After accidentally leaving their gas stove on without a flame for over an hour, one New Yorker was horrified to realize their entire studio apartment smelled like gas.
They sought advice from the experts on the subreddit r/Firefighting, explaining, "I turned it off, opened the windows, turned on my ac/air purifier, and got out, but I feel dizzy and my ear is ringing (I always have tinnitus but it's much louder than normal). I have left the apartment and gone outside for fresh air. … What else should I do? Am I in danger of carbon monoxide poisoning?"
In a later update, they shared that they had returned to find their apartment no longer smelling like gas. Nevertheless, they called the fire department anyway to make sure. "Hope I didn't waste resources with this but glad I took it seriously at least," they wrote.
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No way 👎 "We'd much rather go to check and ventilate if needed than respond to an explosion that could affect more than just your studio," one firefighter responded on Reddit.
Another agreed that it had been wise to call 911. "You did the right thing calling. You had no way of knowing how much gas was in the apartment," they said. But, as they explained, the danger present in this situation is more due to a potential explosion than from carbon monoxide poisoning. "There would be no carbon monoxide without combustion. The concern is how much gas has filled the apartment and risk of explosion," they shared. "Also it may have leaked into other apartments."
While this ended with everybody safe and healthy, the risk of combustion and/or CO poisoning is always present if you own a gas-powered stove. Additionally, simply using a gas stove emits concentrated pollutants into confined spaces, which has been linked to respiratory illnesses and even certain cancers.
For all of these reasons, many people are looking to upgrade to safer induction stoves instead. Induction stoves do not burn dirty fuels to produce heat, instead transmitting it directly from an electromagnetic coil into special magnetic cookware.
And while the upfront cost can be expensive, these stoves — like the popular one from Copper — are vastly more efficient, slashing future energy bills. Furthermore, if you take advantage of the current federal incentives and rebates available from the Inflation Reduction Act, you can get up to 30% off the purchase price.
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