Dear Gardenwebbers, I haven't posted in a while but have been following every single word you have all typed-I've turning into a stove stalker ROFLOL! Of all the threads I've read over the past year regarding stoves, this is the only one whose posters have actually taken the time to break down the decision-making into the critical components. Not just reviews or opinion, but usage, wear, cost, BTUs, options,even the way the stove sticks out from the walls and integrates into the space. Well done!!You have no idea how helpful you've been! I still haven't made a decision, but I'm inching closer. Like a few of you, I took a step back and asked what I really needed/had to have. One of you rightly pointed out that deciding whether one is a stove top or oven cooker could help out. My ovens are super important to me, and have been the big sticking point in my choices (more on that in a minute) but I do most of my cooking on the stovetop.I REALLY want a coup de feu.If I pick the two burner one coup combination offered by Molteni or Gullo, I'll have to really up my cooking game and plan a bit more ahead (you have to allow the plaque to come to temperature to really use it effectively. So I was concerned I wouldn't have enough "regular" burners.But then, like you all advised, I took a step back and paid attention to what I was really doing "most" days-turns out I'm usually only turning on two burners anyway. When i move to more burners, that's when I could use a million more, so the coup definitely could work out then. I'm still kind of intimidated by it-the Molteni and the others I'm considering are very powerful, but I think that's just lack of self confidence. Burner strength/BTU's were very important to me as well. I currently have an old Wolf Gourmet line-they were better made than the current offering, heavier and more powerful.The max burner is 18K, but it loses power when the other ones are turned on, and then I can't get that nice carmelized sear on the food. I love the oven though. It's gas with a broiler and a (very noisy) convection fan, and sticky racks. Don't love the noise and the stick, but the size is pretty good, and it works well. All the units I'm considering are more powerful, but some more than others.Like everyone has noted, the ovens seem to be what pose the most dilemmas. I worry about cleanability. My current stove is a PITA to clean.The Rorgue has a neat water bath under the burners to rinse out spills-cool!It's also the least expensive of my three choices (So far. Am waiting on the cost of the UL listing fee, plus I have to add in taxes and VAT) but I can have every little gadget I had lusted for(of course, I'm now really rethinking everything). But it's the least pretty/french range looking of the batch. It does come in colors though. I'm nervous that if i select a range with two ovens that I won't be able to use them for what I occasionally need-larger sheets and pans, so I'm really leaning towards one gas oven in the range, and a Miele Masterchef 30" in the wall, which is 6" bigger than my current oven (I have a few pans that I really have to grease up the sides of the oven to squeeze in). I'm going to a Gaggenau cooking demo at Purcell-Murray this weekend and check out their ovens too. Anybody have some feedback on those? I'm also considering getting a smaller range and adding in two induction burners into the counter for quickie cooking for the kids (I have five). I could have had them built into a bespoke range, but the electric components have to be kept far away from a high heat source, which screwed up the size of the unit massively Our quotes from the contractors are coming-scary! I just wanted to thank everyone for all the input-every single comment has been so helpful. Oh, on a side note, there's a ROCKIN' Morice stove for sale that I found on the internet. It's not the right color for em (it's blue and silver) but maybe it would work out for you. It's got 3/4 burners (one is a single grate but with two burners under it-is that one or two?LOL) and a coup de feu. The oven is electric. I've (hopefully!) included the link. Parts are still available for the Morices. If it had been a different color, I would have jumped on it-great price. well, I'll be continuing to follow everybody's stove progress, and hope to have a stove too. Soon... Here is a link that might be useful: Sea Sales Morice cooker

It's possible that the assumptions here are all wrong. First of all, if it's a fuse that's blowing then the problem is over current and not necessarily over voltage. Noise on the line, if that's a problem, is likely introduced after the 24-volt transformer, as a power transformer by its very nature, being an inductor, will likely not pass transient high frequency noise, it's too slow to react unless it's part of a switching power supply design or an oscillator. The 3-legged packaged regulator (DC) referred to is likely a TO-220 (maybe a TO-92) package. A small value (capacitance) bypass cap may help if in fact there is some sort of RF transients being introduced (after the transformer secondary winding). Even though 24-volt AC feeds this device, it most certainly must convert this AC to DC (probably 12-volt) in order to function. There should be regulation and bypass built into the design. Another possible but expensive solution might be 'Whole House Surge Protection' installed right at the load center (electrical entrance). This should provide protection from voltage spikes originating from both sides of the load center (utility & internal). Besides, now that we have microprocessor controlled HVAC systems with ECM motors, microprocessor controlled 220-volt stoves, ovens, dryers etc., how else can we protect these sensitive devices from spikes? It's not just your large screen A/V system that needs this type of protection in today's world. You can't buy a Monster Power Bar for your HP! Another advantage of Whole House Surge Protection is that it ties all the separate grounds of the electrical utility, telephone lines and cable lines together to one common ground. Have you ever tried measuring the voltage (AC) between these grounds with a Fluke? The comment that is most interesting is from mike_home regarding humidity and static electricity, though I suspect the source of the problem lies elsewhere. Back to this Nest thing, what's directly on this fuse's circuit that's drawing so much current? This could be a design flaw and may not be up to you to solve. SR

My GS HP is 15 years old, and the thermostat that was installed with the HP works fine, it just doesn't have any options on how auxiliary heat is brought on-line, i.e., we set back 6 degrees at night. I can't get up in the morning and set the temperature back up 6 degrees or the resistive strips (there are two of them that come on at timed intervals if there is still a gap between the demand temperature and the room temperature). So I was thinking maybe I could find a new thermostat that would give me some control over how the auxiliary heat is handled. For the time being I have just disconnected the resistive elements, so while the system calls for resistive aux heat, it doesn't come on and the HP just continues to run to bring the temperature up. The resistive aux is nice, it does raise the temperature faster, but $$$ ouch.

Please explain how well setbacks work out in a place that has variable electrical rates and peak charges? Like I said previously there are situations where setbacks aren't so great. There are some electric utilities that advise to set it and forget it in the summer and will only pay a rebate on a hybrid gas furnace/heat pump system or geothermal. The cost of buying power at a peak time over top of what the utility already has allocated is stupid expensive. If the system has a decent stat and the house is vacant 10 or so hours a day and the utility rates aren't screwy and the climate isn't horribly humid I would say by all means go for it. The peak rates are a thing that will eventually haunt more and more of us and we will have to deal with. The huge setbacks tend to make for longer peak usage times which cost the utility even if they have plenty of generation to cover for it because that is power that they cannot sell at a peak rate. Setbacks are great in moderation if the system is set up correctly and fairly well insulated and the occupants will be out for an extended period and the rate schedule doesn't fluctuate.