Can an Alcohol Stove Boil Water ?

[goldbeard]

I had an alcohol stove in the past and it would take almost 10-12 minutes to get the first bubbles to start surfacing in a pot of water, forget about a rolling boil.

Is there anyone out there with good experience cooking with an alcohol stove? If so what model do you have?

I am considering the Kenyon Marine Model 406, opinions?

very respectfully

[pressuredrop]

a proper functioning alcohol stove will boil water no problem, it will, as you have learned, take longer to reach a boil then propane

[Mike Sibley]

I have an Origo alcohol stove and it seems to work great.

[idpnd]

I've got an origo and boiled water for pasta just two days ago Seems to work. I read a 'scientific' comparison on the ybw forums the other day, where 1 litre took 4 minutes to boil on gas and 6 on meths which seems about right.

[goldbeard]

What kind of stuff do you cook?

I need heat control, I want to believe in alcohol stoves, I just need to hear from the folks that like them.

Can they control the heat well, the full range from low to high?

[nautical62]

Realize there are stoves like the Origo and also pressurized alcohol stoves. I've had boats come with both and I'm not a fan of either. On boats that came with the Origo, I've replaced them with simple propane camp stoves which I've found to be much more practical, though perhaps not as attractive.

[DaveC]

I've never sat there and timed it, but mine seems to boil a can of Cambell's Chunky Soup in a few minutes. It seems to be similar in time to my electric stove in my house. My stove is an older one, and apparently came standard in my Cape Dory. I forget the name but Origo sounds familiar. It is not pressureized. I simply pour the alcohol into the burner pans, which are enclosed and have asbestos or something in it to prevent the alcohol from sloshing around. I light it with a standard extended tip lighter, but it's a little tricky because you cannot see the alcohol flame in the daytime. After I put the lighter down there, I have to feel over the burner whether or not it actually lit.

After it's lit, I can control the heat by rotating a knob which adjusts how much of the flame burner is exposed.

I definitely wouldn't try to cook a gourmet, seven course meal on it. But it heats up soup, cooks eggs and bacon, and boils water for coffee just fine.

[David M]

Sure it can...just slower. The problem with alcohol is that it is so dangerous. Get rid of it before you light your boat on fire.

[NormanMartin]

I have had extensive experience with both pressurized (the old Kenyon brand, mostly) and non-pressurized (Origo exclusively) alcohol stoves. We have a two burner Origo and make wonderful meals in a wide range of sea conditions and more wonderful meals in quiet harbors. No complaints.

If you are having trouble with making water boil, look to the fuel first. We make a lot of tea aboard Averisera. The Origo serves us well.

First off, alcohol comes in several grades. The rubbing alcohol from the drug store has high water content. The stuff from dad's physics lab was firey! We buy marine stove grade alcohol and are satisfied.

On a number of race boats I have had to deal with the small propane tank hanging off the burner, the famous Force Ten Sea Swing. A superb device if you can deal with having a live grenade in your living quarters. Some race boats have also been fitted with the little one burner table top stoves that use some form of CNG from a canister. Great stoves but subject to a few problems, rust, hard to find fuel when outside the USA, not gimbaled, no fiddles, etc.

Fire is dangerous. Sailing is dangerous. Staying home is really dangerous!

[SvenG]

The Origo (non-pressurized) stove is about as safe as you can get. Just Google

Origo accident

or

Origo fire

and you'll see that with the exception of a guy who almost certainly refilled his stove while it was still lit (and lost the lawsuit), there is just about nothing to report. I would never ever use a pressurized stove on board, alcohol or heavier than air gas.

True, if you spill the fuel while refilling the canisters and then light the spill on fire you may not see it unless it is scorching something, but if you realize what you did you can put the fire out with plain water.

We had a CNG stove on board but just replaced it with the Origo stove-oven combo this last weekend. CNG would be great if you could get it in the rest of the world and if it wasn't so incredibly expensive, but you can't and it is.

As others have noted, the Origo takes a few minutes longer to boil your water. The oven on the Origo will also have a hard time crisping your chicken if it is sitting in a pan with boiling broth (the continuous boiling takes too much of the heat energy) but it will crisp fine otherwise. If your food has to be fast you may not be happy with an Origo.


-Sven

[zeehag]

my alcohol stove took a running leap when i watched the previous owner of my ericson try to light it and got a flame to the headliner....i use propane--with a solenoid and i cook well and everything..even abalone without it becoming rubber , as it did in a friends boat when she cooked it on an alcohol stove. they do not get hot enough to cook anything if ye are a cook--reconsider.

cng is all well and good but i defy ye to find that gas anywhere outside the continental usa---propane however is found everywhere.
even mexico.
even virgin islands
even south pacific.


only good thin gabout an alcohol stove is the flame is extinguished well with plain water ..lol--even if ye cannot see it!

[NormanMartin]

Stoves are like every other piece of equipment on a boat, used with reasonable care, nothing bad happens. Otherwise....

Many, many years ago I got permission to use the family 27 footer for a weekend with friends. We drove down to Miami, got aboard with a case of beer and a bottle of rum. Got hammered. Lit the stove. Whoosh. The pressurized alcohol stove light up the night. Pshhh the firex put out the flame. No damage. How did we get busted by dear old dad? Forgot to take the trash ashore! Beer and rum bottle should come with user manuals.

It wasn't the stove that was dangerous. It was the stove operator.

Some 40 years later... no flare ups to report. (It was our last boat with a pressurized alcohol stove, too.)

"Zeehag" do black lace what-evers ship with user manuals? haha. A great signature. Mrs M adds a multi meter to the mix. What can you expect from an EE?

[SvenG]

Originally Posted by zeehag

the previous owner of my ericson try to light it and got a flame to the headliner....

That can happen with a pressurized alcohol stove. Of course, if it had been propane in that same situation the deck would have separated from the hull, as often happens.



-Sven

[Butler]

I've used the pressurized and passive alcohol stoves and like the passive better because they are so simple to use though it is harder to control the flame. I haven't had much of a problem adjusting from wide open to a simmer and so far I have been able to do some pretty fancy stuff on mine... an old Optimus passive unit.
As long as a person does not try to refill a hot stove they are quite safe and as others have mentioned not anymore dangerous than any other stove fuel. One of the attractive aspects is the initial set up cost of a safe propane set-up as opposed to the cost of a used Origo passive uniy and a bottle of alcohol

The only thing that has me hesitating on getting a two burner passive Origo is the issue which I have seen raised in books and magazines about alcohol availability in the Carribean and South Seas. How much of an issue is this?

Also I have heard of people who really hate the smell of combusting alcohol and claim it makes them seasick. Has not been a problem for me however.

[goldbeard]

zeehag

your words strike home...

If you are a cook. There was a time when mac and cheese or a can of soup was the standard meal for me. (and I still enjoy them) but I have taken to cooking more technical meals. Risotto, steak, fish, My own soups. I need proper control able heat.

I will refine my question. I do want to cook more extensive meals, can it be done with alcohol...it seems like the answer is a growing no.

Any alcohol stove fans out there see it different?

I mean I need heat that can sear a meat closed on the outside, then reduce the heat and get the inside with less intensity....keeping the moist juices inside where they belong....