Cooking Fuel

[GB]

I need to hear some feelings and experences with propane and alchohol . I just bought a boat that actually has a propane stove/oven installed in place of the original alchohol stove. Some people have told me to remove the propane stove and put in a Origo 3000. I know that the main argument is safety of propane vs heat output of alcohol.

[Bill Goldsmith]

Propane is the way to go if you are planning on doing much cooking on board. It is hotter than alcohol. Alcohol is the way to go if you want pure simplicity and only plan to heat things up.

Propane is quite safe provided:

1) The propane tank resides in a sealed locker that vents overboard at the lowest point in the locker;
2) The hoses and regulator are maintained in good shape, and hoses passing through bulkheads are properly chafe-protected;
3) A solenoid is installed that allows remote shutoff of propane flow (I always turn the tank off when not being used anyway) ;
4) A "sniffer" (gas alarm) is installed that will alert you to the presence of propane and other flammable gases in the bilge.

If all of the above was installed, then it is a nice upgrade and I would consider keeping it. If any of the above are missing then you have to gauge how much work is involved in upgrading vs. ripping it out and going with alcohol.

[Oswego John]

Have we ruled out CNG? (Compressed Natural Gas)?

O J

[Bill Goldsmith]

OJ,

No, I didn't mention it as it was not one of the alternatives in the question. Isn't CNG less available than propane? I understand it is lighter than air and therefore measurably safer on a boat.

[Oswego John]

What you say is what I think, too. I don't use CNG, but two boater friends use it and one of them said he had to travel a bit when he ran out and wanted a refill. I think that I remember reading what others said about finding CNG. It's probably somewhere in the archives

I don't remember if he said he swapped tanks or he had his tank refilled. Anyway it's not as readily available as is propane LPG.

I definitely agree that propane isn't as safe as an alcohol or CNG stove, fumewise. I suppose that there's much to be said, pro and con, on the various types of cooking fuels.

I can readily understand GB's concern. It appears that he has a perfectly operable stove in place and is concerned with the safety factor of various alternative fuels. Hence, my bringing up another fuel option.

The whole answer depends on if one locks his prop, or not.
(Only kidding)

Have a good day,
O J

[sgbernd]

I use the Origo 4000 and cook everything (chicken piccata, rice, pasta, fried eggs, chicken parmesean, fish, etc.) It works great and I am very pleased with it.

Flame temperature matters less than heat output and output is adequate. Operation could not be simpler and it would really take some agressive stupidity to create a safety issue.

My only concern would be fuel availability were I to go cruising to distant lands and fuel cost as it is about $16/gal. I use 1-2 gal/season and can go 1 week of full time use before it needs to be refueled. For costal cruising, it is great.

[Tom in Cambria]

When CNG first came out UPS would ship them at the standard rate and outlying places could get them fairly easily. Then UPS and the shippers decided they should be shipped as inflammable and dangerous and had to be specially labeled and handled and go at a higher rate etc. This pretty much put CNG out of the running except in big metropolitan areas where it could come on a company truck. It's simply impossible to get in the Bahamas or Mexico (unless things have changed recently) and thus serious cruisers have given up on it.

My boat came with it and it was an OK fuel and undoubtedly safer. I found that the tanks didn't last as long as propane tanks and were hard to replace after awhile, so if you were doing serious cruising you had to switch to something else. If you're cruising and using the oven a lot nothing beats propane in my opinion and a huge proportion of cruising boats use propane. Thus it's readily available even in out of the way places in foreign countries because of the demand. With propane you refill your own tanks and thus you can invest in aluminum tanks that are lighter and don't rust.

CNG only comes in steel tanks and it's an exchange program where you drop off your nice brand new shiny tank and get an old rusty one in exchange from the dealer. Nobody refills your own CNG tank that I've found but maybe in a big city where you can drive it over and drop it off.

Thus I would say that if you're in a metropolitan area where CNG is readily available and you mainly sail short distances like weekenders where you won't be baking a lot, CNG is a fine fuel and much safer than propane. If you plan any serious cruising where meals become a large part of the day and you'll be baking bread several times a week and cooking real meals, you can't beat propane in terms of a long time between tank refills and availability even in remote places and foreign countries.

Of course you have to have a proper propane locker as noted before and handle it prudently and all that, but most of the cruising boats and commercial boats in the world are using it so it can't be that dangerous.

I have no experience with the Origo alcohol stove so I can't speak about that. Alcohol can be tough to find in out of the way places also and the kind they have in Mexico is much more volatile than our domestic version. It's another very flammable fuel that has to be stored safely on a boat. No problem in the stove, but the jugs in the bilge have to be reckoned with like the gas for the outboard.
Serious cruisers have to come up with something better than tossing a can on top of the spare line in a cockpit locker or some casual method such as that.

My two cents worth.

[miguel mascaros]

A friend of mine does very well with his Coleman gas stove and fuel comes in disposable canisters...about $1.99 each...at Wal Mart...
maybe a bit more expensive on other sporting goods stores

[Bill Sonntag]

CNG works great, same heat as gas at home. The point about supply is true, it is not as easy to get as propane. We use about one cylinder per year and I make coffee every morning I'm aboard and my wife is a fine boat galley cook. We particularly use the oven in the fall and spring for full dinners and hot breakfast items.

Here is a URL with a supplier list and some other information (some do look to be out of date):

http://safgas.com/index.php?action=webs ... ID=14067#m

Happy Sailing!

Bill Sonntag