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Galley stove/ovens

  • 24 May 2016 12:34
    Quote
    Reply # 4036394 on 4035699
    Anonymous member
    Darren Bos wrote:If you haven't bought a little kettle yet David, I bought a 1.5L Fire Maple kettle from Amazon with a heat exchanger on it (similar to the BruPot Mark was talking about).  It reduces the time to boil a litre of water by about a minute.  I can't imagine anyone so desperate for a cup of tea it would matter, but the fuel savings are nice. 

     I still think the Origo is a nice stove, and I can't imagine anything safer (the Maxie will continue to leak fuel if the burner goes out).

    I did consider these kettles with extra heat absorption devices, but they make the kettle higher, which is not so good on a gimballed cooker.

    I can think of something as safe - the wick burner with rack-and-pinion adjustment and a perforated metal chimney. But it's beyond my powers to make one.
    Arne Kverneland wrote:

    Interesting, Darren.

    The natural follow-up question is then; is the flame on the Maxie vulnerable to be blown out by draft/wind? If the flame is robust against being blown out ( and the feeder tank is kept small), the lack of automatic shut-off may not be such a big deal. Unlike with kerosene, if one spills alcohol, one may just wash it off with plenty of water.

    Arne 

    The Maxie burner flame is as robust as a LPG or pressure kero flame, and I've settled on a one litre tank. I think this is a setup that's safe enough.

    One litre of spilled alcohol is a nuisance, but not a disaster. Even if it catches fire, a frightened man with a bucket will deal with it quickly and safely - water both extinguishes the fire, and dilutes the alcohol so that it will no longer burn.

    One litre of kero is a mess. It would be difficult to make it catch fire, but if it does, a dry powder extinguisher will be needed, making more mess. A frightened man with a bucket will spread droplets of burning kero around the cabin.

    One litre of spilled LPG, expanding to several cubic metres of gas, is a Red Alert. if it catches fire, my hypothetical man won't live long enough to be frightened.
  • 24 May 2016 07:38
    Quote
    Reply # 4035978 on 1195343
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Interesting, Darren.

    The natural follow-up question is then; is the flame on the Maxie vulnerable to be blown out by draft/wind? If the flame is robust against being blown out ( and the feeder tank is kept small), the lack of automatic shut-off may not be such a big deal. Unlike with kerosene, if one spills alcohol, one may just wash it off with plenty of water.

    Arne 

    Last modified: 24 May 2016 07:41 | Anonymous member (Administrator)
  • 24 May 2016 04:55
    Quote
    Reply # 4035699 on 1195343
    Anonymous member
    If you haven't bought a little kettle yet David, I bought a 1.5L Fire Maple kettle from Amazon with a heat exchanger on it (similar to the BruPot Mark was talking about).  It reduces the time to boil a litre of water by about a minute.  I can't imagine anyone so desperate for a cup of tea it would matter, but the fuel savings are nice. 

    My biggest beef with the Origo isn't the time, or insufficient heat, it is the incomplete combustion.  I took a Maxie and an Origo side by side and put them through their paces.  The Origo was slower and used more fuel, but more annoying is that it leaves an ethanol smell compared to the Maxie.  Also, when using an identical pot on both stoves, the handle was only warm (I could hold it indefinitely) on the Maxie, while on the Origo the pot handle was very hot and had to be released  immediately.  I still think the Origo is a nice stove, and I can't imagine anything safer (the Maxie will continue to leak fuel if the burner goes out).
  • 23 May 2016 22:41
    Quote
    Reply # 4035435 on 4034371
    Anonymous member
    David Tyler wrote:

    I'm going to have a rethink, and scale down the size of my Maxie-based cooker. Looking at my requirement with brutal honesty, I'm going to be cooking for one on a small boat with a very small galley. I don't really have room to store my 20cm Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker, though it has been a good friend to me when cooking year in and year out on a larger boat. 

    I've ordered an 18cm cast aluminium pan as the basis for the cooker, so it's thicker-walled and heavier (though I think I'll forget gimballing for the time being - boiling a kettle and heating a can of soup will suffice while underway this summer). 

