Quote:
Originally Posted by michigander
Hope this is in the correct sub forum. I have a 2 burner Hillerange pressure (has manual pump like a Coleman on the front) stove. I know the last owner never used it and I don’t think the previous owner did either as it looks like new (it’s the original stove in ‘85 O’day 28). In researching I see quite a bit of negative regarding the safety. Can I learn to use it safely and can anyone offer specific instructions or links to do so? I’d rather give it a chance before looking at replacement options. Thanks for any help!
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I got used to the pressure alcohol stove in my
C&C while I still had that.
The biggest problem is flare ups. Keep a spray bottle with
water handy. If the alcohol is diluted enough, the boiling
water as it burns will cool it down and you can control the flare ups. If you add about 1 part water to 4
parts alcohol it will cease to burn entirely. This makes it easy to put out in an
emergency.
Ideally you’ll never have a flare up, but you have to start it right. Get a separate container for alcohol that you will use for preheating. I used a small stainless
oil spray can. I sprayed about a tablespoon of the
fuel alcohol into the preheating cup below the burner and then used a long butane jet lighter to ignite the alcohol. I waited until the flames were nearly dying out, then put the burner on low with a pot over it (mostly to shade the flame so it could be seen).
If the preheating flame died out before I got it lit, I would add a little more (less than a teaspoon) of alcohol to the preheating cup before
lighting it.
Some people use a
propane blowtorch to preheat, but keep in mind that whatever the choice... The burners stay off until individually preheated and lit.
If you don’t preheat a burner, alcohol will spill of the burner
head, then out of the preheating cup. At this point it will really flare up, and cover your whole stove top with flame. If the burner still hasn’t been turned off it will continue to spill and possibly you’ll loose control of the flame. It’s just a
race to figure if it’ll overflow the
oven too, start a fire, or heat the burner up enough to start working.
For small flare ups, where alcohol was beginning to spill out of the cup, I would simply turn the burner off and spray off the
cabin walls above the stove to prevent it from
heating up and warping. If the flare ups made me uncomfortable - my only choice was to douse the flame.
Sometimes smaller flare ups would occur if the tank was running out. So be vigilant.
The flames are impossible to see in bright sunlight. So shading the area is vital for safety.
My wife was able to light the stove well after being shown 2-3 times and freaking out slightly the first time she messed up.
The flames made the
boat a bit damp in
winter, but that’s not unique to alcohol.
Finally a note about stove
fuel. Methanol is toxic to some degree and is used in stove fuels. Avoid breathing excessive amounts of it. Keep the
galley well ventilated until the range is up to temp. The fumes can sting your eyes. Granted there is a wide variety in quality of fuel alcohol. I think having it to do over again that’s the only thing I would change - I would get better alcohol with less methanol.
If my
boat had an alcohol stove in it now, I would not replace it. After getting used to it, which takes some practice I think it’s inherently safer than
propane. That’s definitely an unpopular opinion these days.
They’re difficult to use, and I think most of the safety issues are user error.