“After testing gas ranges and finding elevated levels of nitrogen gases, Consumer Reports strongly advised people to consider buying electric ranges rather than gas.”
Oh no! Nitrogen, a totally inert gas that makes up 78% of the air we breathe!
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I’d prefer to see a building requirement to vent a kitchen with a gas range to the outside. Most vent manufacturers recommend it anyway. I’ve always preferred cooking with gas.
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The concern isn’t nitrogen, it’s nitrous oxide.
A study showed that ducted vents are used only 25-40% of the time. It seems to me that the solution would be requiring a larger ducted hood vent with a heat activated switch. This would increase what they call the Pollutant Capture Efficiency.
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.est.1c04707
There is supposed to be an upcoming public input on the issue but I haven’t heard how and when.
Do others recommend ducted vents when gas ranges are present with only a recirc vent?
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I don’t recall ever seeing a gas range with a recirculating vent/hood (microwave) installed above it.
Either it has a proper external venting hood, or (if a window), nothing at all.
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My parents both lived into their 90s with gas ranges all of their lives. Must be really dangerous. Correction: My father was born in 1914 and may very well have been fed from a coal stove in childhood.
Think of the back story. This is another ploy to reduce natural gas use as they prepare to prevent its use entirely.
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I do not. But this article expands a bit more on the health risks.
A simpler solution in my opinion is to change code to require ventilation to the exterior when a gas stove is installed. In fact, you could even link the stove burner controls to the fan. Banning the stoves outright sounds more political than practical.
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I’ve got a gas stove with a microwave oven installed over it with a recirculating vent. Sorry, not getting rid of it, my gas furnace, gas WH, gas fireplace, or my gas dryer.
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She must have had a gas stove. Proves her own point.
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According to a local appliance tech/installer, the recirculating vent hoods do the job. I don’t understand how though. There is also a minimal requirement for venting based on the btu of the stove.
Something to think about, a little off subject but related. Can we have too many forced air vents?
Todays homes are built so tight, imagine the negative indoor pressure created if the exterior hood vent is on high, two or three bathroom vents are on, and the cloths dryer is running. If conditions are right, not only could these appliances not be venting properly, but they could be pulling air in through a say a gas fireplace vent.
Personally I like gas appliance, and until something more efficient, cleaner, and economically viable comes along, I’m not planning on changing a thing.
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That’s because they don’t. Recirculating vent screens only filter out grease and airborne particles.
With proper ventilation, gas ranges should not an issue. The problem is that ventilation is only used 25-40% of the time and not all ventilation is ducted to the outside.
This would be a great opportunity for the largest Home Inspector trade association to be the voice of 30,000 members and countless non-member Home Inspectors. InterNachi could use this time that CPSC is allowing for public input to influence a decision. @gromicko
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I know that gas stoves are the issue at hand, but what about ventless gas fireplaces? 
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That’s already been addressed in my state, and I imagine a few other cold-weather states. Scroll to the bottom of the PDF to see MN’s amendment…
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The last two houses I owned has ventless fireplaces. We loved them. We want to install one in our current house, but they’re getting more difficult to find. My local Menards do not even carry them anymore. Some states have banned them.
When I find one in a home that I’m inspecting, I let the client know that it’s a ventless type and make a general recommendation to follow the manufacturer’s instructions, which usually includes the recommendation to ventilate the room.
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The ventless gas fireplaces, wall heaters all instruct opening a window slightly for proper operation. They also produce copious quantities of water vapor; another reason for ventilation. I’ve lived in, owned older homes with plenty of energy transfer (heat loss in todays jargon). Well insulated homes come at a price. Proper ventilation is a must.
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MN has banned them in occupancies/dwellings. Oddly enough my local Menards still carries them on hand. I usually see them in garages. Some people use the smaller ones for ice fishing houses.
Edit: these aren’t really ventless “fireplaces” per se, but the idea is the same.
The second item in your screen shot is literally in my wish list for my enclosed front porch.
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Wow, thanks for posting that.
Eevery time I’ve ever tested on these I have to open the windows to air out the fumes.
In the past I have always told my clients that have these ventless systems to be sure to install CO detectors near by, now I’ll mention this to them.
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Recirculating microwaves are very common above gas stoves in my part of SC. Very rarely see ventless fireplaces installed in new construction, almost all direct vent.
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