New Cooker required

[Bouleversee]

My gas range cooker is on its last legs. If I buy a new one, does anyone know whether it will be convertible to hydrogen if and when that becomes available or will I and the new cooker be long gone before that happens? I had thought of getting an electric one but there is no electric cooker point
in my kitchen and I fear it will be problematical and very expensive to install one.

[AsleepInYorkshire]

Have you looked around locally to see if anyone refurbs these cookers?

AiY

[88V8]

... there is no electric cooker point in my kitchen and I fear it will be problematical and very expensive to install one.

I would ask a couple of sparkies to pop round and quote you.

We had a gas hob for more than 30 years and thought that nothing could beat it for speed and controllability, but having moved to a house with no gas, we changed to an induction hob, and it knocks gas into a cocked hat.
At least give yourself the option.

I very much doubt that current gas appliances will be convertible, although I also doubt that the 2035 target will be met.... partly because appliances will not be convertible and all the hoohah and indignation that will cause.

V8

[9873210]

Converting a burner to use hydrogen is firstly a matter of using a different burner orifice. Similar conversion to the one done in the 60's to convert from burning synthetic gas (some was 50% hydrogen) to natural gas.

[Bouleversee]

88V8:

I did get a quote from a local kitchen fitter for supplying and fitting an electric cooker with induction hob and fitting new consumer unit and fuse board and it came to £4.866 plus the cost of sorting out any faults found on the electrics. Seemed a helluva lot for a new cooker. I am stuck with a 100cm wide cooker to fit existing space. The cooker itself would cost £3,204 from this source. I haven't yet had time to shop around for alternatives but I intended to get another opinion on the electric supply. Not enough hours in the day, esp. as various problems keep cropping up which need urgent attention, e.g. being woken up at 4 am 2 days ago by a bang and crash near my bed. When I switched on the light, I found it wasn't a burglar knocking something over but a large mirror had fallen off one of the suite of wardrobes alongside my bed. Fortunately it had bounced and fallen sideways rather than on to the bed, broken needless to say. The same local firm had fitted these about 25 years ago but at present is isolating so the mirror still lies on my bedroom carpet. The mirrors are not held on by the moulding but by a series of small sticky squares. OT, I know, so will spare you other similar recent dramas. The joys of being a widow!

[monabri]

88V8:

I did get a quote from a local kitchen fitter for supplying and fitting an electric cooker with induction hob and fitting new consumer unit and fuse board and it came to £4.866 plus the cost of sorting out any faults found on the electrics. Seemed a helluva lot for a new cooker. I am stuck with a 100cm wide cooker to fit existing space. The cooker itself would cost £3,204 from this source. I haven't yet had time to shop around for alternatives but I intended to get another opinion on the electric supply. Not enough hours in the day, esp. as various problems keep cropping up which need urgent attention, e.g. being woken up at 4 am 2 days ago by a bang and crash near my bed. When I switched on the light, I found it wasn't a burglar knocking something over but a large mirror had fallen off one of the suite of wardrobes alongside my bed. Fortunately it had bounced and fallen sideways rather than on to the bed, broken needless to say. The same local firm had fitted these about 25 years ago but at present is isolating so the mirror still lies on my bedroom carpet. The mirrors are not held on by the moulding but by a series of small sticky squares. OT, I know, so will spare you other similar recent dramas. The joys of being a widow!

£4866.... my gast is flabbered!

Have a look on Amazon for a suitable gas cooker 100cm width.

This is the most expensive one ( OK its 110cm) at £2.4k plus a few quid delivery.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stoves-Richmon ... 177&sr=8-1

£1900 100cm width. £10 delivery.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stoves-Sterlin ... 177&sr=1-2

£1159 free delivery.
https://www.stovesareus.co.uk/belling-f ... hhEALw_wcB

Curry's Electrical - ...most expensive £2199 ( but free installation).

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/range-coo ... teria.html

Might be worth a trip out to Currys?

[monabri]

A.O.

https://ao.com/l/gas_range_cookers-stan ... -36/13-14/

Looks like AO will arrange fitment via one of their plumbers (~£95) and for an extra 20 quid take the old one away.

[gryffron]

Curry’s fitters are terrible. They’re not qualified to do anything more than plug it in. If there is any modification required they’ll walk away and leave it. No objection to Curry’s as a box shifter. But far better to get somebody competent to fit it.

