Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by hgomersall 1482 days ago
Have you compared gas stoves to electric stoves? With our induction hob we found cooking in general produces loads of pm10.
2 comments

Gas stoves are much worse, as they produce all kinds of combustion byproducts (CO2, etc.) when they're working properly. Here's a random article I found: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/documents/indoor-air-pollut...

Studies have pointed to increased asthma and other respiratory ailments from gas stoves. There's no possible way electric stoves can be anywhere near as bad as literally burning fossil fuels inside your house.

That's really interesting! I switched from electric to gas (I regret not doing induction) and I found the pm10 and 2.5 are very similar for both. It is Co2 and No2 and vocs that surprise me about the gas stove. I'm no expert, just a lay person trying to make sense of it all but maybe the PM is from the food and therefore pretty consistent for all types of cooking?
> I regret not doing convection

Did you mean induction? Convection just means "An oven with an internal fan to circulate hot air" (so actually not convection in the sense of a temperature difference driven air current).

Induction is using oscillating magnetic fields to heat a ferromagnetic cooking vessel.

> It is Co2 and No2 and vocs that surprise me about the gas stove.

Those are always the byproduct of low temperature open combustion of hydrocarbons, which is what a gas stove is doing.

> I'm no expert, just a lay person trying to make sense of it all but maybe the PM is from the food and therefore pretty consistent for all types of cooking?

I have an induction stove in a house whose baseline PM2.5, CO2, VOCs are very low (by design). I monitor PM2.5, C02 and VOCs during cooking, and the food itself definitely produces PM2.5, since that's the only measure that increases very much when I'm cooking (and only if I forget to turn on the stove extractor fan).

However, studies have shown that cooking on gas emits many times the amount of PM2.5 as electric. The difference is mostly in the energy delivery method, not the food cooked.

https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1172959

>did you mean induction

I did! Thank you, don't know how convection ovens got in my head.

> gas emits many times the amount of PM2.5 as electric

You are right. Gas stoves are worse on all air quality metrics, and the actual food cooking is only a tiny source of PM.

In your experience is cooking on induction still the #1 poor air quality cause in your house?

> In your experience is cooking on induction still the #1 poor air quality cause in your house?

Yes, but there isn't much competition anymore now that I've removed all combustion appliances, so only in the comparative sense. Nowadays the biggest air quality issues come from outdoors (pollen, smoke, NOx from nearby freeway).

Off topic: how do you measure pm2.5 and pm10?
I have three air monitors I got used. It's a really niche market so I get them cheap. I have a uhoo, laseregg, and airthings. None of them are super accurate and I bet I am measure a lot more than I want but I can see trends enough to make some good guesses.