We've just moved into out new apartment in the north of town and there is no grid for natural gas. I've seen a couple of places with stoves with proper burners and a natural gas tank under the kitchen counter.

I'd really prefer to cook on gas but also get mixed reports on safety issues.

Anybody with experience on this?

I think you will find that this is LPG, not bottled natural gas.

I've never heard of safety issues, except for the time a restaurant in our community had one of the tanks explode.

I'm mostly concerned about the integrity of the tank; particularly the valve. If there's a leak and a spark it won't just be my windows that'll go bust.

I'm considering extending the gas-hose from my kitchen to a (sheltered) balcony so there's ventilation where the tank will be.

Just wondering if the comforts of fire-burners weigh against the risks of a tank. If anyone has experience it would be nice to hear your thoughts and concerns. I'd want to find a 'reliable' supplier that maintains the tanks properly.

Tanks are fine. There is an issue with the hoses, however. All the gas hoses that I have seen are made from plastic. The weak points are where the hoses connect to the cooker and the regulator. It is important to remember to turn off the gas tap at the bottle after use. Then you should be fine.

Most Chinese just store their tank under the sink, leaving valve on, and abuse their hoses and no name burners. Still, residential explosions or fires resulting from propane tanks is very very rare. Just regular rare are stories of a restaurant or propane tank storage going boom.

So if you buy a name brand burner, get good hoses and replace them semi annually, store your tank ventilated but away from sun and elements, and turn off tank valve after use, you'll be light years ahead safety wise. Sadly, you'll probably have little control over tank quality, but as mentioned before, locals do very little safety wise and nothing bad happens usually.

Of course those nice name brand electric mag induction plates cook as fast as gas and are super safe, but cooks who like gas still prefer gas. There must be something primal about seeing the flame.

With gas you get the amount of heat you want immediately.

You can seriously "cook" on an induction hot plate? I can cook fine on a regular electric coil element or European burner, but those hot plates are barely suitable for cooking more than instant noodles.

I use a tank for my grill, and have never had issues. AlexKMG has the right of it. Check/change your hoses regularly, keep the tank ventilated and turn off the valve when not in use or out of the house.

The gas delivery folks are usually nice and helpful. One even helped me replace a valve on my grill. Have them check out your setup when you do first install.

Most of the restaurant fires you hear about from carelessness and cutting corners. You see them tossing those bottles around like garbage, buying the cheapest hoses and never bothering to replace them. If you approach gas with a bit of common sense, you'll be just fine.

@Anonymous Coward
The nicer more expensive induction plates when used with the correct pan or pot heat up amazingly fast and get hot enough to burn stuff to a nice blackened crisp. Again, need the proper pot or pan, as there are some designed for induction cooking.

Not sure about wok style cooking as they are curved bottoms and you move the wok around a lot, so gas seems better.