Alcohol stoves

[barfwinkle]

A 3' (3" ID) piece of thin wall PVC holds 5 butane canisters. I got a stove some years ago and a friend had just purchased the Kenyon marine unit. $19.95 vs $70-80. He returned his. We also compared the side by side with no noticeable or significance differance between the two. Also the 3' PVC fits (barely) in the anchor locker.

Fair winds.

[RIKanaka]

Check out ebay or craigslist. There are a couple of Origo single burners (1500) listed right now on ebay for under $80. I picked one up several days ago for about $60 for use at home when the power goes out. I previously used a 2 burner recessed mounted model (4500) at home during the last 3 power outages (Irene, Sandy and the most recent New England blizzard). We made coffee in the mornings, beef stew and stir-fries for dinner, just like on our regular stove. It's a little slower than electric but it works well. I'll be installing the 2 burner in the boat in a few weeks, hence the need for the single burner recent purchase.

[barfwinkle]

I found this stove fairly interesting:



See the whole post here:

http://onemoregoodadventure.com/2009/10 ... ing-stove/

Fair Winds

[Carter Brey]

Hi there,

I replaced the original Kenyon pressurized alcohol bomb aboard Delphine with a Cookmate double burner flush mount. It was almost, but not quite a perfect drop-in fit. I had to enlarge two dimensions of the cutout only slightly.

From what I can see, it is nearly identical to the equivalent Origo unit. Works great.

Cordially,
Carter Brey
Sabre 28-II "Delphine"
City Island, NY

[drysuit2]

With a propane stove ventilation is a big deal. I set off my home’s CO2 detector using my good old Coleman camping stove during Sandy.
Do alcohol stoves have the same problem? I have never used mine.

[barfwinkle]

Well I spent last night aboard and wanted to test (actually recall) how well my little butane stove worked. This morning provided the best test. It had the water boiling in at least 1/2 the time if not faster, and the simplicity of presto lighting rocks as does the fine flame control.

I want a propane stove, but not the associated costs! This sucks! But for cruisers smaller than Rhapsody I would definitely use some from of little butane stove.

Fair Winds

[eb1smith]

A. It is Carbon Monoxide (CO) that you should worry about, CO2 is what we breath out.

B. All carbon burning substances produce varying levels of CO, alcohol will produce CO.

C. I have sailed for many years with the old pressurized alcohol stove with no issues. I fill up the bowl and set my coffee water on top heats it right up, as well as soup. I have even baked with the alcohol oven.

[drysuit2]

A. It is Carbon Monoxide (CO) that you should worry about, CO2 is what we breath out.

B. All carbon burning substances produce varying levels of CO, alcohol will produce CO.

C. I have sailed for many years with the old pressurized alcohol stove with no issues. I fill up the bowl and set my coffee water on top heats it right up, as well as soup. I have even baked with the alcohol oven.

So it’s the propane that causes CO or Carbon Monoxide build up? I am guessing that's what my home smoke detector / Carbon Monoxide checks for. And I called it CO2 in error.
I guess what I am worrying about is a cold rainy day, when I try to make a pot of coffee and all my hatches are closed.
I am OK with an Alcohol stove [like the one that came with my CD?
But not with a propane camp stove?
Thank you in advance for clearing this up. I’m confused.

[eb1smith]

So any carbon based item burning produces CO, wood, gas, alcohol... . CO will keep you from releasing oxygen in the cells in your body, a condition known as hypoxia.

Short term use of a stove, be it gas or alcohol, will not create the conditions, even if the cabin is closed up because of rain, the boats are not that air tight. Short term would be cooking a meal. Alcohol does produce fumes that can be irritating, but open the hatch and get some air down below and all is well after that.

Do not try to heat the cabin with the stove! Use a heater that is built for this purpose and has a low oxygen shut-off also I would back this up with a CO detector, as long as it is UL-2034 listed it can be used in a recreational boat.

I use a Little Buddy heater for my travels and a First Alert CO detector from Home Depot.

--Eric

[Maine_Buzzard]

Gotta be a chemical nerd and chime in here- some clarification is in order.

CO2 building up will give you a wicked headache and will eventually kill you, but usually people will self evacuate long before that.

CO is the stealthy murderer... you get sleepy and die in minutes as your blood soaks it up faster than oxygen and literally suffocates you from the inside.

As fuels go, propane is a white knight. Properly adjusted, propane burners emit almost no CO. This is why Zambonis and indoor forklifts run on propane. If the flame is blue and tight to the burner, you have a safe mixture.

Alcohol is also relatively safe, and not a big source of CO, but I do get teary if running the stove with the cabin closed up.

Look at www.propane101.com for consistent information on propane.

[Tom Keevil]

Any fuel that contains carbon atoms will produce carbon monoxide if it burns with inadequate oxygen (it adds only one oxygen to the carbon atom rather than two which is carbon dioxide). Fuels containing carbon atoms include natural gas, propane, butane, all types of alcohols, kerosene, diesel fuel, gasoline, wood, coal, paper, and pretty much anything you can imagine burning to produce heat.

Carbon monoxide binds tightly to the iron atom in your hemoglobin, blocking out the oxygen which normally binds there. It takes a very long time for the carbon monoxide to leave the iron atom, and during that time you can't transport oxygen to your tissues. Since carbon monoxide has no smell, you must have a detector when burning stuff in enclosed spaces.

[drysuit2]

All good info. Thanks guys.
I'm putting a battery powered Carbon Monoxide/Smoke alarm in tomorrow.

[Jack & Jo Chamberlain]

I'm going to circle back to the subject of Origo stoves. We replaced a pressure kerosene stove, which came with our CD33 Maggie Rose, with two Origo single burner stoves. They are mounted on a custom platform Jack built using the original stove gimbals. I have used this arrangement for at least 10 years and we have spent as much as 8 month aboard. Finding alcohol is not a problem if you include hardware stores as a source, just transfer the alcohol from the metal can to your empty plastic jug.

The arrangement we use came about in a round-about way. Our kerosene stove malfunctioned and nearly burned the boat up near the beginning of a 3 week cruise. The best alternative immediately available was a one-burner Origo. I cooked on that on the counter top for the remainder of that cruise.

When we returned home we were confronted the question of the "best" boat stove to satisfy me. [1. I was not willing to deal with any pressurized fuel ever again. 2. I am afraid of having heavier than air fuels in the boat. 3. I'm not okay with cooking in the cockpit except for the grill. 4. I like to cook real home-cooked meals aboard.] The answer was to pull out the offending 3-burner kerosene stove with oven and get a second Orige burner. It gave me the serendipity of a large pan cupboard and two burners which operate and can be refilled separately.

[barfwinkle]

Hello to all

I saw one of these on a 22 ft C-Dory (sweet little power "mini-trawler") this weekend. I thought way cool. Then I priced one! WOW.

Fair Winds

http://www.scanmarineusa.com/wallas_stoves.html

[Dave H]

Jack and Jo,

Thanks for your input on stoves and cooking aboard. May I ask you to talk a little more about not cooking in the cockpit? In the case of a Typhoon Senior do you think cooking below is safer than in the cockpit?

Dave