I don’t want to be the one to clean up inside of that thing after frying bacon
I’m sure the gas bill would make people understand why newer ones exist.
In this case almost certainly not. Heat is heat and it takes burning the same amount of gas to create the same amount of it. The way that gas is burned in appliances has not appreciably changed in a century, possibly more. There is no way to cheat or innovate more efficiency out of a gas burner. You can increase the efficiency of capturing the heat off of said burner for some other purpose, but in the case of an oven it’s just dumping 100% of that heat into the interior. No other work is being done with it. It’s just possible at the outside that a more modern one may have slightly better insulation in the oven compartment, but that’s it. And you really can’t do anything about the stovetop burners which are literally applying the bottom of the pot or pan to a naked flame.
All of this is, in fact, the reason that the BTU is used interchangeably as not only the amount of energy required to heat a pound of water by 1° F, but also the volume of natural gas required to do so.
The same thing is true with resistive heat, by the way, and indeed for any application where the only function of the machine or appliance is to heat something up. An electric coil top stove from the 1950s will be exactly as efficient (or not, depending how you want to look at it) as one that was manufactured yesterday. Heat is the ultimate end state of all energy consumption; the only way to get more heat into a system than is created by its energy consumption is to move it in from outside, e.g. with a heat pump.
Looks cool, looks like theres a lot of energy inefficiency going on
Mmmm carbon monoxide
I mean, first of all it’s a gas stove, which is much more difficult to move to a green energy source than an electric one.
But also, with all the various features, this looks like a fairly expensive option for the time. I did a quick search for high quality consumer grade ranges today, and found this. It seems more or less equivalent in that it also has nifty features you will never use, but it is much easier to clean, doesn’t burn gas, has a convection oven, and can be pre-heated to a set temperature. There are no safety concerns about explosions or gas inhalation or carbon monoxide, and induction cooktops are actually ridiculously safe, since they cool down almost immediately as soon as the cooking pot is removed from the surface. Of course, it doesnt have the proof of longevity of the range in the video, but that really comes down to survivorship bias. Which is really what is happening here.
Did they make good things in the old days? Yes. But they also made lots of shitty things. Something something copper of inferior quality. There are some product runs that are truly legendary in terms of their quality - but we find them scattered across the past, not increasing in quantity as we look farther back in time, nor lumped together in a particular golden age. But yes, these excellent products were made in the past - of course they were! That’s the only time a time-tested product could be made!
Cool design and durability; unfortunately burning natural gas produces a lot of local toxins (benzene, etc) as I understand it.
I wonder if spiral-heat burners were being used in the 50’s…
I’ve used one of these when I visited a rural Airbnb that was relatively rustic.
The pot that’s deep set into the appliance was extra insulated. It would have a very low flame, combined with the insulation it would act as a slow cooker before electricity.
I love the width of those old stoves, allowing you to practically cook a large meal instead of a crowded work area.
I love the styling and craftsmanship
I’d take my electric one over this, thanks.
Is this one of those AGA cookers that’s designed to stay on 24x7?
Im good without asthma thanks.
This costs 10x the amount and probably has engineering problems that killed people.
New is better.
