Alchohol stoves
 

It's bad for people to breath. I wouldn't wanna cook with it.

"Paul" wrote in message
ble.rogers.com...
Why not diesel in the tropics? Actually I never heard of a diesel cooktop,
it doesn't stink?

5) Diesel. Great in a cool climate. The Dickinson stove is a
wonderful device, but I wouldn't want one in the tropics. Cheap fuel,
hot flame. And. BTW, you probably have it in your fuel tanks, so you
don't have to schlep half way across the island to refill.

Alchohol stoves
 

On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 06:23:23 +0000, Jim Woodward wrote:

Either eat your food raw or pick from a sorry crowd:

1) Electric -- have to run a genset or a big inverter with heavy
batteries. Can run on shore power in large marinas, but not small
ones. Fintry will have an electric oven, as I really don't like LPG
ovens.


This one I find just bizarre. You burn fuel to generate heat to generate
mechanical energy to generate electrical energy to generate...heat!

(BTW: I like my Force10 propane oven. Unlike most, it's thermostatically
controlled. Just be sure to disable the gimbal before you remove the
lasagna...)

Lloyd

Alchohol stoves
 

The Origo alcohol/electric top is a good unit. Have one in
my MaXum. The burners make plenty of heat, and it's easy to
service.
JR

Parallax wrote:

When I bought my boat 10 yrs ago (it was 10 yrs old then), it had a
pressurized kenyon alchohol stove that didnt work. I got it to work
but decided that such pressurized alchohol stoves are probably one of
the most dangerous things on a boat considering the necessity of
priming with a substance whose flames are frequently difficult to see.
So, I just took out all its innards and dropped large cans of sterno
into the empty burner wells and used longer screws to make the burners
stand off high enough. We have managed to cook simple backpacking
meals on sterno for 5 so it does sort of work but I doubt you could
fix a real meal on it.
This got me thinking about the Origo non-pressurized stoves but they
are very expensive and involves removing the old stove with possible
damage to cabinetry. Why not make an Origo style drop in replacement
for the burner wells for older style pressurized stoves? I saw an
unpressurized alchohol backpacking stove that could be modified to fit
the burner wells, it would need some glass wool in the alchohol
reservoir to keep the fuel from sloshing. Not sure it would provide
much heat though. I have considered making a larger replacement
specifically for this purpose.
Is this worth doing? Would it sell as a product? Do Origo style
stoves work well enough? Would product liability insurance be a
killer? What do y'all think?

--
Remove X to reply

--------------------------------------------------------------
Home Page: http://www.seanet.com/~jasonrnorth

Alchohol stoves
 

On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 17:31:49 -0700, "Lloyd Sumpter"
wrote:

This one I find just bizarre. You burn fuel to generate heat to generate
mechanical energy to generate electrical energy to generate...heat!

==========================

From the stand point of engineering efficiency, you're absolutely
right. In actual practice however, it turns out to be very convenient
as long as you already have the generator for other purposes. In the
south eastern US it is almost mandatory to have air conditioning on a
larger boat just to make it habitable, and it is very desirable in any
climate to be able to charge your batteries without running the main
engines. On a larger power boat the fuel burned by the generator is
trivial compared to everything else.

Alchohol stoves
 

Well Lloyd,
We do the same thing in our houses and call it an electric bill.

But seriously, I would not be without a generator on a boat anymore.
I like the diesel units best as they seem to make their own fuel. But
they are also the most innocuous. The exhaust smells bad, the fuel
smells bad, they are loud and they shake the whole boat. I just have
probably the worst one made.

When only running the AC and battery charger, I have a Honda 2000 watt
"suitcase" unit that is very quiet and vibration free. I plug the shore
power cable into an adapter, and the adapter into the genny. It keeps
the house batteries up, so the galley inverter works, and give me lovely
cool air (or heat) which my old bones are grateful for. Uses about 1.5
gallons of gas overnight.

When underway, or for short periods, I use the built in Kohler or should
I say {{{{kOhLeR}}}}. It provides a vibro-massage and white noise field
no matter where you are seated aboard!

Regards,

Capt. Frank

Lloyd Sumpter wrote:

On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 06:23:23 +0000, Jim Woodward wrote:


Either eat your food raw or pick from a sorry crowd:

1) Electric -- have to run a genset or a big inverter with heavy
batteries. Can run on shore power in large marinas, but not small
ones. Fintry will have an electric oven, as I really don't like LPG
ovens.



This one I find just bizarre. You burn fuel to generate heat to generate
mechanical energy to generate electrical energy to generate...heat!

(BTW: I like my Force10 propane oven. Unlike most, it's thermostatically
controlled. Just be sure to disable the gimbal before you remove the
lasagna...)

