, too much gas would be there and explode.

The salesperson told me no, burners wouldn't start with a match and walked away. I checked out the manual.................. Wonder if he is on a commission? Neaah......

geo

The salespeople tell you you cannot light the topburners with a match because the manufacturer consideres it unsafe to do so.

We have a 5 burner GE propane stove. Center burner is the griddle. Bought it 4 yrs ago this spring at Loews. Top burners have the clickers. Oven has the glow bar, and you need electric on to light the oven. I have used matches to light the top burners.
You need to find a salesperson that knows what they are talking about. Our's runs off a 100 pound propane tank that we bought at TSC and take to town to get filled. The first tank lasted us 7.5 months. We got rid of the 500 gallon tank when we went to a outside wood boiler furnace two winters ago.

I have unkindly referred to big box stores (Menards included) having sales drones. When I have to tell the salesman what they have, what it does, but I just need to know where its located, it gets annoying, especcially when they argue that they don't have it. Then when you find it, they are surprised, and had no idea. :rolleyes:

We had an advertisement on TV a while ago where a lady talks about getting a washer. The sales kid had to call his mom for information. Its not a commision (Menards in particular doesn't even track who sells what), its just the lack of in-depth knowlege of thier products. Like I say about government employees... you almost never get in trouble by saying "no."

Good call on reading the manual.

Michael

I have not read all the other post but I can tell you that a couple months ago I bought a totally propane stove without anything electric from Home Depot. It has no clock and has a standing pilot light. I paid a little over $400 for it. They did have to order it. It is a hotpoint and I went online and found it then called them and ordered it. eta: The pilots burn really low and I have not noticed an appreciable difference in our use of propane. Until about 5 years ago, the only kind of stove I had was with the standing pilot. The oven is a good place to let your bread rise(without it being on of course).

The new gas stoves have an electrical lighting system. While you can hold a match to the burners on the stove top and light them without electricity, you can't light the oven this way so the oven would be useless without the electrical spark to ignite it.