Anybody Switch from Electric to Gas Appliances?

For 52 years I have had...a natural gas furnace...gas dryer...gas hot water heater...and an electric stove...and I have been glad of it. Anything different would've been...different, but not better. Prices and quality do fluctuate over time, but these are minor considerations. Go with what works and get the best quality you can...not necessarily the cheapest.
 
Here’s something I didn’t think of: is a vent hood that vents to exterior, required for a gas range and oven?

Like many modern vent hoods, the one in this house is not actually vented to exterior. It only has the metal mesh grease traps. Any air taken in by the vent hood is exhausted right back into the kitchen.

Despite having an electric stove, the home I grew up in, that was built in 1978, had an honest to goodness, van hood, that actually vented up through the attic and roof, to the exterior of the house.
We never had one and still don’t, but it wouldn’t hurt. Our house isn’t the most well sealed thing either though.
 
One thing that is often overlooked is the waste heat of a gas range.

I switched to gas and it dumped about 30k btu into the kitchen made it roasting hot even with the hood on.
Couldnt touch handles on large pots as they would be blazin hot from the heat rising around the pan.
Wife also burnt everything.. including a skillet.

The gas oven is a huge offender as they vent right into kitchen. and the heat rises faster through the oven vs electric.. making it even less efficient.

Induction is my favorite. All the power/heat directly into the pan no waste heat.. perfection? no.. but not much is.

Gas hot water heater is great when you have cheap natural gas.. and fast recovery.. of course you will need a power vent expect 1600$+ installed.
about 1/3 the running cost of electric (varies)

I have the hybrid electric and its 3x more efficient than resistance electric and also dehumidifies my basement (for free) Win.

So stove summary: I like gas stove the best but it has drawbacks (severe in my kitchen). Induction blows away the power of gas for boiling water. no so great with a wok though.
 
I have a gas 6 burner range with an electric griddle on the cooktop too (not sure what voltage). My vent hood vents to the outside and has multiple blowers so the heat isn’t an issue but if yours vents to the kitchen it can definitely heat things up if you had multiple burners going at once.

I also have normal roof vented water heaters and one direct vent water heater that has an intake and exhaust like a higher efficiency furnace. It was quite a bit more expensive if I remember correctly. If I were you I’d do the stove but wait on the water heater. The return just isn’t there. When your kids are bigger and everyone is showering in the morning maybe I’d consider a gas heater or tankless at that point because 5+ showers is going to tax that electric unit!
 
I have a gas 6 burner range with an electric griddle on the cooktop too (not sure what voltage). My vent hood vents to the outside and has multiple blowers so the heat isn’t an issue but if yours vents to the kitchen it can definitely heat things up if you had multiple burners going at once.

I also have normal roof vented water heaters and one direct vent water heater that has an intake and exhaust like a higher efficiency furnace. It was quite a bit more expensive if I remember correctly. If I were you I’d do the stove but wait on the water heater. The return just isn’t there. When your kids are bigger and everyone is showering in the morning maybe I’d consider a gas heater or tankless at that point because 5+ showers is going to tax that electric unit!
Resistance Electric vs gas water heater here is about 220$ a year difference for family of 2.
I have a 400cfm "microwave" hood that vents to the outside.
It helped but not with 2-3 burners on and oven. I'd start the furnace blower to help too.. since my furnace has... 1 return it sucks air through kitchen pretty good.. if I setup the vents right.
With the induction cooktop and electric oven the heat is much more manageable about 1/3 or less vs the gas with the oven on.. probably 1/10th the waste heat with just cooktop. The cooktop itself stays cool enough to not even burn on spills etc.
 
One thing that is often overlooked is the waste heat of a gas range.

I switched to gas and it dumped about 30k btu into the kitchen made it roasting hot even with the hood on.
Couldnt touch handles on large pots as they would be blazin hot from the heat rising around the pan.
Wife also burnt everything.. including a skillet.

The gas oven is a huge offender as they vent right into kitchen. and the heat rises faster through the oven vs electric.. making it even less efficient.

Induction is my favorite. All the power/heat directly into the pan no waste heat.. perfection? no.. but not much is.

Gas hot water heater is great when you have cheap natural gas.. and fast recovery.. of course you will need a power vent expect 1600$+ installed.
about 1/3 the running cost of electric (varies)

I have the hybrid electric and its 3x more efficient than resistance electric and also dehumidifies my basement (for free) Win.

