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safe cooking

24091 Views 300 Replies 39 Participants Last post by hellosailor, Apr 6, 2014

captain jack

Discussion Starter · Mar 30, 2014

i have read a lot of threads about stoves on boats. of course, the usual debate is alcohol or propane.

recently, last month actually, a powerboat at the marina my boat is berthed at caught fire and burned up completely. it was a live aboard. the guy was hurt but he lived. he was lucky. he bought another power boat off of their lean dock and moved into it. the cause? his propane stove.

that was a real piece of reality for me. no propane on my boat!

but, there are safety risks with alcohol, too. the threads i have read make that plain. so, the big question i have is what other options are there?

also, how real is the risk with alcohol?

as i get my boat ready to sail, this will be a choice i am going to have to face. it doesn't have a stove but i will want one for cruising. eating out at every port you stp at is going to be way too costly and you can't always be sure you will be stopping at a port for the night. thanks.

161 - 180 of 301 Posts

mitiempo

· #161 · Apr 1, 2014

outbound said:
Are the Wallas systems gimbaled? Only one I ever saw was done was fixed in place but was on a commercial fish boat

There is one gimbaled Wallas but you lose the heat function. There is no blower lid as when the lid is up the stove tips back. Pot holders are available for all Wallas stovetops.

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mitiempo

· #162 · Apr 1, 2014 (Edited)

guitarguy56 said:
Math is wrong... it should be 1500/60 minutes or 25 watts per minute... not 1500 watts per minute... appliances are rated per hour usage... so for one hour of the induction stove use it will use 1500 watts... problem is it's not running 1 hour... but 5-10 minutes at the most... so 5*25 = 125 watts power used... 10 minutes is 250 watts, etc... pretty simple... there are numerous power/wattage calculators that will tell you based on how much power the appliance is using... your figure would mean a 1500 watt heater in the cabin is also using 121 amps too... how can that be George? Shore power is only 30 amps!

You must be asking how much amps is it using... 1500 watts/ 110 volts = 13.6 amps per hour... so based on that 5 minutes usage is: 1.136 amps... 10 minutes of usage is: 2.272 amps.

That is the total power being drawn from the battery +/-.

Clear now?

Yes, 1500 watts AC is 13.6 amps AC. But to produce it with the inefficiencies of an inverter uses 150 amps DC from the batteries. Divide the hour by 6 for the 10 minute usage and the DC use is 25 amps.

For the 15 minute meal divide 150 by 4 and the DC draw is 37.5 amps DC.

My Engel fridge uses less than that in 24 hours. Not a good choice for a cruiser in a small boat.

guitarguy56

· #163 · Apr 1, 2014 (Edited)

GeorgeB said:
Guitarguy, my boat runs on 12 volt DC so I divide watts by 12V to get amps, not 110V as you would for shore power. Do I assume correctly that these stoves only work on 110VAC? Then I would also have to calculate the loss going through the inverter. Is there an induction oven too? What is the efficiency of that unit?

Ok George... I only have one induction stove and no oven.

Here is how I see it at the battery... 1500 watts into the battery is 150 amps per hour... 150 amp/hr... so 150 amps/60 minutes= 2.5 amp/minute so 5 minutes equals 12.5 amps multiplied by 12 volts = 150 watts... 10 minutes gives you 300 watts... this not including inverter efficiency or factor which would alter the above.

The stove of course is 110 vac... loss though the inverter may be .5 amps +/-

Point being is the wattage and battery usage is not what many people think.. I have two batteries in the boat to handle this power and they weren't cheap.

I used this stove throughout my cruising while using the boat... not like I was cooking 4 times a day! I had no problem with of discharging the batteries and the solar panel had no problem topping off the use... I wouldn't take the boat across an ocean using this method of cooking on this size of a boat but for coastal cruising as I did up in Puget Sound I had no issues.

A larger solar panel and cruising outside of Puget Sound with many sunny days and the stove could be used for more than 5-10 minutes...

Alex... I think you need to check out the calculator to see that time component in minutes!

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captain jack

Discussion Starter · #164 · Apr 1, 2014

mitiempo said:
There is one gimbaled Wallas but you lose the heat function. There is no blower lid as when the lid is up the stove tips back. Pot holders are available for all Wallas stovetops.

i have to say that i really liked the wallace diesel stove. if it was affordable, for me, i'd have gone that route. i could have put the tank where the old gas tank is, now.

