Propane, alcohol or kerosene stoves?

[GrowleyMonster]

Originally Posted by Sunsetrider

The incidence of fires due to stoves has decreased with the gradual replacement of alcohol stoves with propane stoves and electric ranges. Two percent of fires were caused by stoves, more than half resulting from problems with lighting alcohol stoves. Given how few alcohol stoves there are on boats these days, they are significantly more dangerous than those that use other fuel sources. If you still have an alcohol stove on board, you may want to consider upgrading.

This is surprising ( I have an Origo stove). I wonder whether there is a distinction between the newer versions and pressurized versions. I tossed the pressurized alcohol stove when I bought the boat and replaced it.

Or switch to raw meat?

I know... SOLAR COOKERS!


Raw beef actually isn't bad. A smear of wasabi and a sprinkle of low sodium soy sauce and it tastes okay. Sort of like cow sashimi. OTOH I couldn't imagine eating raw bacon even on a bet, and bacon is LIFE to me. I'll pass on the raw chicken, too, now that I think of it. Raw rice won't ever be on the menu here, either.

[softdown]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I would personally believe Wood's Hole Oceanographic Center over sensationalist blogs.

Here's what they say:

"Is radiation a concern along U.S. and Canadian coasts?
Although we have found traces of radioactive contamination from Fukushima in samples collected through our citizen-science initiative Our Radioactive Ocean, the concentration of cesium-137 and -134 in these samples is well below levels of concern for humans or marine life. The highest levels of cesium (10 Bq/m3) attributable to Fukushima that we have measured were found 1,500 miles north of Hawaii. Swimming every day in the ocean there would still result in a dose 1,000 time smaller than the radiation we receive with a single dental x-ray. Not zero, but still very low."


As to the sensationalist blog, here is a characterization I like:

"Zero Hedge is a bat*** insane Austrian school finance blog run by two pseudonymous founders who post articles under the name "Tyler Durden," after the character from Fight Club. It's essentially apocalypse porn. It has accurately predicted 200 of the last 2 recessions. . .

The site posts nearly indecipherable analyses of multiple seemingly unrelated subjects to point towards a consistent theme of economic collapse any day now.

"

Zero Hedge - RationalWiki


CFers will make what they will, out of this.

https://www.theguardian.com/environm...-2011-meltdown

Regardless of source, the radiation levels continue to grow. The clean up is scheduled to take decades...."as pressure builds on Tepco to begin decommissioning the plant – a process that is expected to take about four decades." Woods Hole is likely acting as a government spokesperson....which I would trust as far as I can throw the government.

We will all believe what we choose to believe. I trust private news sources more than government. There are few mainstream sources that meet my criteria for private. In 2016, many of them committed professional suicide in their efforts to elect their queen. Perhaps it didn't matter after all. One wanted war with Russia. The other just wants war....and is already bringing it.

[buzzstar]

Originally Posted by Sunsetrider

The incidence of fires due to stoves has decreased with the gradual replacement of alcohol stoves with propane stoves and electric ranges. Two percent of fires were caused by stoves, more than half resulting from problems with lighting alcohol stoves. Given how few alcohol stoves there are on boats these days, they are significantly more dangerous than those that use other fuel sources. If you still have an alcohol stove on board, you may want to consider upgrading.

This is surprising ( I have an Origo stove). I wonder whether there is a distinction between the newer versions and pressurized versions. I tossed the pressurized alcohol stove when I bought the boat and replaced it.

Or switch to raw meat?

Were the locations of the stoves and ranges identified in your source? It sure sounds like these are on land, or, if not, are on rarely sailed/motored vessels more akin to mobile homes on pads. While I am far from all knowing, there are few cruisers who use electricity, although there is an an apparent exception in this thread.

[buzzstar]

Originally Posted by softdown

https://www.theguardian.com/environm...-2011-meltdown

Regardless of source, the radiation levels continue to grow. The clean up is scheduled to take decades...."as pressure builds on Tepco to begin decommissioning the plant – a process that is expected to take about four decades." Woods Hole is likely acting as a government spokesperson....which I would trust as far as I can throw the government.

We will all believe what we choose to believe. I trust private news sources more than government. There are few mainstream sources that meet my criteria for private. In 2016, many of them committed professional suicide in their efforts to elect their queen. Perhaps it didn't matter after all. One wanted war with Russia. The other just wants war....and is already bringing it.

Could be. I suspect I will die of other, unrelated causes, with luck at sea, before radiation gets to me. Since this thread is about sources of cooking (and heating?) fuel, I think we can eliminate nuclear waste and even volcanic caldera and hot spots, so we are more, or less left with flammable gasses and liquids, used to produce fire, or electricity used to create heat which may be applied by various means. Burning newsprint or the ink just does not do it on a longer voyage.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by buzzstar

Were the locations of the stoves and ranges identified in your source? It sure sounds like these are on land, or, if not, are on rarely sailed/motored vessels more akin to mobile homes on pads. While I am far from all knowing, there are few cruisers who use electricity, although there is an an apparent exception in this thread.

The source as originally quoted in this thread is the strictly marine related BoatUS Insurance, Seaworthy Magazine. Easily found on line with google.

[hpeer]

Given that apparently most boat fires are due to electrical wiring I think electric cookers should be outlawed. LOL.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Given that apparently most boat fires are due to electrical wiring I think electric cookers should be outlawed. LOL.

Which would allow the electrical systems to be eliminated? Hmmm . . .