Lloyd

Alchohol stoves
 

Because, like an Aga cooker, they run all the time. You don't light
them for each use. And, no, they don't stink. They're really great,
except for being warm all the time. see
http://www.dickinsonmarine.com


Jim Woodward
www.mvFintry.com

"Paul" wrote in message able.rogers.com...
Why not diesel in the tropics? Actually I never heard of a diesel cooktop,
it doesn't stink?

5) Diesel. Great in a cool climate. The Dickinson stove is a
wonderful device, but I wouldn't want one in the tropics. Cheap fuel,
hot flame. And. BTW, you probably have it in your fuel tanks, so you
don't have to schlep half way across the island to refill.

Alchohol stoves
 

Bizarre? Maybe.

Chalk it up to paranoia (which is, in moderation, healthy when you're
going to sea).

When you light an LPG cooktop, you can see the flame and know that
it's burning and is not just an open source of LPG. Lighting an oven
is sometimes harder -- the lighter fails, or you have to reach in to
light it, or whatever. I have several times gotten a good solid
whuuuppp in the oven. Besides, many cooks prefer gas on top and
electric in the oven. The oven thermostat is more accurate with
electric than gas. And, finally, diesel (for the genset) is much
easier to load aboard than LPG.

We found that on Swee****er (Force Ten LPG stove with oven) we rarely
used the oven anyway.

Jim Woodward
www.mvFintry.com

"Lloyd Sumpter" wrote in message ...
On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 06:23:23 +0000, Jim Woodward wrote:

Either eat your food raw or pick from a sorry crowd:

1) Electric -- have to run a genset or a big inverter with heavy
batteries. Can run on shore power in large marinas, but not small
ones. Fintry will have an electric oven, as I really don't like LPG
ovens.


This one I find just bizarre. You burn fuel to generate heat to generate
mechanical energy to generate electrical energy to generate...heat!

(BTW: I like my Force10 propane oven. Unlike most, it's thermostatically
controlled. Just be sure to disable the gimbal before you remove the
lasagna...)

Lloyd

Alchohol stoves
 

I should add, that if you want to think about bizarre inefficiency,
Fintry was set up by the Royal Navy for all electric heat. So were
many of the other government and commercial boats we looked at, see
http://www.mvfintry.com/boatsnotbought.htm

At sea, she would run a 30kw 220VDC genset, which provided electric
heat, hot water, and stove ("cooker" over there), as well as the usual
ship loads. All of the engine heat went overboard.

In harbor, the genset was 15kw for the same purposes.

At least on the new Fintry we'll recapture much of the waste heat from
the prime movers for domestic hot water and heat as required. The
main heat source will be a diesel fired boiler.

Jim Woodward
www.mvFintry.com


"Lloyd Sumpter" wrote in message ...
On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 06:23:23 +0000, Jim Woodward wrote:

Either eat your food raw or pick from a sorry crowd:

1) Electric -- have to run a genset or a big inverter with heavy
batteries. Can run on shore power in large marinas, but not small
ones. Fintry will have an electric oven, as I really don't like LPG
ovens.


This one I find just bizarre. You burn fuel to generate heat to generate
mechanical energy to generate electrical energy to generate...heat!

(BTW: I like my Force10 propane oven. Unlike most, it's thermostatically
controlled. Just be sure to disable the gimbal before you remove the
lasagna...)

Lloyd

Alchohol stoves
 

I second the recommendation for Dickinson (Good Canadian Product -
actually made here in Burnaby). Any diesel-burning device doesn't stink if
you get it hot enough.

Pretty much EVERY commercial boat here on the Wet Coast (fishing, tugs,
commuter, etc.) have Dickinsons, and in the winter they just run them all
the time. Cabin heat, stove, keeping coffee warm, drying your socks...
whatever.

I replaced the Volvo diesel furnace in Far Cove with a Dickinson, and I
love it! nice cheery flames, a place to keep coffee/tea/hot chocolate
warm, and it keeps the cabin nice and toasty without using any significant
battery power (as opposed to a furnace that draws 2-3 Amps when on). But
mine is more of a heater than a stove, since I have the propane unit for
"real" cooking.

Lloyd Sumpter
"Far Cove" Catalina 36

On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 03:47:36 +0000, Jim Woodward wrote:

Because, like an Aga cooker, they run all the time. You don't light
them for each use. And, no, they don't stink. They're really great,
except for being warm all the time. see
http://www.dickinsonmarine.com


Jim Woodward
www.mvFintry.com

"Paul" wrote in message able.rogers.com...
Why not diesel in the tropics? Actually I never heard of a diesel cooktop,
it doesn't stink?

5) Diesel. Great in a cool climate. The Dickinson stove is a
wonderful device, but I wouldn't want one in the tropics. Cheap fuel,
hot flame. And. BTW, you probably have it in your fuel tanks, so you
don't have to schlep half way across the island to refill.