Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Gas stoves and indoor air quality

[ken (gebser]

Just for some perspective... and a chemistry question:

I too have a gas cooktop, but an electric oven.  I also had a carbon
monoxide detector running for a few years.  I unplugged it after a while
though because it would start screeching like a banshee every time-- and
only when-- I would bake bread (in the *electric* oven).

I have to admit that I don't quite understand why this would be.  I
understand that rising bread dough is actually a process of fermentation
(like when brewing beer or wine) and so produces carbon dioxide (but not
carbon *monoxide* afaik) and that another fermentation by-product,
alcohol, is cooked off, out of the bread, during baking.  I would think
that the alcohol would evaporate and dissipate before the oven's heat
would rearrange its molecular structure, i.e., make carbon monoxide.  So
(for someone more knowledgeable on chemistry than I) where does the
carbon monoxide come from when baking bread?



OCCNG11 wrote:
> Emissions from the Combustion of Natural Gas
> 
> According to the EPA, natural gas emits the following combustion products 
> (pounds per billion BTU):
> 
> Carbon Dioxide    117,000
> 
> Nitrogen Oxides             92
> 
> Carbon Monoxide          40
> 
> Sulfur Dioxide                  1
> 
> Particulates  (Soot)           7
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So if you don't mind breathing a little Carbon Monoxide, natural gas stoves 
> are just fine.  Just remember though that the ambient oxygen in the kitchen 
> is being consumed by the stove, leaving less for you to breathe.  The 
> solution to this of course is to have a source of fresh air into your 
> kitchen.
> 
> Norm Gauss


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