On Sun, 05 Dec 2004 22:58:16 GMT, chuck wrote:

Golly, BinaryBill!

Which type of alcohol stove do you think is extremely dangerous:
pressurized alcohol stoves or the Origo type or both? And why?

I would think pressurized alcohol stoves could be troublesome, as could
pressurized propane, gasoline, and kerosene. But the Origo stoves won't
even spill fuel if you turn them upside down!

I have an Origo stove, am very pleased with it, and feel safer with it
than with a pressure stove, however there is a significant danger in
refuelling if the burner is not cold. Pouring alcohol into a warm
burner can create a combustible cloud and if the burner was burned dry
(quite likely the reason you would be filling a warm one) there may
well be a part either hot enough or smouldering that will provide a
source of ignition. If you are filling the burner from a closed
container (like a plastic bottle) the flame can run into the bottle,
overpressure it and spray burning alcohol all over which is a Bad
Thing (TM).

Such accidents really do happen. The precautions are obvious. It's a
bad mistake to think of any combustion system as not being a fire
danger.

Ryk