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Re: DIY Natural Gas Appliances

To: Randall Young <randallyoung@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: DIY Natural Gas Appliances
From: Steven Shipley <shiples@home.com>
Date: Sat, 09 Dec 2000 10:29:52 -0800
Thanks.
  I know that any flammable gas is dangerous so I've always
wondered why we pipe it into our homes.  The vent seems to
be one of the basic functions that makes it safer but a
gas burner on a stove doesn't seem to have a vent.

 So is it the venturi that makes the gas burn more
efficiently therefore producing less carbon monoxide?
And building codes tolerate a small amount of CO in
a living space?

 I've come to the conclusion that it might be okay to
burn natural gas in a fireplace insert.  The idea is
that I'd be able to heat up a box made of steel plate
when the power fails.  Sounds like one of those 
flashlight/radios that has a hand crank would be
better than trying to light the house with gas.

Am I making any sense here?

Thanks
Steve Shipley
Seattle, WA

Randall Young wrote:
> 
> Steve :
> 
> The problem with burning natural gas as you suggest is that it generates
> carbon monoxide (CO), which is an insidious killer.  While it's true
> they used it for lighting 100 years ago, it's also true that people died
> from it.
> 
> At the very least, for an unvented burner, you have to mix the gas with
> air first, so it burns with a pure blue flame.  Almost all gas
> appliances do this (your fireplace being a notable exception).  The blue
> flame makes a lousy light, so if you want to use natural gas for
> lighting, get a flourescent mantle, as is used on a Coleman lantern.
> 
> It's not too hard to build a venturi to suck air into the gas stream,
> check out any gas furnace, stove, water heater, etc.  In fact, the
> burner is rarely what fails on water heaters, so junk water heaters make
> a good source for burners and safety controls.
> 
> An unvented flame for cooking, lighting, etc. is probably OK, but I
> would not use any unvented gas flame in an area where people are
> sleeping.  It's just too easy to "wake up dead".  (Besides, it's illegal
> where I live.)
> 
> Vented natural gas heating stoves that use no electricity are readily
> available commercially.
> 
> BTW, my fireplace has a leaky pipe just as you describe, for a
> 'starter'.  You load the logs into the andirons above the pipe, and
> light the gas flame.  Once the logs are burning, turn off the gas.
> 
> Randall
> 
> Steven Shipley wrote:
> >
> > It's starting to get a little colder here in the
> > Pacific NorthWest and they're asking us to conserve
> > electricity.  They're even saying that it might
> > be possible to experience rolling blackouts.
> >
> > So I started to look at the use of natural gas for
> > heat, lighting, and cooking.

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