Gryff

[Mike4]

My gas range cooker is on its last legs. If I buy a new one, does anyone know whether it will be convertible to hydrogen if and when that becomes available or will I and the new cooker be long gone before that happens? I had thought of getting an electric one but there is no electric cooker point
in my kitchen and I fear it will be problematical and very expensive to install one.

Careering off at a tangent, in what way is it "on its last legs"?

I'd have thought there is very little on a range cooker than can't be fixed.

[Mike4]

If I buy a new one, does anyone know whether it will be convertible to hydrogen if and when that becomes available or will I and the new cooker be long gone before that happens?

My own guess is hydrogen cooking will never happen. The insurmountable problem is a hydrogen flame burns invisibly, so you won't be able to see how low or high you have the flame.

Everyone will be coerced into using leccy for cooking, I reckon.

[UncleEbenezer]

If I buy a new one, does anyone know whether it will be convertible to hydrogen if and when that becomes available or will I and the new cooker be long gone before that happens?

My own guess is hydrogen cooking will never happen. The insurmountable problem is a hydrogen flame burns invisibly, so you won't be able to see how low or high you have the flame.

Everyone will be coerced into using leccy for cooking, I reckon.

Erm, not saying you're wrong, but there's precedent for dealing with that kind of problem, like introducing odour to gas so people could smell a gas leak. A little impurity in hydrogen could make it burn very visibly.

Alternatively. start producing gas hobs with sensors to measure the flame and produce a visible indication. Childsplay compared to the sensors routinely fitted on modern cars.

[Dod101]

When we moved to our present house we inherited a gas hob and cooker/oven. We did not even have mains gas but bottled stuff. We changed it to an induction hob plus electric ovens with all the accompanying electrics. Cannot remember the cost but it was worth it. Instant clean heat, easily cleaned and apparently environmentally friendly. I strongly recommend that you try to get competitive quotes The cost I think is in the appliances. I have NEFF and so far they have given no problems over 15 years of service.

Dod

[bungeejumper]

Curry’s fitters are terrible. They’re not qualified to do anything more than plug it in. If there is any modification required they’ll walk away and leave it. No objection to Curry’s as a box shifter. But far better to get somebody competent to fit it.

Unaccustomed as I am to complimenting Currys, they coped reasonably well when we replaced our old gas cooker with an all-electric induction model two years ago. (AEG, 60 cm, about £600, and really rather good.)

We'd paid £70 to have Currys' "Team KnowHow" fit the cooker, so we were a bit miffed on delivery day when they said that they weren't allowed to cap off the old gas supply because they personally weren't Gas Safe registered. (The new cooker didn't need the gas, of course, but they couldn't leave the old bayonet fitting as it was, so they had to go away without doing anything.) But the qualified gas fitter was along the next day to do the installation and remove the old cooker.

So I'd give them double points, firstly for recognising that they were out of their depth, and secondly for sorting it out promptly. Am I being too generous?

BJ

[Bouleversee]

Many thanks to all for your comments and suggestions. I would prefer an electric cooker but not at astronomic cost, especially as I don't know how much longer I shall be able to stay here (increasingly difficult to cope with large, labour intensive garden). However, I didn't like the only one quoted for by the local firm (a Rangemaster model) and the installation costs, including electrics which could amount to more, came to £1,662 which is not chickenfeed so alternative quotes will certainly be required when I have decided which models I prefer. I think it is important that one firm is in charge of the whole job, however, and that they use a competent qualified electrician if there is a switch from gas to electric.

Thanks to Bungee Jumper for the reminder about capping off the gas which was not mentioned in the quote I received though it had been mentioned by a decorator I was talking to recently who hasn't produced the promised quote for decorating. I daresay the gas capping would add another significant sum to the quote.

The present cooker does have some elec. supply as there is a hotplate, clock and hob ignition (not working on all hobs) but obviously not sufficient for
heating hobs and ovens. I believe one has to replace all types of pan with induction hobs which will add a few hundred pounds to the bill and take more time.

I shall try to find time to do more homework on this subject.

[Mike4]

If I buy a new one, does anyone know whether it will be convertible to hydrogen if and when that becomes available or will I and the new cooker be long gone before that happens?

My own guess is hydrogen cooking will never happen. The insurmountable problem is a hydrogen flame burns invisibly, so you won't be able to see how low or high you have the flame.

Everyone will be coerced into using leccy for cooking, I reckon.

Erm, not saying you're wrong, but there's precedent for dealing with that kind of problem, like introducing odour to gas so people could smell a gas leak. A little impurity in hydrogen could make it burn very visibly.