[buzzstar]

Originally Posted by GrowleyMonster

I know... SOLAR COOKERS!


Raw beef actually isn't bad. A smear of wasabi and a sprinkle of low sodium soy sauce and it tastes okay. Sort of like cow sashimi. OTOH I couldn't imagine eating raw bacon even on a bet, and bacon is LIFE to me. I'll pass on the raw chicken, too, now that I think of it. Raw rice won't ever be on the menu here, either.

Steak tartare, or maybe carpaccio. Who needs cookers at all when there are all these choices. You can buy precooked bacon. No matter what, Saltines, Oreo cookies, and Graham Crackers, with jelly beans will take up the slack if you have a few chocolate candy bars, unless you are in the tropics or a desert canal.

[bensolomon]

I have a CNG stove and oven. One tank lasts a season. I use the propane grill on the rail for meats, etc. The lighter than air properties of CNG are a safety advantage. Availability outside the US is an issue, but for US coastal cruising, CNG has been just fine. For heat, I use an Original heat pal with grain alcohol. I have boiled water for coffee on that too.

[hamburking]

Originally Posted by bensolomon

I have a CNG stove and oven. One tank lasts a season. I use the propane grill on the rail for meats, etc. The lighter than air properties of CNG are a safety advantage. Availability outside the US is an issue, but for US coastal cruising, CNG has been just fine. For heat, I use an Original heat pal with grain alcohol. I have boiled water for coffee on that too.

I think you mean ORIGO heat pal (not "original"). ORIGO makes good stuff.

As for CNG, I bought a Hunter with a beautiful CNG stove (near Annapolis). But there is no CNG filling commonly available here in Canada, making the stove less than useless. Yes, automotive CNG is available, but they would not touch my tanks with a 10m pole! I agree with your comments about CNG being a good, safe fuel. But those big heavy tanks (I had 2) took up a lot of space. And I was never comfortable with 2000psi pressure aboard. IMHO it devalued the boat. I should have simply replaced the stove, but sold the boat before I had a chance.

BTW, I was able to refill the tanks once. I had to travel to an industrial gas plant in another city, wait 2 weeks, have the tanks retrofitted to Canadian standards, and it cost more than a new stove.

I also note that you have 3 types of fuel aboard, just for cooking. I'm guessing you have a big boat.

[bensolomon]

I have a hunter 37.5 Legend. Have a family of five and two dogs. We fish quite a bit from the boat and the summers in the Chesapeake Bay are brutally hot. So I tend not to use the stove for anything other than making breakfast and a French press coffee. We anchor out almost exclusively so I like to be as self-sufficient as possible. The heat pal (you're right...Origo....Damn spell checker) I use for winter sailing for heat...But while it's in use I use it for cooking so as not to waste any heat.

Here's a video of my uncle and I in November...
https://youtu.be/_Vi6erQxuAU

[hamburking]

Originally Posted by bensolomon

I have a hunter 37.5 Legend.

Here's a video of my uncle and I in November...
https://youtu.be/_Vi6erQxuAU

Great video...thanks for sharing! LOVE your boat!

Attached to this message are two pictures. One was taken in the month of July, the other in November. Can you figure our which is which?

We used the stove A LOT. The wife would heat big pots of water and give my daughter (just under 2 years old at the time) a "hot tub" in the sink (she didn't realize there was a 6 gallon tank of hot water heated by the engine).

[bensolomon]

You had a hunter Legend too!!! Those were the best boat Hunter made. To answer your question, I would ordinarily say November was the picture with the boat on the hard and snow on the ground. But the way you asked the question leads me to believe that the snowy picture somehow was July, and the picture with the green trees and you guys in the water the November picture.

[WSMFP]

I recently installed an Origo with the oven and used it for a week straight. There is a very, very slight smell when lit. The oven easily gets up to 400 degrees and holds temp. We made biscuits in the oven and they came out great. The stove top boils water quickly. So far very happy with the unit.

[GrowleyMonster]

For the last couple of days I have been messing with beer can alcohol stoves, and when you really nail it, they boil water surprisingly quick. My best results were with a couple of chimney style designs made from Miller Lite aluminum bottles. The well known "penny stove" works okay, and certainly lights easy, but is not as hot as a chimney type.

One nice thing about these stoves, is if things get weird, you can easily put it out with water. I even doused a piece of carpet left over from my cabin sole with alcohol, (out in the cockpit, not in the house, of course) and set it alight. A pint of water put it out instantly.

Knowing how much inherently safer alcohol is than any other gas or liquid fuel I can think of, I guess I got a little crazy. I got a couple of alarming "WHOOOOF's" but of course no explosion.

No way is alcohol as economical a stove fuel as diesel or even kero, but it CAN get hot enough to cook on, with proper stove design and it is if anything, even safer. Plus if it is ethyl, you can drink it.

So now, I guess I have to get some sheet metal and make an oven. After I experiment with a self pressurizing double wall chimney stove made out of Foster's cans, that is.

Alcohol won't be replacing my Butterfly 2412 roaring pressure stove any time soon, But this series of experiments has been fun, yeah, and continues to be fun.

WARNING... KIDS, BEFORE YOU TRY THIS AT HOME... don't try to put out a chimney type beer can alcohol stove by covering it. The fuel simply boils out of the jets and makes flaming alcohol flow all over the place. No biggie if you keep a water bottle handy, but it will cause an instant of very uncomfortable panic. At least, that's what they say. LOL