Comments on: Usability aspects of gas cookers

By: Sheila James

Sheila James — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:00:05 +0000

Does anyone know of a gas cooker with fold down glass lid which does not require an electricity supply to ignite it? I recently bought one from zanussi, but it is a load of rubbish, and I am unable to have an electric socket installed near the cooker.

By: GARRY WOODSON

GARRY WOODSON — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 18:13:58 +0000

Hello,
I start with much greetings to your company. My name is Garry Woodson from Chats & Co ltd Co. I found your add on web and am contacting you regarding some gas cookers am looking to order. I will be glad in doing business with you if you could get back to me with the types or your website if you do carry gas cookers so that I can browse through the type am looking for.
Regards,
Garry Woodson

By: Jan Gillies

Jan Gillies — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:03:48 +0000

I have a Cannon Strafford and although the top and grill are fine, I have had nothing but problems with the oven.

Had an engineer out twice in the first 6 months to same problem who blamed the fault on Cookers not being made in england anymore only in europe and they have to be adjusted to work over here and obviously mine was not adjusted properly. The oven still does not heat properly and I am fed up with silly excuses.

Really fed up - obviously cookers are really expensive, so cannot change one just like that. I thought that by buying a good brand CANNON everything would be alright. I would have been better off getting a cheap one.

By: R Hunt

R Hunt — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:14:56 +0000

We have a Cannon Chichester Traditional 600 freestanding cooker, not a cheap item at just under £700. There is a design fault with the cooker, whereby due to the pan supports being a little too low, the gas flames on the rings are starved of air & often blow out. The solution to the problem is to raise the pan supports by just 4mm (by putting nuts under each corner as spacers0. Unfortunately these spacers cannot be left in position as the glass lid will not close with them in place. We have contacted Cannon about the problem, an engineer stated this is quite common, but he doesn’t have practical solution. Indesit (Cannon) customer service refuse to answer any e-mails, so letter was sent, the reply was an absolute load of patronising crap. The person even suggested the problem should be taken up with, and I quote “the Kitchen Company that recommended the product”. This so called customer service person obviously didn’t even read our letter, which stated the cooker had been purchased by us direct from Comet. If anyone else has one of these cookers, please be aware that using pans of the diameter recommended by Cannon will cause problems & remember if the flame is extinguished, the gas still flows.

By: r simmonds

r simmonds — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 06:53:58 +0000

Hi,
You should rember that the gas controls on a gas cooker are taps,and like all taps have to be turned clockwise to shut off off the flow, think of screwing something in.
With everthing else, I agree that turning something clockwise increases whatever you are controling,however you soon get used to the idea.
Also, the taps are not like ordinary valves,they have pre-calibrated ports,which may make precise adjustment difficult,this is used to ensure that when you turn the gas down,you dont inadvertently shut it off altogether.

By: John Pasmore

John Pasmore — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:56:11 +0000

Once you get used to gas you will never want to go back to electric. After all the gas is immediate, it comes on, it can be adjusted instantly while viewing and can be turned off instantly. Electric takes time to heat up and adjustment is a guess.
Anyhow I have encountered a problem with my cooker. I have a traditional free-standing Cannon (Model 152) with a bonus Grill/Rotisserie ie a spit to roast a chicken or leg of lamb. Fabulous piece of kit circa late seventies. Everything works including hob burners but the oven has packed up and I am on the look out for the possibility of someone having had the same problem on same cooker who might be able to help. To buy the equivalent cooker today if it existed would cost a small fortune.

By: Dave B

Dave B — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 23:59:01 +0000

“I’d be grateful for any explanation of why gas cookers work this way.”

for a successful light you want the gas to be all the way on. Once the gas is on, you don’t want it to go out. If you put it on too low it can get blown out too easily, hence to use the gas you turn it past the on position and to a side where the minimum amount of gas is hard coded.

Also the biggest feature of usability, is consistency. That is how all gas knobs worked, get used to one and you can use them all. maybe you would like your gas knob to turn the other way because you’ve never learned how to use gas knobs - but once you do you expect that. Got to be consistent.

By: Michael Timberlake

Michael Timberlake — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:54:42 +0000

You are not alone with the mysteries of gas cooking developement Martin. We just bought a Cannon (traditional C60GTX) a pretty pricey item. On this cooker you cannot read which knob serves which burner unless you stand three feet away because the legend is under and obscured by the respective knob. You discover by elimination and various pops which knob operates the burner on which the kettle has been put. We also discovered that the burner control was negligeable. When the knob position indicates that the burner should be at 50% the burner is full on, turning the knob to full power position has no effect whatever. What control there is takes place over about 8mm of the control knob. The Cannon service engineer told us that ‘it’s a general complaint, the burners are either on or off’. So much for progress. incidentaly the engineer was called because a fan which we didn’t know existed in this new cooker started to work for the first time after using the cooker for three weeks. Aparently the fan, which is very noisy, is bent and needs to be replaced. We are now deciding if we want this cooker at all.
Michael.