You only realize how comfortably people of our day and age live when you’re in the middle of a power outage. You’re unable to perform the most basic tasks and your life (but not your hunger) is put on hold for a while.
These days most of us use appliances that depend on electricity to cook our food. In the case of a power outage, these appliances are rendered useless. On the other hand, there are appliances that don’t need electricity. These appliances run on gas. This leads us to the question at hand.
Do gas appliances work when the power is out? Yes, most gas appliances can be used during a power outage. Some gas appliances require electricity for ignition, timers, and clock functions but can be lit using a match. To light a top burner with a match, hold the lighted match to the burner and turn the knob to the low position but be very cautious. You may get burned.
How Do Gas Appliances Work During a Power Outage?
I’m sure both you and I live a moderately comfortable life. We’re able to find out anything we need the answer to by looking it up on Google. Our modern homes provide the simplest solutions to our everyday problems. These solutions are, however, highly dependent on electricity to function properly or to function at all.
This means that most of your kitchen arsenal will be rendered useless if the power goes out.
However, your gas-driven appliances will still be useful as they don’t depend on electricity in order to function. Well, some appliances do need electricity in order to ignite as intended but it can also be done by using a match or a lighter.
This is true for gas cooking stoves but not for gas stove ovens that use electric glow-bar ignition systems. Electric glow-bar systems will not work because the gas valve feeding the oven won’t open until the igniter works properly and the igniter won’t start unless there’s power.
But for gas cooking stoves that’s not a problem. By placing a lit match or a lighter close to the top burner while turning the knob to the low position, the gas stove’s top burner will ignite. Turn the burner up once it has ignited but be cautious to avoid burning yourself.
Is It Safe To Light a Gas Stove With a Match or Lighter?
Lighting a gas stove with a match or a lighter isn’t something I recommend doing because it can be dangerous. There’s a risk of burning or injuring yourself when doing so. If you, after this, still decide to light the gas stove using a match or a lighter, make sure you’re very cautious to avoid burns.
Make sure the knob is on the low-setting when lighting the top burner. Use protective gear of any kind to prevent the initial flame from burning your hand.
Once the burner has ignited, turn the knob up carefully. Once again, I do not recommend lighting a gas stove this way and if you still decide to, use extreme caution.
What Do You Do If Your Gas Stove Doesn’t Light?
Having an appliance that will continue to function as intended even when the power has gone out is both calming and practical, but even with a gas stove, you may come across problems that will keep your food from getting cooked.
Here are the most common issues and how to fix them.
Problem 1#: There’s food debris clogging the gas stove
Naturally, when the appliance is used to cook food, there will also be an automatic build-up of grease. This can, single-handedly, lead to a blockade, stopping the gas from getting to the igniter. Crumbs and/or small pieces of food can also lead to the same problems.
Make sure to clean your gas stove and get rid of both grease and crumbs to allow the gas to flow through all the way to the igniter.
To do this, remove the grate covering the burner. Once the grate has been displaced, proceed to remove the burner cap. Now the burner’s base will be exposed. At this stage, the base should be easy to remove – either by just lifting it or removing a few screws.
With all that out of the way, using a cloth soaked in warm water and soap, clean the burner’s surface. Secondly, clean the base using warm water, soap, and a rough brush.
Smaller pieces of food that are stuck in small crevasses can be removed using a toothpick. Your gas stove should be clean and free from debris by this time. Now it’s time to start rebuilding the stove, part for part.
Once reinstalled, light the burner to see if the clean-up has made any difference. If not, the problem may be something else.
Problem 2#: The igniter doesn’t work
Say you’ve cleaned the gas stove thoroughly and still can’t get the igniter to work properly, then you’ve most likely got a broken igniter. There’s a simple way of telling if your igniter doesn’t work.
With the lights turned off (in a dark room) turn the igniter knob to the ignite position. Functioning igniters should spark blue-white sparks while a non-functioning igniter will emit orange or yellow sparks.
I should mention that you may want to check loose connections before you purchase replacement parts. So start by checking if there are any loose connections under the burner’s base (make sure the gas stove isn’t connected while doing this). If any wires are disconnected, reconnect them and try again.
If you couldn’t find any disconnected wires, then you’ll most likely have to replace the igniter.
Start by finding the right igniter for your model. This can be done by searching for the model number followed by “igniter” on Google.
Either by using the user manual or instructions online, find out how to replace the igniter on your gas stove. Once reinstalled, try igniting the stove. Hopefully, the igniter should work properly now that is has been replaced.
Natural Gas Ranges That Don’t Require Electricity
Not all gas-fueled stoves are the same and some are entirely dependent on electricity to start. In a power-outage, these become just as useless as the electricity-fueled appliances. Without electricity, the gas-fueled appliance can’t transport gas from the valve to the igniter.
Some manufacturers love the electronic approach while others have gone with more of a hybrid touch. A gas range with a pilot light should function without electricity.
To find out if your gas stove can be lit using a match or a lighter, check the user manual. There should be instructions on how to light the stove during a power outage.
If the instruction manual does not mention anything about it then you can almost certainly rule out the possibility of igniting the stove without electricity.