Steve :
The problem with burning natural gas as you suggest is that it generates
carbon monoxide (CO), which is an insidious killer. While it's true
they used it for lighting 100 years ago, it's also true that people died
from it.
At the very least, for an unvented burner, you have to mix the gas with
air first, so it burns with a pure blue flame. Almost all gas
appliances do this (your fireplace being a notable exception). The blue
flame makes a lousy light, so if you want to use natural gas for
lighting, get a flourescent mantle, as is used on a Coleman lantern.
It's not too hard to build a venturi to suck air into the gas stream,
check out any gas furnace, stove, water heater, etc. In fact, the
burner is rarely what fails on water heaters, so junk water heaters make
a good source for burners and safety controls.
An unvented flame for cooking, lighting, etc. is probably OK, but I
would not use any unvented gas flame in an area where people are
sleeping. It's just too easy to "wake up dead". (Besides, it's illegal
where I live.)
Vented natural gas heating stoves that use no electricity are readily
available commercially.
BTW, my fireplace has a leaky pipe just as you describe, for a
'starter'. You load the logs into the andirons above the pipe, and
light the gas flame. Once the logs are burning, turn off the gas.
Randall
Steven Shipley wrote:
>
> It's starting to get a little colder here in the
> Pacific NorthWest and they're asking us to conserve
> electricity. They're even saying that it might
> be possible to experience rolling blackouts.
>
> So I started to look at the use of natural gas for
> heat, lighting, and cooking.
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