    I've bought a tiny pressure cooker, a Premier Handi Hard Anodised Pressure Cooker 1.5 Litre made in India and sold by Amazon UK. It's actually 1.2 litre capacity, but I've found that it is exactly the right size for a one-pot meal for one person. Its diameter is 16cm. So I can follow that up by buying a 1 litre hard anodised camping kettle; I already have some 16cm stainless steel pans. 

    This plan wouldn't do for living aboard; but I'll be sailing during the summer months only, in Weaverbird, and that makes a difference.

    Well, you are at the cutting edge of technology, here, David :-)  I think you'll find you can do an astonishing amount with this kit.  I managed to cook myself some quite elegant meals when tramping, and carrying the food was even more of an issue than the cooker!

    Your new pressure cooker is cute as ..., but they say they won't deliver to New Zealand - nasty people.  Because of my predilection for making soup in the winter, I went for a three-litre Futura pressure cooker and am completely besotted with it.  It was displayed by The Museum of Modern Art,in New York, too.  Its hard anodising appears to be holding up, unlike that on the Jamie Oliver pan that I bought.  However, I reckon if you add a small frying pan to your kit there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to cook 'proper' meals and leave the cans of soup where they belong, on the supermarket shelf. 

    If I had some of your skills - and more time - I'd be tempted to try out making a cooker myself.  I just cannot understand why no-one is manufacturing a good-quality, solid, seaworthy alcohol cooker!
  • 23 May 2016 13:57
    Quote
    Reply # 4034686 on 4034668
    Anonymous member
    Mark Thomasson wrote:

    For cooking on gas, have a look at the BruPot and similar.  They have a very efficient heat exchanger, so far more heat going into the cooking  and less into the cabin.  Saving on both gas and (for those of you in warmer climates) overheating the cabin.  I friend had one on a camping trip, I was amazed how little heat escaped.

    I was given a WildWood Woodgas stove for Christmas, it is very efficient and can burn dry sticks. I wonder if it could be useful on a boat. It can also use wood pellets, or even alcohol (preferably solid).  If away from civilisation or just for economy, stick are free.

    You would need a chimney and soot could be a problem.  It is a bit difficult to load with the correct amount of fuel if using sticks - I need to experiment more, with pellets adding more is easier apparently.

    One warning - don't try using up a few remains of tea lights - as I did on a bothy trip, it goes crazy.

    I have posted a photo in my album.

    Has anyone used wood pellets for a fuel source?  They are clean,  safe, and even slightly buoyant.
  • 23 May 2016 09:49
    Quote
    Reply # 4034371 on 1195343
    Anonymous member

    I'm going to have a rethink, and scale down the size of my Maxie-based cooker. Looking at my requirement with brutal honesty, I'm going to be cooking for one on a small boat with a very small galley. I don't really have room to store my 20cm Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker, though it has been a good friend to me when cooking year in and year out on a larger boat. 

    I've ordered an 18cm cast aluminium pan as the basis for the cooker, so it's thicker-walled and heavier (though I think I'll forget gimballing for the time being - boiling a kettle and heating a can of soup will suffice while underway this summer). 

    I've bought a tiny pressure cooker, a Premier Handi Hard Anodised Pressure Cooker 1.5 Litre made in India and sold by Amazon UK. It's actually 1.2 litre capacity, but I've found that it is exactly the right size for a one-pot meal for one person. Its diameter is 16cm. So I can follow that up by buying a 1 litre hard anodised camping kettle; I already have some 16cm stainless steel pans. 

    This plan wouldn't do for living aboard; but I'll be sailing during the summer months only, in Weaverbird, and that makes a difference.
  • 23 May 2016 09:24
    Quote
    Reply # 4034335 on 4033737
    Anonymous member
    Annie Hill wrote:
    Arne Kverneland wrote:I then measured up 0.5 litre of water (about +10°C) and found that it took just over 5 minutes to bring it to boil. That is good enough for me. 
    Hi Arne - it sounds like the Origo manufacturers are telling the truth when they say it takes 10 mins to heat a litre of water.  What's a minute or two between friends.  I think David is in a minority in finding the Origo too slow, but I am completely in accord with him that it's not really designed to be used at sea.  I am still waiting and watching. 
    The basic physics says that if you double the quantity of water, and keep the heat input the same, its temperature will be increasing at half the rate, and meantime, it is losing heat by radiation. 1 litre will take more than twice the time it takes to boil 0.5 litre. No matter, I will agree that the Origo will produce an adequate, if not amazing heat output. Where it fails is in not being suitably designed for sailing use, in being inconvenient to refill, and in not having a way of checking how much is left in the tank.
  • 23 May 2016 09:10
    Quote
    Reply # 4034327 on 4033730
    Anonymous member
    Annie Hill wrote:
    David Tyler wrote:
    Yes. I can bring a pan to the boil, and then turn the burner down to simmering heat without misbehaving - unlike a pressure kero burner, that will choke with carbon if the heat is too low, there is no tiny jet to block up. The only misbehaviour I found in three or four years of full-time use is that when the burner is getting old, the flame holes become enlarged, and then you can get a backfire and hear the combustion going on within the chamber.

