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Re:US electricity demand surged in 2025 – solar handled 61% ... by Aurornis on Saturday January 17, 2026 @11:45AM (#46659479)
Interesting fact: A lot of modern gas cooktops have safety features that will cut the gas off when the electricity is out. The safety mechanisms are powered by electricity, so if they can't confirm that the operation is safe they fail with the gas valve shut off.

It comes as a surprise to most users because power outages are so rare. They just assume it will work until 8 years later when they try to cook something during the first long outage in their area.

Re:US electricity demand surged in 2025 – solar handled 61% ... by 3eb7988a1663 on Saturday January 17, 2026 @12:14PM (#46659741)
TIL. Never used a modern gas stove, so I had not considered that without a pilot light, there must be a way to disable the flow or constantly spew gas into the house. Then again, I have had a pilot light go out for some amount of time without ill effect, so the volume of gas must be low.
Re:US electricity demand surged in 2025 – solar handled 61% ... by tastyfreeze on Saturday January 17, 2026 @12:33PM (#46659976)
Pilot lights stay lit all the time so no igniter is required. My range has electric spark igniters. They don't work when the power is out but there is also no pilot light expelling gas. I just manually light the burner when the power is out.
Re:US electricity demand surged in 2025 – solar handled 61% ... by SoftTalker on Saturday January 17, 2026 @01:18PM (#46660441)
My gas stove has spark ignitors for the burners and the oven has an incandescent ignitor. The oven has safety interlocks so the gas valve won't open if the ignitor is not hot. The oven cannot be lit manually, but the stovetop burners can. So in a power outage, I can cook in pots and pans but not bake.
Re:US electricity demand surged in 2025 – solar handled 61% ... by maxerickson on Sunday January 18, 2026 @09:55AM (#46668256)
Usually the pilot energizes a thermocouple+solenoid that is used to hold the gas valve open, so the valve shuts if the pilot goes out.
Re:US electricity demand surged in 2025 – solar handled 61% ... by MarsIronPI on Saturday January 17, 2026 @09:33PM (#46664305)
> Interesting fact: A lot of modern gas cooktops have safety features that will cut the gas off when the electricity is out.

Huh, I did not know that. The natural gas stove that I grew up with has a good ol' fashioned pilot light, so it's fine even when the power goes out.