indoor gas hotplates

**Kat67** · 01-24-2006, 11:01 AM

Are there any gas hotplates that can be used indoors?

**jlxian** · 01-24-2006, 11:23 AM

I don't know of anything modern, but long ago my folks used to have a 2 burner gas "hotplate" that had been part of a laundry in a house we had lived in previously. You are probably thinking of something to hook up to a propane tank (like the propane grills), and I don't know of anything. Maybe someone else here will have an idea.

**homesteadmamma** · 01-24-2006, 12:29 PM

If it is hooked up to propane it needs to be vented outside for safety reasons.

As far as I know, there are no gas hotplates.

**Kat67** · 01-24-2006, 03:18 PM

I bought a liquid parafin lamp today. Will that flame get hot enough to boil water if I hold a saucepan over it?

We keep losing power and I need a way to at least heat a little water or soup.

What about an alcohol lamp? The cheap, little ones used for chemistry experiments? Sometimes you see them in homeschooling catalogs.

**jlxian** · 01-25-2006, 09:21 AM

Kat, I don't know. Like CJ, I think just about anything with a flame is going to have to be vented.

Caterers use little burners to keep their dishes warm, but I don't know if they would get warm enough to boil water.

Have you tried heating a pan of water with your paraffin lamp?

This is a good question --- for someone with a totally electric house there needs to be a way to heat things up.

**homesteadmamma** · 01-25-2006, 10:28 AM

I'm not sure how long your power is out, however I do have a suggestion that might work.

Do you have a thermos? You could heat some water until it's boiling and then put it into a thermos each morning or when you have power. At least that way you would have enough hot water to make a cup of coffee or put towards a can of soup. If you don't use it by the end of the day, you can throw it into your washing machine or use it to wash a few dishes with.

We have a propane camping stove for emergencies. Again, they are not to be used inside w/o some ventilation (window opened a tad bit works). However we have a porch and we use it there. Works perfectly and can cook a meal with no problem.

Also do you have a gas barbeque? Again you can't have use them in your home at any time, however you can use it summer or winter outside.

Do you have a fondue pot (non-electric). It would take awhile, however I think that you could heat soup in it or even water. Might not be has hot as you want, but would get you through an emergency.

**Kat67** · 01-26-2006, 06:17 AM

I've been asking around a few places. As much as a I can figure, all unvented flame makes carbon monoxide, even candles. The more heat and light and the smaller the closed in space, the bigger the problem. The issue really isn't the type of fuel itself.

Candles have killed people in closed cars :-0

Using a propane gas camping stove on the PORCH sounds like the best idea, for cooking a meal.

I'm going to look into come catering type stuff too, for just warming up water or a can of precooked food.

Also hubby needs to makes sure we have extra gas in the shed for the grill. You can't grill in a blizzard, but there are times when an outside grill would work.

Here in the snowy northeast, a small porch setup is the best option, for most people I think.

On another board, a carbon monoxide detector was suggested.

**jlxian** · 01-27-2006, 09:39 AM

Yesterday I was in WalMart and they had a whole rack of camping type stuff marked down for clearance. One of the items was a butane stove with a single burner. I looked all over the box to see if it was okay for use indoors (thinking of you!) but didn't find any comments to that effect.

If you have a porch or carport area, then I think cooking outside will be your best way to handle any electrical outage. (It also makes me think of summer kitchens people used to have when they had a covered area to use for cooking in the hot summertime)

My parents hooked up a small apartment sized gas stove (not the two burner thing I mentioned in an above post) in their basement to use during electrical outages. They didn't have to use it very often, but Kansas City where they lived can be very prone to ice storms and I know it came in handy during those times.

Hmmmm..... another thought --- there are little solar ovens you can build and I've seen plans somewhere (here?) on the internet. I wonder if this would do what you need?