    I think it depends a bit on the way you cook: I found that even turned down, food boiled rather than simmered, so used a flame tamer.  That could be why my burner surrounds crumbled away faster than yours did, David.  Possibly the extra deflected heat?  BTW are the preheat dishes non-ferrous?
    The entire burner is of brass. However, the burner chamber and preheat cup are of very thin sheet brass and the horizontal tube and needle valve are of thicker-walled material. This, I believe is why they crumble away, leaving the tube in good condition. Further,  I believe that it would be quite possible to salvage a burner by making up a new burner chamber and preheat cup of thicker material - brass, copper or stainless steel - and Sifbronzing them onto the tube.

    I do believe, also, that the very simple principle of operation is the best way of burning alcohol in a cooker. The burner made of the right materials, and mounted in a seaworthy stove = trouble-free and convenient cooking.
  • 22 May 2016 22:15
    Quote
    Reply # 4033737 on 4033536
    Anonymous member
    Arne Kverneland wrote:Today I had a quick trip (through the rain) to check Ingeborg’s Origo 3000 stove. I had recently filled up both canisters with the cheapest denatured alcohol I could get. At full pelt, it now burned with a yellowish flame, indicating rich mixture and/or incomplete combustion (..if I got it right...). If I turned down the heat a little, the flame again went invisible. I then measured up 0.5 litre of water (about +10°C) and found that it took just over 5 minutes to bring it to boil. That is good enough for me. One fine thing with it, is that it can be set to very low heat for as long as you like without it protesting. I haven’t tried it for making bacon yet. Time will show.
    Hi Arne - it sounds like the Origo manufacturers are telling the truth when they say it takes 10 mins to heat a litre of water.  What's a minute or two between friends.  I think David is in a minority in finding the Origo too slow, but I am completely in accord with him that it's not really designed to be used at sea.  I am still waiting and watching. 


    I need two burners and I really fancy using pressure alcohol - the best of both worlds being fast and clean.  However, the lovely stove i have is fantastically well pivoted with a tank w-a-y down low, but because of that it takes up heaps of space, and as, these days, I don't do a lot of cooking underway ...  I really need to get the damn boat turned over so that I can check whether or not I can fit a cooker athwartships - there's an old Princess pressure alcohol stove being fettled up for sale ...


    And of course, for a foodie like me, there's the temptation to fit an Origo oven, which would allow for wonderful gourmet meals, to say nothing of croissants, gratins and all those other things that are beyond my ingenuity in a frying pan!  But they're a shocking price, which brings me back down to earth.
    Last modified: 22 May 2016 22:16 | Anonymous member
  • 22 May 2016 22:06
    Quote
    Reply # 4033730 on 4033572
    Anonymous member
    David Tyler wrote:
    Yes. I can bring a pan to the boil, and then turn the burner down to simmering heat without misbehaving - unlike a pressure kero burner, that will choke with carbon if the heat is too low, there is no tiny jet to block up. The only misbehaviour I found in three or four years of full-time use is that when the burner is getting old, the flame holes become enlarged, and then you can get a backfire and hear the combustion going on within the chamber.

    I think it depends a bit on the way you cook: I found that even turned down, food boiled rather than simmered, so used a flame tamer.  That could be why my burner surrounds crumbled away faster than yours did, David.  Possibly the extra deflected heat?  BTW are the preheat dishes non-ferrous?
    Last modified: 22 May 2016 22:07 | Anonymous member
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