Safe use of gas range and ovens

Gas Range and Ovens Carbon Monoxide Risk

A typical gas oven will produce high amounts of carbon monoxide (CO). This is normal and allowable by design. But what homeowners miss is you need to run a vented rangehood while cooking. When I say vented hood I mean one that actually vents outside. Not the style that just suck the air up and blow it back into the home.

A gas oven will commonly produce 200-300 PPM of CO. According to Iowa State University they are allowed to produce upto 800 PPM. When testing gas ovens in homes I have found this to be true. Homeowners commonly do not understand this and will cook with out turning on the rangehood vent. There are many homes that don't even have a vented rangehood.

This is one of the many reasons you can not use an oven to heat your home. Long use of the oven can over come the home with high levels of CO which can be very dangerous.

It is very important that any home with a gas range has a low level Carbon Monoxide Monitor. Not just a carbon monoxide alarm. Some states like Minnesota require CO alarms in homes, but not CO Monitors. A CO Monitor will alarm you with levels as low as 5 PPM in your home. A Carbon Monoxide alarm from your hardware store will not notify you until levels as high as 75 PPM in the home.

Tap Water Scalds: Safety Alert

The temperature a water heater should be has multiple answers. Below is a document from the "U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission". 120 degrees has been a common answer. Homeowners that have electric off peak water heaters commonly need to keep water warmer. There has also been studies that say you need water to be 140-145 degrees to prevent bacteria growth. When you do set your water heater higher than 120 degrees you need to add a mixing valve. A mixing valve will allow you to have the tank temperature 140 degrees, but it will mix cold water with the outlet water lowering it to 120 degrees or what ever you set it at. Mixing valves are also called Anti-scald valves.



Document #5098

Each year, approximately 3,800 injuries and 34 deaths occur in the home due to scalding from excessively hot tap water. The majority of these accidents involve the elderly and children under the age of five. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) urges all users to lower their water heaters to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition to preventing accidents, this decrease in temperature will conserve energy and save money.

Most adults will suffer third-degree burns if exposed to 150 degree water for two seconds. Burns will also occur with a six-second exposure to 140 degree water or with a thirty second exposure to 130 degree water. Even if the temperature is 120 degrees, a five minute exposure could result in third-degree burns.

Various procedures for lowering water temperature in the home exist, depending on the method of heating. Here are some suggestions:

Electric water heaters. Call your local electric company to adjust the thermostat. Some companies offer this service at no-charge. Hot water should not be used for at least two hours prior to setting. To make the adjustment yourself, start by shutting off current to the water heater, then turn off the circuit breaker to the heater or remove the fuse that serves the heater. Most electric water heaters have two thermostats, both of which must be set to a common temperature for proper operation. To reach these thermostats you must remove the upper and lower access panels. Adjust the thermostat following the instructions provided with the appliance. Hold a candy or meat thermometer under the faucet to check water temperature.

Gas water heaters. Because thermostats differ, call your local gas company for instructions. Where precise temperatures are not given, hold a candy or meat thermometer under faucet for most accurate reading first thing in the morning or at least two hours after water use. If reading is too high, adjust thermostat on heater, according to manufacturers instructions, and check again with thermometer.

Furnace heater. If you do not have an electric, gas, or oil-fired water heater, you probably have an on-line hot water system. Contact your fuel supplier to have the temperature lowered. If you live in an apartment, contact the building manager to discuss possible options for lowering your tap water temperature. Reducing water temperature will not affect the heating capacity of the furnace.

The CPSC notes that a thermostat setting of 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees Celsius) may be necessary for residential water heaters to reduce or eliminate the risk of most tap water scald injuries. Consumers should consider lowering the thermostat to the lowest settings that will satisfy hot water needs for all clothing and dish washing machines.
Never take hot water temperature for granted. Always hand-test before using, especially when bathing children and infants. Leaving a child unsupervised in the bathroom, even if only for a second, could cause serious injuries. Your presence at all times is the best defense against accidents and scaldings to infants and young children.




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Minnesota Energy Saver Rebate Program

The State of Minnesota started a new energy rebate program for homeowners to make improvements to there home. The short version is you can make your home more energy efficient by upgrading heating system, air conditioning, windows, insulation, light fixtures, and a few other items.

