HOW TO SAVE GAS.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 August 1921, Page 1

HOW TO SAVE GAS.

.THE GAR STOVE. (Auckland Herald.l Do what we will, the gas hill is M ways bigger than we meant it to ho. Some women, of course throw all the blame on the gas company. The pressure is too great, there is air mixed will) the gas. the meter is not accurate—these are some of the absurd reasons advanced for gas bills that arc heavier than they ought, to be. But the woman who is strictly honest with herself sort herself to discover what she lias done to cause. tb<> extravagant expenditure. First of all he careful to keep tlio stove clean. The bars and top should be scraped and washed and polished, the burners should be removed frequently. and cleansed, and still more frequently they should be pricked with a skewer to prevent tlieir getting dogged. The inside of the oven should be scrubbed with soda and water. am 1 shelves should bo scrupulously clean, not even flour being allowed to remain on them. No pot should ever be allowed to boil over, for this means the partial dogging of tho burner, ns well as waste of gas in burning up the overflow. And it means.too. that an unnecessary amount of gas has been used under the pot. Burners should never lie left full on after the content, of a vessel have been brought lo boiling point. Only ns much gas should I be turned on ns is necessary to keen the pot simmering or boiling. Most housewives would be surprised if they could realise bow much gas Ihov waste in little unconsidered ways. Tt is a common practice, for example, to leave the gas burning while tea i« Ilieing iinade. The teapot is warmed and the tea is put in. then the kettle is lifted from the gas to fill the teapot and replaced on the gas to keep hoi in ease the teapot needs more water presently. Tt hardly seems worth while to turn off the gas for the few seconds it takes to fill the teapot. But that process is gone through six or seven. <• even more, times every day. and ii the course of a month it accounts U a considerable addition to the gas bid. And it is only one of a number of little wasteful practises that go on all the time. How many women, for example. turn off the meter when Idle stove is not used for a couple of hours Th o majority of gas stove meters are never turned off at all. A r et then 1 in " be a tiny unsuspected leak in the pin |li.if, is letting gas escape all He If the gas stove is sot in a special recess, there will be practically no smell from a tiny leak, ns the gas all escapes tlirough the chimney opening above the stove. So the only possible safeguard against loss of this kind is to turn tlic gas off at the meter. The observance of all these precaution® b bound to make a substantial reduction in the monthly gas bills.