I mentioned yesterday in a comment about the burners on the stove all being different. I don’t like canning on the back burners because (1) it’s too close to the wall and even with tile that’s meant to be near the stove, that’s more heat for longer than may have been expected and (2) it’s hard for me to move the canner when it’s full and it’s harder to get the jars out from way at the back of the stove.
This is what the top of my stove looks like. Rather . . this is what the top of a clean stove looks like! 🙂
I suppose the burners are fairly standard for gas stoves but having six really usable burners is new for me. The gas stove in Texas had an oval burner in the center but the burners there seemed more crowded. While I haven’t measured, I think the outer burners on the current stove are closer to the edge. That’s good so long as you’re using pots up to the size of a Dutch oven but a canner is left hanging over the edge a bit and my countertop gets scorching hot right there very near the stove.
The front left burner is a bit different from what I’ve had before. See the little “eye” in the center? If that burner is on high or medium, the outer flame and the inner flame are burning.
If the burner is on low or simmer, only the inner flame is burning.
The BTUs for each burner are as follows. I didn’t check but I imagine this is for natural gas. For propane, it’s usually indicated to be a little less.
Front left: 21,000
Rear left: 5,000
Front right: 15,000
Rear Right: 12,000
Center: 9,500 each
There’s a separate knob for the front center and for the rear center burner. They can be used both at the same time, on different settings or only one burner can be used.
For now, I’m thinking I have the best luck with the canner on the front right burner. On the Camp Chef stove that I used outside for canning in Texas, each burner is 30,000 BTUs and that is for propane so it makes no sense that a 21,000 or a 15,000 burner would be cooking too hot and causing the canner to run out of water.