[robtcorl]

now water actually boils in a reasonable time...

Great for running late rib dinners.

[MarkJerling]

Aye that is true. We cook with a lot of cast-iron, so no problems there. But we did have to but a new pressure cooker and kettle*, it was quite funny running around Canadian Tire and wherever else sticking magnets to the bottom of pans. That stove has since blown up (don't but Samsung appliances...) but it was really nice to use, even if we're back on a regular electric stove for now - bonus is we have two usable pressure cookers on the go now

*we have since wired another 240V socket in the kitchen and got a kettle from the UK - now water actually boils in a reasonable time...

I forgot that Canada (mostly) uses 110V like the USA. Our regular sockets are 240V 10A but you can get 240V 15A sockets for specific appliances.
Which reminds me.... I'm going to have to fit a 15A socket for the new espresso machine before it turns up.

[bertwert]

I forgot that Canada (mostly) uses 110V like the USA. Our regular sockets are 240V 10A but you can get 240V 15A sockets for specific appliances.
Which reminds me.... I'm going to have to fit a 15A socket for the new espresso machine before it turns up.

Yeah, off the top of my head, regular sockets here are 120V 15A, then kitchen sockets are 120V 20A, with the oven being 240V 50A and dryer being 240V 30A... then off course we have the mandatory aforementioned 240V 15A kettle socket, and external 240V 50A for car charging/welding... and I think that's it

[Racer X 69]

It has 6 has burners and works really well and while we cook most every night, we get about 6-7 months out of a small LPG bottle. Don't know how it's so economical, but it is.

I bought a 500 gallon direct bury propane tank when I built my home. Owning the tank I don't have rental fees, and can shop around when it is time to fill it. In 13 years I have had it filled 3 times, usually filling when the gage iscat 20% (there is just a bit over 30% right now, so it shouldn't need filled again until spring).

We use the Jenaire cooktop every day, often for breakfast and dinner, sometimes for lunch. We use the fireplace infrequently during the cooler months to take the edge off a cold morning, and when the power is out (never a question of if, just when and for how long). Sometimes I turn the heat pump to fan only to circulate air throughout the house and put the fireplace in thermo more. The HVAC has a return about ten feet from the fireplace, so it works great. A cozy fire heating the house without all the fuss of firewood.

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Last edited by Racer X 69; 10-28-2021 at 06:19 PM.

[Racer X 69]

Unless the electric generation is accomplished via solar, wind, water, or geothermal, we are merely trading location for pollution creation. Although, most electric plants are higher efficiency with carbon-based fuels than home equipment. Hydrogen is the same thing. It isn't naturally available on earth so it has to be extracted from other molecules before it can be used - that takes pretty much the same energy or more than that gained from burning it.

Speaking of inefficient... since our furnace, like most, takes electricity to distribute the heat, I have a generator in case of power outages. In a wide spread outage, gasoline isn't available, and propane supplies are also limited. I converted ours to run off Natural Gas (which is mostly methane) both as the least polluting carbon-based fuel source, and because NG is far less limited in supply. In theory, the generator could run non-stop for weeks.

My brother-in-law is willing to fire up our generator if the power goes out in the winter while we are in Texas, but for some unimaginable reason didn't want to shovel 3+ feet (1m+) of snow between our garage and the NG & electric connections on the house Next year I'll install a concreate pedestal and something better than a nylon weather cover.

I have wanted to put a standby genset in ever since we built the house. To set o e up that was fully automated and runs on propane would have been about $6,000 ten years ago. I kick myself for not doing it back then.

Running an internal combustion engine on natural gas or propane is awesome. The stuff burns so clean the oil takes forever to get dirty.

[Racer X 69]

Bit of a dilemma, pretty well most have in the western world. All devices using fossil fuel are going to be banned from use...by...some countries say 2030, 2035, 2040...and with the Glasgow conference I wouldn't be surprised if at the end of the conference , a number of governements will be falling all over each other to accelerate those dates.

So then we have the common man. Speaking from my burg in Western Canada, we have a natural gas powered furnace, which we got in 1995. We have very long winters, almost half the year, where temps dip into the -30 and colder range, regularly. NG prices have gone up, much of it by our feds.

With such an old furnace we know that the end can't be too far off. But then what...do we replace the furnace with a NG furnace or electric heat ? Well, in normal times I would get another NG furnace. But given the 'climate'...political mostly...why get a new, expensive NG furnace when we may only be able to use it for another ten years. So electric baseboard will probably be the choice.

In the prairies, we don't have country bus service, we don't have passenger trains...our public transportation is...our personal vehicle. Distances are far between villages, towns, cities out here. It is very cold, We don't have (yet) much in the way of charging infrastructure. When the temp is -30, the EV vehicle battery ...which provides defrosting cabin heater...and motive power...all from the EV batteries can lose electic power significantly...in our extreme cold...40 % from the published range...I have read.

We drive 700 to 900 miles to visit relatives in Alberta....a number of times a year. EV range and charging times...are still significant issues...for travel out here. We don't live in mild climate city such as Vancouver, LA, etc.

So my point is....out here in flyover country where the buffalo roam (still do in parts)....I do know electric is the new deal....but surely there should be a bridging time, a time to bring up infrastructure to a satisfactory level, a time to allow engineers to figure out how to increase range, significantly shorten charging times, deal with extreme cold weather ....in areas that have cold winters...such as the northern states...from Idaho to NY....and much of (not all) of Canada. Not just a relentless race to replace an old system with a new system...when so many factors , as per I've mentioned in this post, don't seem to be dealt with in a well planned manner.