So stove summary: I like gas stove the best but it has drawbacks (severe in my kitchen). Induction blows away the power of gas for boiling water. no so great with a wok though.
We have a gas range and aren't experiencing any of the issues you had . I have two gas water heaters and neither have a power vent . I've never even seen one with a power vent . Maybe that's a thing where you live .
 
We have a gas range and aren't experiencing any of the issues you had . I have two gas water heaters and neither have a power vent . I've never even seen one with a power vent . Maybe that's a thing where you live .
Its a thing when they build your house without a chimney and use a power vent gas furnace (high efficiency).
My house has a chimney but its not suitable for use with a gas water heater due to the placement of the furnace.
My kitchen is tiny. House is 800sq ft main floor. with a bonus cape cod room upstairs and 1/4 finished basement (bathroom/laundry room)
There are cupboards on the left and cabinets above and to the right of the stove.
 
Its a thing when they build your house without a chimney and use a power vent gas furnace (high efficiency).
My house has a chimney but its not suitable for use with a gas water heater due to the placement of the furnace.
My kitchen is tiny. House is 800sq ft main floor. with a bonus cape cod room upstairs and 1/4 finished basement (bathroom/laundry room)
There are cupboards on the left and cabinets above and to the right of the stove.
What’s a Cape Cod room? I googled it, and all that came up was a restaurant by that name in Chicago, that just closed.
 
What’s a Cape Cod room? I googled it, and all that came up was a restaurant by that name in Chicago, that just closed.
The upper room in a cape cod house that has knee walls.

My room is 8ft wide with a 18" center that is 7ft tall sloping down over the other ~~3ft in each direction to a height of 4.5ft

image_2022-11-17_133329567.png


Note: this is not my house.. just an example of a cape cod house.
image_2022-11-17_133222848.png


The lighting is very off in this pic its much more off white than that horrid orange yellow.
image_2022-11-17_133704863.png
 
I wouldn't recommend a gas stove unless you have a semi decent vent hood that blows outside. Our gas stove runs on propane which burns a bit dirtier than natural gas and my wife uses a wok once in a while with food with some spicy heat, so its good to just send the heat, steam, combustion products, and hot pepper fumes outside. We like the gas range though, compared to coil electric or flattop electric. Induction sounds interesting but I've never cooked on one. Also a gas stove has a "moist heat" which in theory cooks faster without as much drying out of the food, but I've never bothered to look up if its significant. But I guess an electric oven with restricted air exchange would get similar humidity as a gas oven? In any case, gas is what my wife wants so that's what we'll use!
 
Last edited:
Of course not. 😂

I assume a gas dryer would need vented to outside for the combustion gases, same as a gas water heater.
Yes, they do.
We have a gas furnace, clothes dryer, and water heater.
All three are more economical than their electrical equivalents.
I'd probably go gas on the kitchen stove, but I don't want to go through the hassle of running a gas line over there.
 
John,

Not sure all the information posted in this thread is holistic to the question you are asking reference the gas water heater.

There are three standard types of gas water heaters. Chimney vent, direct vent, and power vent.

Power vent is often the easiest to install but requires electric to power the vent and the motor is often noisy. If one has a ranch, a direct vent can be very economical to install, but direct vents are often a rare heater to find, so if it breaks, the replacement may not have vent dimension that align with the older model. The chimney vent is the cheapest water heater to replace, but the cost of the chimney is the one-time issue.

We have a power vent.
The reason was that I wanted the space that having the chimney removed afforded in a kitchen remodel back in 2005.
Besides at that point, the $850 that I paid for the PV installed vs. the cost to re-tuckpoint the chimney at the time (needed) made it a wash.
However, I just had to have that PV replaced.
More than 2x what I paid installed in '05 just for the PV alone.
They are nice, but the price can be a bite.
 
  • Helpful
Reactions: GON
If you have frequent outages having a substantial NG infrastructure allows more modest generator to fully run the home.

An electric water heater and an electric cooktop/ oven are going to be pulling serious power.

I insist on a gas cooktop- and Id say you need a vent.

Gas is no longer a bargain for me and much closer to electricity in pricing.
 
Back
Top