The state's advantage is trying to help American become more energy independent.

The homeowners advantage is you get a very large rebate for items that can drastically lower you monthly gas and electric bills. If you look at long term what it cost to heat and cool your home it is amazing. Average Minnesota home cost $1,000/year for natural gas and $1,200/year in electricity. That is $2,200 per year or $22,000 over 10 Years. And if gas and electric rates keep going up as they have it will cost even more.

The heating and cooling system upgrade has been a great thing for homeowners. There never has been a time you could install a new 95% Efficient Gas furnace and cooling system for so little money. You can use federal tax credit up to $1500, local utility gas rebates, utility electric rebates, plus get another 35% rebate from the state. The state rebate is 35% of the total installed cost with a maximum rebate of $10,000 per home from the State of Minnesota.


One requirement is you must finance the installation, but you get a great 5.9% interest rate.

FIX UP FUND GENERAL ELIGIBILITY

-Must be owner occupied
-Decent credit history
-Current maximum household income of $96,500 (updated annually)
-Single family homes, duplexes, triplexes, four-plexes, and a unit of a condominium or town home (no common areas)

You can learn more about this loan at www.mnhousing.gov.

Or contact Comfort Matters Heating and Cooling at 763-493-2665 or info@comfortmatters.com and you can get more details or have an information package sent to you with details.

You can find participating banks at http://www.mnhousing.gov/consumers/home-buyers/programs/index.aspx.

2010 Minnesota Centerpoint Energy Rebates

Minnesota Centerpoint Energy Rebates

Centerpoint Energy is the primary natural gas supplier for Minneapolis Twin City area. 2010 has brought a nice increase in rebates. In 2009 a customer would get $150 back if the installed a new 95% Efficient furnace. With energy being a major effort in our country there have been increased rebate programs.

Below is the list of rebates a homeowner can get. A quality heating installation company will be able to walk you through this process. Some of the companies take care of 100% of the paperwork for you. After you have a new qualifying heating system installed you will receive your rebate check in the mail typically 4-6 weeks after installation.

2010 Centerpoint Rebates:

$150 92% AFUE or greater gas furnace
$300 95% AFUE or greater gas furnace
$400 96% AFUE or greater gas furnace

$300 83.5% AFUE or greater gas boiler
$500 91% AFUE or greater condensing gas boiler

$25 Install programmable thermostat with qualifying heating system.


I would not concern yourself much over a 95% or 96% furnace. Most manufactures don't even offer a 96% efficient furnace. And in real world homes you will never see a difference on fuel savings between a 95% or 96%. Carefully screen the company installing your furnace because there installation methods can make a big difference on how efficient the furnace actually operates in your home. How the company designs the duct work connections will also effect how noisy the furnace is and how much electricity it will use. At completion there should be a combustion performance test done to tune the furnace for maximum energy savings. Companies using NCI (National Comfort Institute) standards will far our perform others.

Wood Stove Changeout Clears the Air in LIbby, Montana

Contact: Deidra Darsa
(703) 522-0086 ET
darsa@hpba.org

Wood Stove Changeout Clears the Air in Libby, Montana
U.S. EPA Declares Libby Area Air Quality Meets Fine Particle Standard

Arlington, VA (October 13, 2009) - The Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association (HPBA) is excited to announce the final success of the Libby, Montana, wood stove changeout program. This effort led by HPBA, the U.S. EPA and Montana state and local officials replaced 1130 outdated wood-burning appliances with new cleaner burning EPA-certified wood stoves donated and installed by HPBA member companies.

Prior to the changeout, the Lincoln County town of Libby was predicted to fall short of meeting the new 24-hour fine particulate matter (PM2.5) federal standard according to state-validated air quality monitoring data for the three years, 2005 through 2007. However, data for the most recent three years - 2006, 2007 and 2008 - proved the area was meeting the standard. It is now an official attainment area.

"These results show that new technology wood-burning stoves, fireplace inserts and pellet stoves have a positive affect on the environment - both outdoors and in," said Jack Goldman, president of HPBA. "Not only do they burn cleaner than old-model stoves, they burn far more efficiently and use one-third less wood to heat the same space than previous stoves. This is great news for the people in Libby. They can now continue to warm their homes safely with wood, their main fuel source for home heating."

