Stoves : Electric vs Natural Gas vs Propane (Dover: for sale, 2014)

[nuts2uiam]

Loving my new life in Delaware. Not loving my high end electric stove. I am a Gas stove gal. Here is my dilemma. I have a convection oven and I simply don't feel that the meat in particular gets cooked correctly and I have the same problem with the broiler. The food seems to splatter all over the stove even on low.

I have given it 7 months (OK, a lot of the summer was on the grill) but I am ready to chuck the whole thing out the window. It is just 15 months old now and I hate to be stupid about this so I have several questions.

Do the pots matter on the stove top? In the oven? I have cast iron pots and things just don't get really browned. If so please tell me what to buy.
Do the broilers work as well in general as the gas ones do?

I am thinking of converting to a gas stove BUT, I had natural gas and here it will only be propane. Will I notice a difference? Several people have told me it is not as "hot" as a natural gas stove. I need to have the line pulled from the gas fireplace to the stove but I don't want to get rid of an electric stove only to find out that I hate the propane as much.

I have a high end electric and would replace it with a non convection oven as I simply don't cook with that style of heating. In other words, I have an outlay for the line, cost of the stove, connection to the gas line and the "loss" of the higher end value of the electric stove,(even though it was here when I bought the house, is there a good place to sell it, it is in mint condition.)? There is a risk reward to anything you do but I plead ignorance in this case.

I should also explain that I came from an oil heated home and was comfortable most days during the winter at 70 degrees. We got here in March and use heat pumps, so I set the thermostat at the same temperature and was freezing until I pushed it up. The explanation I got was that oil heat and gas heat feel warmer. Stupid me, I thought 70 degrees was 70 degrees. so you can see where I am even more confused by an oven that is not as "hot"!!!

Any answers will be helpful. Thanks.

[longnecker]

Well nuts it does seem that the same temp feels different with different heating systems. We have livrd in our home forever.At one time we replaced our oil burner with a propane system. After a couple of years we had the propane removed and replaced with oil. We just never seemed as warm with the propane.

[James420]

Propane burns hotter than natural gas, its basically a byproduct of oil that's made in refineries. Natural gas is really a natural resource that's found underground and can be used right away instead of being made like propane is. Natural gas can be used to make propane, but not the other way around.

Oil is the hottest, by far. I grew up with it and until 3 years I always had oil heat in the homes I lived in, 36 years of oil heat and going to gas was a big letdown. Older houses with poor insulation and oil heat would still cook you compared to a new house with a heat pump or gas heat.

Heat pumps are popular because you get heating and A/C all in one, they have improved over the last 10 years but I believe they still work best in the south, where the temp doesn't drop below 30 degrees, although we haven't had cold winters recently, when we do get them, that's when most people with heat pumps call about replacing their system.

For your stove, natural gas or propane work best on the cooktop, but the oven itself most people prefer electric over gas. Electric cooks much more even across the element in the oven compared to gas.

[rdlr]

Good ole' oil conversion hot water heat here (hot water baseboard) and our trusty electric range. Wouldn't have anything else. We're happy with our low electric bills, and we're tight wads. Of course, it all depends on size of house, and lifestyle. No gas flames burning in our home, no gas odors, and nothing like what happened in Dover a few years back. Ka-Boom!

[Mary2014]

nuts2uim,

I don't have a convection oven, but, my neighbor got one last year. It took her a while to figure out how to use it. I think she ended up going back to where she bought it and sat in on a class the store was giving on the different techniques when cooking using convection cooking. She actually likes using it now. I think she actually got different types of pots and pans to use with her new cooktop and oven.

You might want to see if where you bought the oven offers some sort of classes on the different cooking methods using convection cooking.

Mary2014

[nuts2uiam]

Thanks Mary but I didn't buy the stove, it came with the house. All the appliances were replaced a few months prior to the people listing it for sale.

I really can ignore the convection part and use the regular bake as that is what I am use to. I am a well done person and I prefer meat (little that I do eat, to be dryer as opposed to moist, so the main purpose of convection is to cook faster and preserve the moisture of the meat).

My big dilemma now is whether I should bother to convert or not. I was all set until a couple of friends told me of their experiences from electric to propane and now I am again on hold. From the INTERNET I understand that the problem may be the converter used on the stove for Natural Gas to Propane may be calibrated incorrectly. That may be the case but I have just read that for the cook top the propane is better than electric but vice versa for the oven. Decisions, decisions.

[nuts2uiam]

Originally Posted by James420

Propane burns hotter than natural gas, its basically a byproduct of oil that's made in refineries. Natural gas is really a natural resource that's found underground and can be used right away instead of being made like propane is. Natural gas can be used to make propane, but not the other way around.

Oil is the hottest, by far. I grew up with it and until 3 years I always had oil heat in the homes I lived in, 36 years of oil heat and going to gas was a big letdown. Older houses with poor insulation and oil heat would still cook you compared to a new house with a heat pump or gas heat.

Heat pumps are popular because you get heating and A/C all in one, they have improved over the last 10 years but I believe they still work best in the south, where the temp doesn't drop below 30 degrees, although we haven't had cold winters recently, when we do get them, that's when most people with heat pumps call about replacing their system.

For your stove, natural gas or propane work best on the cooktop, but the oven itself most people prefer electric over gas. Electric cooks much more even across the element in the oven compared to gas.

Thanks so much, you have confirmed what I have been reading.....what do I do? I still can't decide.

[DelawareLiz]

I've had an electric stove (nothing fancy--GE) since we've lived in this house and in my old apartment before moving here. I had a gas stove for five years in my very first home I owned, but I haven't seen nor used one in thirteen years. I do believe (if I recall correctly) that I liked cooking on the burners more with my gas stove, but I preferred cooking in my oven more with my electric stove. We haven't had any issues with our stove in the eleven years we've been here.

Also, we're very happy with our propane gas heating system-set on 62 degrees all winter long and we're just peachy.