
Off grid or being
electrically self sufficient does not
mean you have to rough it, nor
does it mean that your appliances need look like they were designed in the
50's or earlier.
Your off grid kitchen can
feature a large 22 cubic foot stainless propane or a 16 cu. ft. 12/24V DC refrigerator,
beautiful stainless steel stove and ovens or stainless counter top range.
Nor does your range have to
be sized to miniscule proportions! The range pictured below is 36" wide,
and has six burners, oven, electronic ignition and storage compartment.
We have many modern looking
economically priced white goods. Including propane and NG stoves,
stainless steel propane fridges and Solar refrigerators and freezers.
Caution:
Off grid stoves are not
created equally. The stoves on this page do not require any external electricity
but use an internal batter and sparker for ignition of the both the stove top and oven. Our
stoves do not require a conversion from natural gas, are all prepared for
propane.
A word of caution if
you're shopping for a stove. Many gas stoves at box stores and even
propane outlets require electricity. For those off-grid some use an outrageous amount of
power to ignite the oven for each and every cycle. Most gas dryers use
this the same ignition method. When a cycle is to start the appliance heats a
plate of metal until it is red hot this is called
a hot surface ignition system and utilizes a euphemistically named 'glow bar' or 'glow coil'.
The gas/air mixture is released
and the flame
starts another heating cycle. The heat cycle takes about 30 to 60 seconds each
time. The way it works is that as power flows through the igniter it heats up
and resistance increases. The oven gas valve is on the same circuit, when a
specific amount of resistance is reached the oven valve is opened. This is
a lot of
electrical consumption for an off-grid application!
If you're purchasing your
electricity at $0.14/kwh from the seemingly unlimited grid the cost is not high
but your battery resource is limited and you will most certainly regret your
purchase if your off grid appliance uses this technique to light the oven or
dryer or furnace!