By-passing electric igniter on gas stove

I would imagine the chip that shuts off gas flow isn't really a chip, but just a simple solenoid valve that is held open by electricity. I don't know if this is the case because this is the first I've heard about this, but if it is that simple it shouldn't be too difficult to bypass. Certainly would void the warranty and probably illegal, but not difficult unless it's buried somewhere deep inside. Anyone know anything about the mechanism involved in these new appliances?

Hi

Just thinking out loud. Would it be possible to get a battery and a 500 watt converter the kind you plug into a cigarette lighter. And plug the stove into it.

I wonder how long it would work for.

Dave

Has anybody looked into travel trailer stoves? Doubt you would find full size one, but imagine most still use pilot light system rather than electronic controls.

Its a shame we are all now locked into products engineered with 'nanny thinking'. And built for super short lifespan. Old school appliances were simple and built to last decades. Most got replaced only because people wanted new and shiny. Now stuff is built to last less than ten years no matter what and made super complex so too expensive to repair. Just like modern cars.

__________________
"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

Well my oven is only two years old and we have a LOT of power outages where we live. I can light the top gas burners without a problem, but not the oven. For me it's not a problem.

You can get stoves that use NO electricity at all, but I would steer clear of Premier stoves as they have very bad ratings.

don't use the oven much, but our stove top can be lit with match or lighter.

I said it before a inverter is a handy thing to have, you do not need a battery
bank though a couple of large deep cells kept on a trickle charger is nice.

if you have the money a few different sized inverters are nice. bigger the inverter the larger the draw. you will not need to draw a larger load all the time. those cfls don't take a lot of power.

but to the question at hand, power source for inverter, auto/battery bank, extension cord, you want your inverter as close to the power source as possible to prevent system loss, run the cord to your load.

what I started doing is throwing the main off <--very important.! and any loads that the inverter will not handle and plug a pig tail (double male plug) between the inverter and a house hold plug.

then you can use all your lights and switches,plugs as normal. save it is within the power supplied by the inverter.

I think that would probably work pretty well. Probably wouldn't even need 500 watts. Just a complete guess, but I would imagine a cheapo RV/marine battery would probably be enough for cooking for a week or so without recharging, if you turn off the inverter when you're not using it so the stove clock and electronics aren't constantly drawing on it.

A lot of people do this, but it is illegal everywhere in the United States. For good reason. It is possible to forget to shut off the main and then you're backfeeding power into the grid, which can kill a linesman working to restore power. I think people have been convicted of manslaughter for this. You need a transfer switch to make it legal and fool-proof.

ETA: Not necessarily illegal everywhere in the U.S. It is against the National Electrical Code, which is law in most places, including all of Michigan.

You can get a manual disconnect switch from

http://www.interlockkit.com


Dave

Wow, hubby was planning to buy me a new gas stove when we finish the farm house remodel (we are currently living in a mobile home next door). I think I will pass now. The stove I have I bought about 8 years ago, it is a Crosley and it cost about $300.00 new. I went in the store and told them I wanted a Plain Jane gas stove without all the electronic carp and this is what they showed me. It has pilot lights for the top burners as well as the stove but, half the time, they don't stay lit. It is common practice for me to light the burners as well as the oven with a match. The oven pilot light gets blown out from time to time, to light it, I have to get in the floor and reach up inside the broiler section, the pilot light is at the back above the broiler pan. So, guess I should keep this one and be happy. It has served us well during power outages with the ability to still cook.
Ya know, it is really irritating to have someone fark something up to keep us "safe". Coffee pots that turn off after a preset time really ticked me off. Make a pot, go do some chores, come back looking forward to a cuppa and then the whole pot is cold because the stupid machine turned off. My solution--I purchased a vintage percolator. Still have not figured out what to do about the heating pad that turns off after an hour. Good old days when you could go to bed with a heating pad and doze with it on whatever body part that ailed you. I am really getting tired of having other people decide what is for my own good. In my opinion, the last people who had the legitimate right to that job were my parents when I was under 18 and that has been 30 years ago.

We been cooking with gas for 34 years.
Our first stove used no electricity. Only
pilot lights. Never ever had a problen with
pilots going out (blowing out).
The one we have now has igniters, which
give some trouble, not much. The top works
fine to light with a match. Not the oven.
BTW, when the oven pilot goes out, it DOES
cut off the gas to it.
Same for our water heater.

Good idea about the RV stove. Our RV stove has a pilot, but we never light it. Somehow a pilot light in an RV just didn't seem too smart.

Way back when stoves had pilots, I always turned mine off. It seemed like a waste of gas.

I was just thinking this morning if we had a power outage, we could cook in the RV. WE do have a fireplace, though, and I'd probably just try to remember how to cook on a fireplace.

Stoves with pilots had the oven control that turns burner on full blast until it reaches set temp, then shuts it down and turns on again full blast to maintain temp. This requires a pilot be on.

The only gas ovens that didnt do the on/off cycling were the pre WWII ancient ones where you regulated the oven burner like you do the stove top burners and just lowered flame for lower temp, the burner stayed lit through whole baking process. Those ancient stoves were no where near as safe cause if flame blew out for whatever reason, the gas kept flowing. But if you were there in kitchen and keeping eye on it, then not big deal.

As to pilot in RV, I think you are supposed to have gas OFF at the tanks when you are driving down the hiway. Then turn gas back on and relight the pilots when you are parked. And yes when I have had pilot light stove, always turned the pilots off on stove top burners and lit them with match as needed. The oven, it just depended if I was into baking. If not, then I turned pilot off for it, if I wanted to bake, I relit pilot. If you use oven everyday, then worth keeping pilot lit all time. If just use oven once in a blue moon, then light the pilot when you want to use the oven.

__________________
"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

My General Electric gas stove, purchased new four years ago, is totally non electric. The stove has pilot lights for the top burners and the oven. The oven temperature is regulated by the knob on the front of the stove

Bill

Bit of a drift, but look for a heated mattress pad. They're not as adjustable as a heating pad, but they're toasty and stay on until you turn them off.

Mine turns itself off after 10 hours.

sorry to hear that you were not happy with your unit,

we have had ours for 5 years now and it has been trouble free and very reliable, the only problem I had was there is a burner cover on the center of every burner and the screw became loose on a few of them and the nut dropped into the bottom inside of the burner, (which cause a problem on how it burnt and smelled) once I got them tight, I have not had that problem for a number of years, wife like the sealed burners on the gas range,

with my experience with the unit we have I would recommend it, may be were lucky,

A back-up UPS sized for a computer should work to power the top burners on a new range. THe oven might work also in a power outage with this set up.

Since we also lose power regularly, we are looking for a propane stove suitable for dealing with that. I want to be able to bake as well as stove top cook. I am looking at a Brown. http://brownstoveworksinc.com/ Lehman's has them.

Thanks to PrettyPaisley/Shannon for posting the question. I wish we'd thought of this when I ordered our range, darn it. That glow bar is annoying. It took me a year to get used to the " whump" sound and now the youngest grandbaby looks alarmed when he hears it. AND the glow bar uses a LOT of electricity. Maybe we could sell it and get one with a reliable oven?

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The three divine teachers of man: worldly calamity, bodily ailment, and unmerited enmity, and there is but through God alone a deliverance from them. Maine Farmer's Almanac

We recently bought a wood combo gas stove. It is from the 1930's no electric ignition for the gas just a pilot light. Thos pilot lights use a lot of gas so we had them blocked. The stove is lit by a match. The stove needs work on it. But I like it and we can have the rest fixed.

RenieB