Author Topic: Canceling my gas service for cooking  (Read 1896 times)

jafr1284

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Canceling my gas service for cooking
« on: December 13, 2019, 09:32:41 AM »
I live in a small apartment and my heating is paid for in my rent but I do have to pay for my gas for cooking. I only used $.38 of gas last month but have to pay a flat fee of $26 for gas service. Anyways I had the wonderful thought to cancel the gas service and buy a countertop induction burner for $60. The payoff period would be just over two months and I have heard that cooking on induction is amazing. Am I being ridiculous or is this a good idea to save $240 in the first year. I could even get 2 burners but most of my cooking is one pot. I could get a big piece of wood or something to cover up the stove top and quadruple my counter space.
-J

Cranky

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Re: Canceling my gas service for cooking
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2019, 10:19:33 AM »
Where does your hot water come from?

ixtap

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Re: Canceling my gas service for cooking
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2019, 10:20:44 AM »
Is your current cookware compatible with induction cooking?

Maenad

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Re: Canceling my gas service for cooking
« Reply #3 on: December 13, 2019, 10:31:21 AM »
0. Have you looked at other ways to save money that could give you more bang for your buck? $20 per month often isn't a lot compared to overall cashflow, and if you could save more by cooking more and going out to eat less or something, you may want to focus on the larger savings first.
1. Is electricity also included in your rent? If not, that could offset your savings.
2. How much power does the induction burner you're looking at pull? The ones we have take a lot of juice and could trip a breaker if we aren't careful.
3. Do you do any baking? I'm guessing not based on your low usage.

If the answers to those don't change your calculations, I say give it a try. It would be an interesting experiment, at least!

Sibley

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Re: Canceling my gas service for cooking
« Reply #4 on: December 13, 2019, 10:50:27 AM »
Your landlord may also have a problem with you cancelling the gas service.

robartsd

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Re: Canceling my gas service for cooking
« Reply #5 on: December 13, 2019, 11:28:39 AM »
We've been using a portable induction cooktop from IKEA and it works well for us. It provides about 8 power levels from 200-1800 watts and also has a temperature control mode with 20F-40F between settings ranging from 160F to over 400F. More expensive cooktops typically provide the same range of settings, but with more intermediate levels.

At first glance, this looks like a good idea. A portable induction cooktop typically draws 1800 watts (15 amps) on high. Most circuits are rated for 15 or 20 amps. Using a the cooktop on a circuit that is being used by anything else may throw the breaker (two such cooktops on the same circuit certainly would). Induction is nice because it efficiently puts the energy into the pot, whereas significant heat from a gas burner flows around the pot. Since electrical energy is generally much more expensive than gas energy, your actual energy charges may be higher or lower, but since they are such a small fraction of the fixed cost of the gas connection I'm confident that the idea would save money. Savings would be the highest in summer as less wasted heat also means less work for the air conditioning.

Your landlord may also have a problem with you cancelling the gas service.
Do check to be sure that you actually are allowed to cancel the gas service completely before you make the decision to move forward with this. The gas company might require the fixed fee for months service was disconnected before turning the connection back on.

jafr1284

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Re: Canceling my gas service for cooking
« Reply #6 on: December 13, 2019, 12:57:41 PM »
Where does your hot water come from?
Free hot water in the apartment building from the boiler.

jafr1284

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Re: Canceling my gas service for cooking
« Reply #7 on: December 13, 2019, 12:57:55 PM »
Is your current cookware compatible with induction cooking?
Yes

jafr1284

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Re: Canceling my gas service for cooking
« Reply #8 on: December 13, 2019, 01:15:45 PM »
Thanks everyone for the tips about the potential of me still having to pay the fee even if my gas is off. I use the oven maybe once every few months and would be fine never using it. I think it would be a really interesting experiment.

terran

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Re: Canceling my gas service for cooking
« Reply #9 on: December 13, 2019, 01:33:33 PM »
Even with oven use I suspect you could adapt almost complete with an induction "burner" and a toaster oven (some of which are basically small electric ovens). You might spend almost as much as a year of gas savings between those two appliances though, so you'd have to consider how long you think you'll stay in this apartment. I would personally be very tempted to do it given the situation you describe.

jafr1284

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Re: Canceling my gas service for cooking
« Reply #10 on: December 13, 2019, 04:11:51 PM »
Even with oven use I suspect you could adapt almost complete with an induction "burner" and a toaster oven (some of which are basically small electric ovens). You might spend almost as much as a year of gas savings between those two appliances though, so you'd have to consider how long you think you'll stay in this apartment. I would personally be very tempted to do it given the situation you describe.
Yep, I already have a toaster oven that I have made mini pizzas in before, and can bake bread in my breadmaker. So the oven basically goes unused anyways.

meghan88

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Re: Canceling my gas service for cooking
« Reply #11 on: December 13, 2019, 05:20:27 PM »
Cancel it, and make sure that it's completely shut down in your unit.  Cooking with gas is not all that great for health, unless you have really, really good ventilation:  https://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2018/03/06/use-your-range-hood-for-a-healthier-home-advises-indoor-air-quality-researcher/ and https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-xpm-2013-nov-06-la-sci-sn-gas-stoves-air-pollution-california-20131106-story.html