Alternatively. start producing gas hobs with sensors to measure the flame and produce a visible indication. Childsplay compared to the sensors routinely fitted on modern cars.

I know very little about hydrogen combustion which is why I started off saying my comments were a guess.

I see what you mean about sensors to monitor and control flame size being child's play in the big scheme of things but are you holding this is also the case when converting a current model of range cooker to hydrogen, which is what the OP is asking about?

[Bouleversee]

Have you looked around locally to see if anyone refurbs these cookers?

AiY

I thought I'd replied to this yesterday but it seems to have disappeared into the ether.

I don't know of any firm which refurbs gas cookers. Mine is a Belling and I did have a major service done by them not long after we moved in in 2008 but I think it is now beyond redemption. I don't think the oven temperatures are accurate, 2 of the hob caps have lost their enamel and Belling can't replace, I often have to use a lighter to ignite the hobs and other things, and I don't find gas cooker hobs easy to keep clean, even putting them in the dishwasher. I had a ceramic hob in my previous house which was easy to keep immaculate. I presume induction would be similar.

[Dod101]

Many thanks to all for your comments and suggestions. I would prefer an electric cooker but not at astronomic cost, especially as I don't know how much longer I shall be able to stay here (increasingly difficult to cope with large, labour intensive garden). However, I didn't like the only one quoted for by the local firm (a Rangemaster model) and the installation costs, including electrics which could amount to more, came to £1,662 which is not chickenfeed so alternative quotes will certainly be required when I have decided which models I prefer. I think it is important that one firm is in charge of the whole job, however, and that they use a competent qualified electrician if there is a switch from gas to electric.

Thanks to Bungee Jumper for the reminder about capping off the gas which was not mentioned in the quote I received though it had been mentioned by a decorator I was talking to recently who hasn't produced the promised quote for decorating. I daresay the gas capping would add another significant sum to the quote.

The present cooker does have some elec. supply as there is a hotplate, clock and hob ignition (not working on all hobs) but obviously not sufficient for
heating hobs and ovens. I believe one has to replace all types of pan with induction hobs which will add a few hundred pounds to the bill and take more time.

I shall try to find time to do more homework on this subject.

You need to have pans that are 'magnetic' or at least attract a magnet, iron/steel obviously. They usually have a heavy base and that actually contributes to even heating and cooking but I agree it is quite an investment if starting from scratch. Some of mine are Raymond Blanc and say '5 ply full capped copper base' and 'Induction suitable'. I know nothing about that. My late wife bought them, but they work! They are also indestructable as far as I can tell.

Dod

[bungeejumper]

You need to have pans that are 'magnetic' or at least attract a magnet, iron/steel obviously. They usually have a heavy base and that actually contributes to even heating and cooking but I agree it is quite an investment if starting from scratch. Some of mine are Raymond Blanc and say '5 ply full capped copper base' and 'Induction suitable'. I know nothing about that. My late wife bought them, but they work! They are also indestructable as far as I can tell.

FWIW, we found that only one of our 25 year old pans wouldn't work with the induction hob. (It was a small frying pan of negligible value.) We'd been told that our enamel boiling pans wouldn't work, but no, they're fine as well.

BJ

[Dod101]

You need to have pans that are 'magnetic' or at least attract a magnet, iron/steel obviously. They usually have a heavy base and that actually contributes to even heating and cooking but I agree it is quite an investment if starting from scratch. Some of mine are Raymond Blanc and say '5 ply full capped copper base' and 'Induction suitable'. I know nothing about that. My late wife bought them, but they work! They are also indestructable as far as I can tell.

FWIW, we found that only one of our 25 year old pans wouldn't work with the induction hob. (It was a small frying pan of negligible value.) We'd been told that our enamel boiling pans wouldn't work, but no, they're fine as well.

BJ

Aluminium pans will not work but with iron or steel content they will. The heavy based ones that I have are probably a bit of a luxury but I do not know. As I said, my late wife bought them She was both a very good cook and also a good researcher.

Dod

[tjh290633]

My gas range cooker is on its last legs. If I buy a new one, does anyone know whether it will be convertible to hydrogen if and when that becomes available or will I and the new cooker be long gone before that happens? I had thought of getting an electric one but there is no electric cooker point
in my kitchen and I fear it will be problematical and very expensive to install one.

Lorna, Town's gas was about 50% hydrogen, and they converted many a cooker from that to Natural Gas. The reverse change is equally possible. Flame speed is higher with hydrogen.

TJH