{"id":2077,"date":"2024-08-27T14:35:05","date_gmt":"2024-08-27T21:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/?p=2077"},"modified":"2024-08-27T17:21:28","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T00:21:28","slug":"eco-its-not-easy-telling-the-gas-company-to-shove-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/2024\/08\/eco-its-not-easy-telling-the-gas-company-to-shove-it\/","title":{"rendered":"eco: it&#8217;s not easy telling the gas company to shove it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We have electric radiant floor heating and electric domestic hot water (after an expensive failed Rube Goldberg attempt years ago at solar thermal tubes with air-water heat pump backup that I <em>still<\/em> need to blog about), and an excellent Mitsubishi ductless mini-split to heat or cool most of our second floor. But we still have the bad (un)&#8221;natural&#8221; gas supply for our gas cooktop and a gas dryer. Let&#8217;s kick it to the curb! How hard can it be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/images\/eco\/unwanted_gas_hookup.jpg\" alt=\"unwanted (un)natural gas hookup and meter, with censored foul language annotations\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Noble aim, expensive statement<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A gas cooktop is so bad!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The harmful effects of gas stoves on health are now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/the-health-risks-of-gas-stoves-explained\/\">undeniable<\/a>, maybe that will encourage even knuckle-dragging global warming deniers to switch to better induction cooktops. Plus the ease of cleaning a single tempered sheet of glass. If you remodel or build new and hook up a gas supply, you&#8217;re crazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We tried to get an estimate of how much it would cost to switch to an induction cooktop, and the appliance installers couldn&#8217;t even figure out how to remove our Miele gas cooktop, and weren&#8217;t sure if we would need an additional 240 Volt 40 amp outlet (we already have an electric oven) and\/or an electric panel upgrade. All that on top of the cost of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.consumerreports.org\/appliances\/cooktops\/electric-induction-cooktops\/c200764\/#\">Consumer Reports&#8217; recommended<\/a> Bosch NIT8660UC induction cooktop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Occasionally drying clothes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We would have similar problems ditching our gas clothes dryer for an electric or heat pump dryer. (We mostly air dry for a few minutes to collect lint then hang clothes inside, and sometimes point a fan at them to dry quicker, which also cools the house.) We&#8217;d need a new electric outlet, the new dryer wouldn&#8217;t fit next to our 20-year-old unbreakable Kenmore Elite HE3t washer, and wouldn&#8217;t stack on our existing pedestal to provide a shelf in the utility room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/images\/eco\/replacing_kenmore_gas_dryer.jpg\" alt=\"Decades-old Kenmore Elite HE3t washer next to unwanted Kenmore gas dryer\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A perfect fit is hard to find<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Making a statement while barely making a dent<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Much as I&#8217;d love to tell PG&amp;E to rip out our gas connection, spending $4,000+ for the satisfaction of telling the (un)&#8221;natural&#8221; gas company to f*** off, when we use less than 1 therm a month for $5, is a pretty expensive performative statement!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We have electric radiant floor heating and electric domestic hot water (after an expensive failed Rube Goldberg attempt years ago at solar thermal tubes with air-water heat pump backup that I still need to blog about), and an excellent Mitsubishi &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/2024\/08\/eco-its-not-easy-telling-the-gas-company-to-shove-it\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[40,41,42],"class_list":["post-2077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eco","tag-cooktop","tag-dryer","tag-unnatural-gas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2077"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2082,"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2077\/revisions\/2082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skierpage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}