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What fuel do you use for cooking?

3K views 19 replies 14 participants last post by  sailingdog 
#1 ·
An advert for Wallas diesel cooking stoves prompts the question what fuel do you use for cooking and if you use gas but travel outside the area of your local,bottled gas stockist how do you manage.
Over here in UK I use bottled propane from our biggest national supplier Calor Gas. Throughout Europe I can also use Camping Gaz International Butane.
I have heard tell that particularly in Pacific Islands ;Caribbean and third world countries you can get your own brand of bottle refilled from a big tank?
Love the idea of Taylors primus type cookers other than pain of priming the system with meths.
Wallas of course is auto electrically operated like a central heating oil burner but of course needs electricity-great so long as you do not have battery problems!
 
#2 ·
I didn't realize that refilling propane tanks isn't done everywhere. I can only speak about the US, but here you can get your tanks refilled. There are plenty of places that do tank exchanges too, which I think is what you're saying is the norm in the UK. The tank has to meet certain specifications to be refilled (this was just changed a few years ago, the new ones have a triangular valve knob on top).
 
#3 ·
The new tanks with the triangular shaped valve knob have a Overfill Protection Device, which prevents the tank from being filled past a certain point, so the propane has enough room to expand as the tank heats up...
 
#5 ·
Changed the Womboat from what we call Metho (alcohol ?) to LPG as soon as the new stove could be delivered and installed.

Down here in larger population centres you'll usually find that bottle swap centres are the go. Bit of a pain cos the quality of the bottles themselves varies enormously. Camping retail outlets and some marinas still fill you old bottle for you.

I believe you can buy adaptors to suit different valves.
 
#6 ·
Propane.

We've got a 20# horizontal tank, which precludes a simple swap out but also means I know the exact history of the tank. The tank doesn't fill like standard vertical tanks, and frequently requires some coaching with the folks doing the refill but that's manageable.

We've not tried to have it filled out of the US, but when we were living in Cuba our house stove used propane -- we had two big vertical tanks that we periodically had filled. My thinking is that if propane can be found in Cuba, I'd wager that it can prbably be found most anywhere...
 
#7 · (Edited)
Currently using Propane with a Force 10 Seacook stove. Have a single burner Butane stove for occasional use, when I need more than one burner. In the storage spaces are 3-5 backpacker stoves, for use on shore (Butane). I use Trioxane for a Volcano stove I use on shore for heating morning coffee water. Also have a denatured alcohol stove, military style, that I also use on shore.

Got em all covered ;)
 
#8 ·
Currently using Propane with a Force 10 Seacook stove. I have a single burner Butane stove I occasionally use, when I need more than one burner. In the storage spaces are 3-5 backpacker stoves, for use on shore (Butane). I use Trioxane for a Volcano stove I use on shore for heating morning coffee water. I also have a denatured alcohol stove, military style, that I also use on shore.

Got em all covered ;)
Wow, Trioxane heat tabs... brings back some memories involving c-rats and custom made stoves. Oh, and learning the hard way not to be downwind from a burning heat tab :D
 
#10 ·
It wasn't the flame (which burned a nice comforting blue) it was the fumes that came off the fire -- downright brutal to the nose and eyes.

I was partial to beef and boulders, myself. Of course, the pork or ham slices were nice in that you got a good desert (cinnamon nut roll -- mmmm!)
 
#12 ·
CNG, compressed natural gas, is the fuel used on Rhythm. Cylinder exchanges are getting more difficult to locate but so long as Haven Harbor continues to carry I'm in good shape.

I too used to eat C-rats and normally used diesel fuel in a cinnamon nut roll tin filled with stones as a stove. Those Trioxane fumes were brutal.
 
#16 ·
Cruising Dream-for spares try:
base-camp.co.uk
Over here we use what are described as cylinders-cylindrical pressure bottle-they come in various shapes and sizes of various manufacture-propane or butane and empties are exchanged for full cylinders-no local refilling.Calor gas cover the whole of the UK and many filling stations;local stores and hardware stores stock them.
As well as on boat use large bottles for cooking at home.
Alchohol stoves are great things-The Origo comes to mind.I have a single burner lightweight camping type.Only problem can be over here is getting alchohol in reasonable amounts-sure in an emergency you can use a bottle of vodka but...
For those who are unfamiliar with a proper alchohol stove-alocohol pre heats alcohol which then vapourises and burns as a gas same as any gas cooker-no working parts ;no jets;pressure tanks or piping.
 
#17 ·
Compressed alcohol. I buy it at the local Ace hardware store a gallon at a time. I like its properties -- you can put alcohol fires out with water (it absorbs alcohol) and the fumes are lighter than air.

There are some drawbacks. Pressuring up the tank is pain, but I only need to do it every three meals or so. Lighting an alcohol stove requires getting up a learning curve. It only takes a 2 seconds of open knob to fill the lighting bowl appropriately. If you put too much in the bowl and light it, you can burn your boat down! Also, finding parts for the old alcohol stove system is difficult. No one sells an alcohol tank anymore, so I replaced my old, rusted steel tank with an aluminum tank designed for pressurized automotive suspension systems.
 
#20 ·
Wrong on both counts, and there's no such thin gas COMPRESSED ALCOHOL. Alcohol is a liquid and can not be compressed. There are PRESSURIZED ALCOHOL STOVES, and they're often considered the most dangerous of stoves to have aboard.

Alcohol fires can be fought with water, but unless you have the ability to douse them with a heavy spray of water, you can often make the problem worse, since the alcohol, if not diluted down below 40% by volume, it will still burn and often can end up burning in the bilge when you pour water on it. If you read the MSDS for most forms of alcohol, WATER IS NOT A RECOMMENDED WAY OF PUTTING OUT THE FIRES.

Finally, Alcohol fumes are HEAVIER THAN AIR, and as such, can gather in the bilge and lead to a explosion risk.

One of the real problems with alcohol is that the flames are a very pale blue and nearly invisible in anything but relative darkness. That can make alcohol fires very dangerous.
 
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