It makes sense to eliminate the NG hookup entirely. So maybe people would have to use propane if they want to cook with gas.
I don't understand, then. What good are building codes when the state says, "Sorry, you can't buy a replacement furnace." Eventually we'll all have ancient, decrepit furnaces held together with duct tape and bailing wire. Kinda like old cars in Cuba. Cue up the increased rate of house fires and carbon monoxide poisonings.
If you're cooking with gas, it makes sense to just have it piped in. Having to have propane delivered or having to go get propane at a refueling station is kind of like switching from EV to ICE and having to make special refueling stops. And there is also a carbon footprint associated with doing that.
The only issue is that some types of cooking do better with gas. There's still no equivalent of lifting a wok off of a flame in the world of induction cooking. But I'll admit that's kind of a niche market and I wouldn't want to deal with the hassle of cleaning a gas stove.
They should go after the fuel sources and not the appliances themselves. If you want to burn hydrocarbons in your appliances or vehicles, or buy new appliances or vehicles that do this, go right ahead. But just require that those hydrocarbons are entirely sourced in a carbon neutral manner. If gasoline happens to cost $15/gallon and natural gas is $6/therm, so be it.
when things are "banned" in CA at least usually means in this case new or completely rebuilt homes .. the building code police are not going door to door to check existing homes ... not practical .. same with residential smoke / CO detectors / fire sprinklers (checked during permiting / home sale etc )
It's not really pain because they aren't coming after existing units. You can use and repair existing stuff for as long as you want. It's only when purchasing something new that you'd have to switch. And it's way less involved than the service upgrade and digging up the yard I had to do when I switched from an ICE vehicle to a Tesla.
CARB, AQMD and probably some other bureaucracies I can't think of right now. And yes, they are, even if they don't outright say so.
CARB has explicitly stated that you can continue to use existing furnaces that were installed prior to 2030 after 2030. Same with ICE vehicles that were sold prior to 2035 after 2035.
And what happens when those existing furnaces break and need replacement? I feel like I'm talking in circles.
.... unless you ask them to.Then you replace the furnace with a heat pump. It's not a big deal. In fact, I am likely replacing an aging furnace and AC unit with a dual fuel system next month which will primarily operate in heat pump mode and cut my use of gas dramatically. In the past 3 years I have had two dead furnace main boards and one dead condenser unit fan capacitor that could have damaged my compressor because the AC unit does not have thermal and pressure cutoff switches. So I'd rather just replace the entire system than risk it breaking again. And while I wasn't going to dump a perfectly good furnace and AC unit for a heat pump for no reason, doing this switch when I need a new system anyway seemed like a good idea. And under the CARB proposal, it's going to be the same. Use what you have until it breaks, then replace with a heat pump.
It IS a big deal if your home was not previously equipped with an AC system and you require an installation of an outdoor unit, lineset and electrical where there previously was none. Not sure how many times I have to repeat this...
