Is it harmful to remove gas stove knobs on a regular basis?

Question

I have a propane stove whose knobs are at the exact height of my elderly mother's wheelchair handles. I kept finding the knobs in a semi-on position and have figured out the source is definitely the chair.

If I remove the knobs and push them back on whenever we use the stove, would this cause damage to the stove?

I cannot be the only person with this problem, but Googling it has failed to produce an answer to the problem. I do not want to trust to "checking the knobs frequently" because several in this house (including me) cannot smell gas or propane.

Answer 1

No inherent problem doing that. I remove gas knobs frequently to clean. But I think a better solution might be to mount a hinged cover across the front of the stove. That would provide protection while making usage easier. If the front is steel, you could even put on a magnetic cover, so no screws or glue needed.

Note that if knobs do get damaged, particularly the D-shaped piece in the center, generic replacements are available. You don't need an exact model replacement, just something where the overall size (diameter) is correct and the center piece is the correct size. Unlike the old days with broken TV knobs, you really don't want to use pliers to turn your gas cooktop on/off.

Answer 2

As an alternative, you could try a protective cover (usually sold as child proofing, something like this).

We installed a similar product with a toddler in the house and they seemed like they'd take some punishment.

Answer 3

We talked to a physical therapist about bending the handles of the wheelchair up or down, the physical therapist had a better answer. Slipping 2 short 1" PVC pipes with a 90° angle over the wheelchair handles so that the handle to the oven blocked the wheelchair from scraping against the knobs.

Below the knobs is the oven door handle that sticks out farther than the knobs. It looks like a white decorative bar in the photograph.

Hubby is picking up the pipes today, but below is a picture of what the therapist recommended.

Answer 4

I've had ranges where I removed the knobs weekly for cleaning but not where I've removed them many times per day. They may wear out. And then she'll just hit the shafts and break those.

You could make or buy wooden blocks or wedges (eg door stops) and screw them to the front of the counter on both sides of the stove. They would deflect the chair away from the stove. She would have to be alert to hitting those, so she doesn't then turn back and hit the knobs. You could bridge those blocks with a wooden bar across the front of the knobs. This would prevent her from hitting them but would make it a bit harder to control the gas.

You could buy a range with rear or top controls.

You could install a master valve on the wall behind the stove or perhaps in the side of the cabinet next to the stove, and get into the habit of turning that off when it's not in use. The valve could even be electric, like the controller for a fireplace, so that turning it on and off would be the flip of a switch and you could have a green light to show it's off. You would get into the habit of always watching for that light except when someone is using the stove.

You could bend those chair handles upwards or inwards just a little, so they won't be so perfectly positioned to turn the knobs.

Answer 5

I would be less worried about causing an issue by removal/insertion and would be more worried about the damage caused by the wheelchair running into it.

My Kenmore range ($600 from 2016) has very little resistance when removing and re-inserting the knobs so I suspect my chance for a gas leak is very minimal. We have small children and for a few months we had removed all knobs and just kept one on the kitchen counter which we would insert on an as-needed basis. If 2 burners were needed then we'd get a second knob so that things could be turned off quickly when the water overboils.

If I were to be frustrated and rip off or jam the knob sideways then I'm sure that could cause issues.

Behind every knob should be a gas regulator screw which I guess could get loosened simply from vibration so you might have to adjust it every so often. Its purpose is to prevent the flame from going out if you hastily flip the burner from high to low.

Answer 6

Repeatedly removing and reattaching the knobs, especially carelessly, can cause them to wear more quickly where they attach to the stems, which can lead to the knob not pointing to the actual setting. Depending on the design, it could just be a little slack/wiggle in the knob, or it could be entirely pointing at the wrong setting.

Also in the case of the gas burner it isn't so much a problem since you can adjust it by visually looking at the burner and ignoring the knob markings, but for the oven or electric stove it is a real issue. (Or a very old washing machine, where the markings were just taped over and new markings drawn on corresponding to the new orientation of the knob.)

Answer 7

As the comment by @dandavis suggests, lowering the range might get the knobs below the ends of the handgrips of the wheelchair. This would also make it easier to use the stove top.

The raised edge around the top of the range is conventionally placed in the same plane as the top of the counter. From your picture it appears that your range is = or > 1" higher than that. The stove top could even be below the counter top, it just would reveal the edge of the counter.

On some ranges the height can be adjusted without pulling out the range. If a range has a storage drawer on the bottom, removing it will allow access to the back feet. But even if you have to pull the range out to adjust the back feet, this should be done.

EDIT

I just examined the front feet on our 30-year-old GE electric slide-in* range. On one side of our range one front foot is almost at the lowest setting! The mfgrs of these ranges don't seem to have provided sufficient downward limit for adjustment.

This is surprising to me and intensely irritating. If I had to adjust it lower, I would remove that foot entirely and level the range with the other three feet. This might give the required extra lowering to get the knobs below the handles. To make this work you might have to put a metal shim under the position with the removed foot. This shim could be designed to prevent scratching of the floor when the range was slid out.

*Your range looks like it is a "freestanding" range (does not overlap the counter and has finished sides).

Answer 8

The reason a bump from the handle turns on your stove is because those knobs have that big flat grip on them. If you install some child safety locks, the flat part of the knobs will be completely shrouded so a bump shouldn't be able to activate the knob. The safety cover just spins in place.

Answer 9

One danger with removing the knobs is that they roll around on the counter and could end up falling onto the stove surface and catching fire (assuming you only reconnect the knobs you are currently using).

This is from experience.

Answer 10

Removing the knobs, leaving the stems sticking out is asking for those to get knocked. They may not turn on, but could get damaged so the knobs don't fit any more, or just get knocked, causing a gas leak on the valve itself.

A piece of plastic, perspex, or suchlike, bent to make an L shape, which would slip into the gap between the oven door and the frame above, the full width of the cooker, would cover all the controls, and only need to be slipped out when the cooker was in use.