Engineers and techs will always figure a way and will do so, in this switchover...but give them the time they need.

So I think there is some misinformation regarding phasing out use of fossil fuels.

What is being proposed isn't an outright ban that would immediately take hundreds of millions of vehicles out of service.

What is being proposed is ending production of new vehicles, which are equipped with fossil fueled engines, sometime in the next ten to twenty years.

Guys like you and I will likely not live to see the day when there isn't a service station to fill up that gas guzzler.

So take solace in knowing that even though there will be change, it isn't going to happen overnight, and someday you might see Racer drive through Winnipeg in his Datsun.


Then, one day, it will be like this:

You Tube

You Tube

[MarkJerling]

Yeah, off the top of my head, regular sockets here are 120V 15A, then kitchen sockets are 120V 20A, with the oven being 240V 50A and dryer being 240V 30A... then off course we have the mandatory aforementioned 240V 15A kettle socket, and external 240V 50A for car charging/welding... and I think that's it

With W = A x V it's interesting to see how 120V 15A being 1,800W while 230V 10A (our standard sockets) being 2,300W. Our oven is three phase, or rather two phases of the three available.
So, the three-phase voltage is 400V between phases and 230V between phase and neutral.

[MarkJerling]

I bought a 500 gallon director bury propane tank when I built my home. Owning the tank I don't have rental fees, and can shop around when it is time to fill it. In 13 years I have had it filled 3 times, usually filling when the gage iscat 20% (there is just a bit over 30% right now, so it shouldn't need filled again until spring).

We use the Jenaire cooktop every day, often for breakfast and dinner, sometimes for lunch. We use the fireplace infrequently during the cooler months to take the edge off a cold morning, and when the power is out (never a question of if, just when and for how long). Sometimes I turn the heat pump to fan only to circulate air throughout the house and put the fireplace in thermo more. The HVAC has a return about ten feet from the fireplace, so it works great. A cozy fire heating the house without all the fuss of firewood.

So your house buyer will have to buy the from you gas too!

[normhead]

So your house buyer will have to buy the from you gas too!

Up here it's standard. The old owner fills the tank. The new owner gets the bill. When I bought this place I paid for $800 worth of propane. I took out the propane stuff, a space heater and fireplace, but used the $800 in fuel first.

[tim60]

I've wanted a combo range for years. Gas cook top and electric oven seems to me an ideal setup.
Mrs. P likes the idea too,but she just doesn't think it's a big enough benefit to justify the expense. (Notice that I absolutely did NOT say she's a cheapskate. )

Look at the choices when the existing thing must be replaced. Delay expense just life all the fancy company accountants do.

[tim60]

Gas hobs are really nice for cooking on - instant reaction to adjusting temperatures and such.

However, there is an option for electric hobs that can give this too: an induction cooktop. It feels like cooking with gas, and heat is transferred more efficiently too.

Induction cooktops have that benefit too. Very responsive to change of controls.

[tim60]

When I was considering what system to go with the solar was about the same up front cost, but at the time the solar equipment didn’t offer the same longevity. The rooftop panels break down from uv radiation, and required replacement at about ten years. Then there was the battery maintenance and replacement costs.

I have had some issues with the geothermal system. Our well water, although not salty, has proven slightly corrosive. The domestic hot water preheater pipe sprung a leak, and after I fixed that the connections to the dummy hot water tank began to leak, and no matter what I did the leaks were impossible to stop, so I abandoned that portion of the system.

I was able to use the dummy hot water tank when the other finally failed a few years ago, although that one failed too, last year.

We had anticipated the demise of the tank and had purchased a new fangled heat pump type hot water heater through a discounted program the electric utility had, so it was a simple matter of swapping out the tanks and some minor plumbing revisions.

Ultimately the geothermal heat pump will need replacement, but we will likely have sold the place and moved on.

The corrosion problem could probably be overcome by choice of materials, getting the right grade of pipe material, including considering different grades of SS or marine brass etc. Also you need to avoid junctions between dissimilar metals because they set up electrolytic corrosion at the joint. If passive methods fail you could explore active methods using electric currents to counteract the electrolytic currents.

[tim60]

Steel pots only! Those crappy aluminium things your grandma kept from the *60s just won't work.








* the 1860s

There are many makers of induction compatible pots which provide a wide range of aesthetic finishes.

[tim60]

Aye that is true. We cook with a lot of cast-iron, so no problems there. But we did have to but a new pressure cooker and kettle*, it was quite funny running around Canadian Tire and wherever else sticking magnets to the bottom of pans. That stove has since blown up (don't but Samsung appliances...) but it was really nice to use, even if we're back on a regular electric stove for now - bonus is we have two usable pressure cookers on the go now

*we have since wired another 240V socket in the kitchen and got a kettle from the UK - now water actually boils in a reasonable time...

Before I came to UK I had a nice glass kettle with metalised bottom for use on an induction device. It was fun watching the optics of the water as it heated. MrsTim gave it away when we came. We also had some induction compatible pots that looked like Corning ware. Rated at 800C per second thermal gradient.

[tim60]

Very soon it will be pumpkin day. Our neighbour has had two pumpkins on a table outside their front door for a couple of months getting ready for the knife. Very glad to have filed my Australian tax papers for the last FY. They are due on pumpkin day too. One of the tedious bits was a question about $1.05 of bank interest. Australia has a tax free threshold on total income but not on any sub categories of income so you need to find all the details and include them. Tedious.