Propane or alcohol

[Joellen]

Looking for feedback on alcohol vs propane, currently have alcohol looking at refitting with propane. What say yea

[Lake Superior Sailor]

Stay with the alcohol ,wayless; money,work, & hassle !...Dale

[Faster]

This topics been done to death!!

FWIW we ran an alcohol stove for 10 years or so (for all the usual reasons, and, it came with the boat) Ultimately switched to propane and wouldn't go back.

High cost of fuel, smelly lightoff (though we addressed that issue) invisible flame turned us off, though a wick style (Origo) that runs on good old Methyl Hydrate gets better reviews.

But properly handled, propane is safe enough, quick, clean and convenient. Carrying it for the BBQ anyway, we have a propane fireplace/bulkhead heater too.

[boatpoker]

I prefer propane but it is a much more expensive installation. Maybe this will help. Safe Propane Installations on Boats

[Mark1948]

I cannot resist, Go for the alcohol, in an emergency you can even use the 151 for cooking.

[Alex W]

Joellen: Is your alcohol stove a pressurized one or unpressurized. That practically means is it made by Origo (unpressurized) or someone else?

Pressurized alcohol stoves can be unsafe and flare up easily, especially if they are old and unmaintained. Unpressurized ones like the Origo are safe and work quite well and are extremely simple.

If you have an Origo then try it out and stick with it. If you have something else then you could consider switching to propane, but that will be a lot more expensive than buying a new or lightly used Origo. Propane setups on boats are quite complex to remain safe.

[MastUndSchotbruch]

Originally Posted by Joellen

Looking for feedback on alcohol vs propane, currently have alcohol looking at refitting with propane. What say yea

Oh, that's an easy one:

KEROSENE!

(if your alcohol stove/oven is pressurized, you may be able to convert it to kerosene by just switching the burners)

[tmiller1116]

we have the Oringo 6000 and are working on converting to propane.

For stove top cooking they are fine (though a little slower due to lower temps) but trying to use the oven sucks. Very hard to maintain a consistent temperature over a period of time. (and because of the way ours is installed, very hard to refuel) ...Wife has avoided all baking with it, which she misses. thus the conversion.

If you don't need the oven, then alcohol works fine, but at this time the cost to operate is more than propane.... but if you are converting, that cost buys a lot of alcohol!!!

For us the expense is going to be justified by including propane bulkhead heater....

So it basically boils down to what is preferable vs what it is going to cost...only you can decide that.

[FinallySailing]

Hi Joellen,
Absolutely for the alcohol stove. I got rid of the propane stove in "Rockhopper" and installed an Origo 3000 last year. This is a non pressurized stove. Absolutely love it. I buy alcohol in bulk from the diy store (b+q, that's Kingfisher or HomeDepot in your part of the world if I remember right) - not the blue meths you get in the paint department but clear alcohol that is specially made for ethanol burners indoors. No smell, no residue. Very safe. Cheap to run. Don't need a gas locker, no pipes/gas hoses that can fail, no risk of propane accumulating in the cabin sole and sudden explosions. Also, as far as I understand, it's much easier to get an inland waterways certificate here without a propane installation. So I have the option of travelling along our ancient canals one day ... The stove itself is solid quality, little that can go wrong with it. There are a couple of rubber gaskets that you put onto each burner when not in use to reduce evaporation of alcohol. Don't think they'll last too long as I keep on putting them onto the hot burner. You can buy them from Dometic/Origo - I will cut them out of a silicone sheet, instead when the need arises. Only low point I've got to mention is the price for gimbals or pot clamps. £30 for one set of clamps (you need two) and £60 for the gimbals is quite dear. I've adapted gimbals that I found on fleebay for £10 . Still have to fork out for the clamps, though .

Fair winds ,

Immo

[LauderBoy]

An Origo vs propane is a wash IMO. I replaced my old Origo 3000 with a new one last year. It was a really simple project.

If you switch to propane just make sure it's a safe install.