Propane Gas Range Review- Premier Range

[JohnyMac]

Here is another review of products being used at our cabin- Today the review is on the propane Premier Range:  http://www.premierrange.com/gasranges30.php#GFK5S9W

So some of you folks may think this is a mundane subject like I did at one time; however the next time you are in Home Depot, Lowes or your local stove distributor try to buy one without electronic ignition. Ahhhh, yup that?s the fly in the ointment because you can't!

Almost all gas stoves sold in this country now have to be turned on with electricity. Very few use pilot lights and even fewer you can manually turn on the oven component if you have electronic ignition. When I looked into it I found out that our government thinks pilot lights are dangerous and have been encouraging stove manufactures to not offer pilot light ranges.

Well after a long time trying to find a pilot light range I was reading www.survivalblog.com one day and ran across Premier Range Company out of Belleville, IL. So I did some research and read a few reviews and went with one. Specifically the 30" GFK5S9W.

The only dealer in my neck of the woods was a company called AJMadison: www.ajmadison.com located in Brooklyn, NY. I called them up and found out that they were running a no freight/ shipping charge promo for any item over $500-. So with no shipping charge and no sales tax (Wasn't being delivered in NY) old frugal JohnyMac could not say no and I ordered it. I did pay an additional $25- for in house delivery though which I am glad that I did.

The day the delivery was supposed to happen I got a call from the trucking company trying to figure out exactly where my cabin was. Once I was done the dispatcher said, "We do not deliver in your area and it sounds like you do not have a loading dock." I informed the dispatcher we in fact did not have a loading dock and I had paid for inside delivery. She told me that this wasn't going to happen and I had to pick up the crate.

Of course I promptly called AJMadison.  I explained the situation to a nice customer service person with a very heavy Brooklyn accent who told me, not to worry about it!  About 20 minutes later the dispatcher I had spoken to earlier, called me back to confirm my address and time of delivery.

Well all went well: The range arrived. The driver with my help carried the crate across a field and up my steps to the cabin's front door. I unpacked it to make sure it was 100% and with my help we moved it into position in the kitchen. Tipped him $10- and told him that he was going to have to back up about a half mile as there was no place for him to turn around his 48' tractor trailer on my dirt road.  [img]http://www.arrse.co.uk/at

OK the stove: It is 100% American made. The hook-up was simple except I had to convert the regulator from Natural gas to propane which was very straight forward. I also had to adjust the pilot lights which again was very straight forward.

We have had the range now going on 10 months and have had not problems with it. I need to adjust the heat setting for the oven as it runs about 10 degrees lower then what the temperature knob states. I am of the opinion though, "if it ain?t broke I don't need to fiddle around with it." Currently I just tell every body when they bake to add 10 degrees to what is on the knob or cook it 5-10 minutes longer.

I did put some red electrical tape on the knob that controls the griddle though. As some people were using that knob by accident instead of using the oven knob. It caused a few burns and burnt spoons though, before I did that.

All in all I would rate the stove a "4.5" on a "1-5" scale with a "5" being perfect. I would rate AJMadison a "5".

Update: Premier no longer sells gas stoves using a pilot light. The Obama EPA will not allow gas stoves with pilot lights to be sold in the US of A after April 1, 2013. The reason given is that not having pilot lights will save energy. With that said Premier ranges sold in the US of A are ignited with a electrical spark system that is powered by two AA batteries. So you still do not need 120 volts to start your gas range. It can also be lite via a match. Enjoy    

[JohnyMac]

Bump

[Burt Gummer]

Hey JM I'm guessing you run that guy off of a propane tank considering the location. And I've been keeping my eyes open for a tank to run mine (very similar) in case the grid goes down that I could keep in my home storage. Only I know nothing about them. Care to fill me in on your experiences?

[Well-Prepared Witch]

Great review, thanks!  I have been thinking a lot about our appliance choices.  As long as everything stays normal and we have power, we have no reason to worry, but if I didn't think there was a possibility things wouldn't stay normal I wouldn't be a prepper!   I have been looking at some of the old woodstove ranges, but cost and location (where the heck would I put such a thing?) are prohibitive.  Instead, I've been looking at ways to cook in our small fireplace.  Investing in cast iron might be the best way for us to go.

[JohnyMac]

When we decided what stove to purchase and by what fuel was going to be used, I did some research on local propane companies.

I wanted to deal with a local company not a national one. The thought behind that was if their was a disruption of propane, being a local customer we would get preferential treatment.

Called up the local company and explained on the phone what we wished to accomplish, which was:

1) Get gas hooked up for a stove.
2) Once running water was working in the cabin (We are currently carrying water in from an
    outside faucet) we would install a Rinnai tankless water heater. We had one installed at our house in RI around  2007 and           
    it is great!
3) Several years down the road we will add two under window propane heaters installed such
    as the Rinnai. Our heat is exclusively
    wood in a wood burning stove right now.

Based on our needs of today and several years down the road, they recommended that we get a 50 gallon tank. Once we added the water heater they would pull the current tank and swap it for a 100 gallon one.

Currently the tank is set up next to the cabin. When the 100 gallon one is installed it will be located closer to the road where the wood shed currently is.

The instillation of the tank for the stove was free but we had to pay for the copper tubing. The gas company also came out when the stove was delivered to hook that up. This too was free.

Currently we use about 20 gallons a month for the stove. The gas company comes out about every two months to top off the tank. This was based on our usage over time. I forget the price per gallon but I think the last delivery was $2.99 a gallon with a 5% discount if we paid the bill within 10 days. 

Hope that helps Burt.

[JohnyMac]

Wellie, here are some things to consider.

You may know or not know but...

Upon buying our property we had a 12'x20' shed dropped off. My brother and I winterized it (I have a two or three part series what we did somewhere on this forum). Throughout the first year of the cabin we added a Four Dog wood stove, solar that powered our lights, radio, lap tops, (I wrote another article about that - It's somewhere in DIY section) added a Sirius satellite radio, 12 volt lights and a three burner propane stove that we bought from Cabelas.

The propane bottle (5 gallon) was located in a locked (ventilated from the bottom) wood box. I also (not needed) added a solenoid shut off switch so we could turn off/on the propane tank from within the bunk house.

We cooked on the propane stove as well as on top of the Four Dog wood stove. We baked in dutch ovens on top of the wood stove in the winter. Just set the dutch oven on top of the wood stove and with a small shovel reached into the stove for coals for the top of the dutch oven. We baked roasts, apple pies, etc like this until we built the big cabin and had the Premier range installed. Visitors were always blown away by my brother and my meals when they came to the bunk house, AKA LEM.

If you would like to buy a wood cook stove an option might be to install it in a winterized shed like ours. The shed could double as a bunk house for guests and your SHTF kitchen. Currently our younger guests love staying in it. Don't know why the 20 some things want their separate space. 

Hope that helps and gives you some ideas.     

[Burt Gummer]

Thanks JM!