According to U.S. EPA, PM2.5 is a by-product of fuel combustion from wood burning, gasoline automobiles, diesel-powered vehicles such as trucks and busses, power plants and industrial processes and has been associated with a variety of serious health problems including heart attacks, chronic bronchitis and asthma. By removing old technology wood-burning stoves and replacing them with new clean-burning stoves, residents of Libby, MT, are breathing easier.



Consumers interested in clean-burning wood- or pellet-burning appliances can now receive a federal tax credit for up to $1,500 on the purchase and installation of a 75% efficient appliance. For information on clean-burning wood stoves and the federal 30%/$1500 consumer tax credit for wood and pellet burning stoves, go to www.hpba.org/taxcredit.

For more information on wood stove changeouts and Libby, Montana, go to www.woodstovechangeout.org.

About Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association (HPBA)
The Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association is an international trade association first established in 1980 to represent and promote the interests of the hearth products industry in North America. In 2002, the Hearth Products Association (HPA) merged with the Barbecue Industry Association (BIA) to form HPBA. The association includes manufacturers, retailers, distributors, manufacturers' representatives, service and installation firms, and other companies and individuals - all having business interests in and related to the hearth, patio, and barbecue products industries. For more information, please visit www.hpba.org or www.woodstovechangeout.org.

When to change oil on your furnace.

When is the last time you changed the oil on your furnace? Ok, I got you thinking now. You are right, you don't change oil on a residential gas home heating furnace. But I bet you change oil on your car every 3,000-6,000 miles. It seams that everyone knows you need to change the oil on your car but we forget about the furnace that heats our home.

If you didn't change oil on your car it will still keep working for a long time. You may be able to drive 30, 40, maybe 60,000 miles without changing your oil. But the efficiency will go down, you will waste fuel, and the motor will definitly fail earlier than it should. Same goes for your furnace. If you never have a profesional HVAC company clean and inspect your furnace you will waste money on your heating bills and it will also fail early. Could you imagine living in Minnesota and going on vacation for a week in January when the average temperature is about 15 degrees and night can be -15 to -30 degrees and your furnace fails. Well it happens every day. If you lose heat in your home and you are away you could freeze the water pipes and flood your home.

Is freezing pipes worst case senoiro? Or is having a gas leak, carbon monoxide poisioning, or cold house with a 6 month old baby. All of these are bad and happen very commonly. But the most common problem by not having your furnace profesionally tuned up is wasting money every month on your gas bill and having to buy a new furnace 5-7 years earlier than needed.

Lets play some numbers. Pretend running an unefficient furnace waste $15/month. 6 month heating season equals $90/year. Next if a new furance install cost $3,500 and should last 20 years but now only last 12 years. That is like wasting another $116/year. So total waste is $206/year. That is $2,060 over 10 years. Well you can have a HVAC company do a quality inspection and cleaning for less money than $206/year typically.

So having a furnace tune up annually can save you money, drastically reduce chance of break down, save money on service, and provide a safer home for your family.

EnergyGuide Labels

The U.S. government established a mandatory compliance program in the 1970s requiring that certain types of new appliances bear a label to help consumers compare the energy efficiency among similar products. In 1980, the Federal Trade Commission's Appliance Labeling Rule became effective, and requires that EnergyGuide labels be placed on all new refrigerators, freezers, water heaters, dishwashers, clothes washers, room air conditioners, heat pumps, furnaces, and boilers. These labels are bright yellow with black lettering identifying energy consumption characteristics of household appliances. Although these labels will not tell you which appliance is the most efficient, they will tell you the annual energy consumption and operating cost for each appliance so you can compare them yourself.

EnergyGuide labels show the estimated yearly electricity consumption to operate the product along with a scale for comparison among similar products. The comparison scale shows the least and most energy used by comparable models. The labeled model is represented by an arrow pointing to its relative position on that scale. This allows consumers to compare the labeled model with other similar models. The consumption figure printed on EnergyGuide labels, in kilowatt-hours (kWh), is based on average usage assumptions and your actual energy consumption may vary depending on the appliance usage.

EnergyGuide labels are not required on kitchen ranges, microwave ovens, clothes dryers, on-demand water heaters, portable space heaters, and lights.

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Source: U. S. Department of Energy