Boredop

· #165 · Apr 1, 2014

I'm not telling anybody to do anything, I'm just suggesting this level of paranoia is absurd and if you can't handle a little risk maybe having a boat is a bad idea. Maybe stick to stuffed animals and saftey scissors.

captain jack

Discussion Starter · #166 · Apr 1, 2014

Boredop said:
I'm not telling anybody to do anything, I'm just suggesting this level of paranoia is absurd and if you can't handle a little risk maybe having a boat is a bad idea. Maybe stick to stuffed animals and saftey scissors.

paranoia? it's a simple question about cook fuel options and safety. there are a lot of articles and threads on the web about the cooking fuel safety issue. that would indicate a lot of other people are also 'paranoid' about that issue, i suppose.

mitiempo

· #167 · Apr 1, 2014

captain jack said:
i have to say that i really liked the wallace diesel stove. if it was affordable, for me, i'd have gone that route. i could have put the tank where the old gas tank is, now.

With a Wallas you can either draw from the main tank on a diesel powered boat or use a portable tank. Most often the portable is in a locker below the stove. It is sealed and safe.

tempest

· #168 · Apr 1, 2014

Boredop let's dial it back. There's been good discussion here of the pros and cons of various cooking methods and fuel sources. Why get in the weeds..

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mitiempo

· #169 · Apr 1, 2014

This thread is getting a bit nasty. Maybe the subject should be changed to something a bit less contentious - like anchors or maybe steel boats.....

captain jack

Discussion Starter · #170 · Apr 1, 2014

mitiempo said:
With a Wallas you can either draw from the main tank on a diesel powered boat or use a portable tank. Most often the portable is in a locker below the stove. It is sealed and safe.

i definately thought it sounded cool. especially the fact that it cooks and provides heat. multipurpose. plus, diesel is easy to come by. but don't have 2K to spend on a cook top. if i did, though....

Boredop

· #171 · Apr 1, 2014

I have very strong options on anchors

captain jack

Discussion Starter · #172 · Apr 1, 2014

mitiempo said:
This thread is getting a bit nasty. Maybe the subject should be changed to something a bit less contentious - like anchors or maybe steel boats.....

for my part, i apologize for letting myself get caught up in that.

captain jack

Discussion Starter · #173 · Apr 1, 2014

wow! i had requested a price quote from wallace on the price of a cooktop for my boat, just out of curiosity. with all the needed equipment, it was $3,337. i think i'll stick with the origo or campmate. can anyone tell me if there is any reason why the campmate is less advisable that the origo? is the price difference one of brand name or quality?

mitiempo

· #174 · Apr 1, 2014

I think you mean CookMate. It is a less expensive copy of an Origo.

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captain jack

Discussion Starter · #175 · Apr 1, 2014

mitiempo said:
I think you mean CookMate. It is a less expensive copy of an Origo.

:laugher oh. yeah. you're right. that's what i mean. is there a quality difference? you know, sometimes the difference in price of an item is just name recognition and hasd nothing to do with the value of the actual item. other times, it does show inferior quality.

mitiempo

· #176 · Apr 1, 2014

The CookMate is a good stove.

Alex W

· #177 · Apr 1, 2014

I have the Origo 4000 on my Pearson and my friend's Yankee 30 has the equivalent CookMate. I previously had a boat with the Origo 3000.

The CookMate has a few more sharp edges on the inside and the latch for holding it closed shoots apart into 4 pieces if you unscrew it, where the one on the Origo is completely captive. Functionally they are the same. For the slight extra cost I'd personally get the Origo, but if every penny matters then the CookMate is fine. You can pretty easily find a used Origo for half the price of a new CookMate.

guitarguy: You are dropping units left and right and treating amps at 12v the same as amps at 110v. The math doesn't work.

Reactions: 2

Puddin'_Tain

· #178 · Apr 1, 2014

GeorgeB said:
So, am I calculating this correctly? at 1,500 watts, my draw would be 125 amps? So a simple 15 minute meal would "cost" my electical system 31 Amp hours? This would certainly tax my two 4D house bank.

Therein lies the problem with any electric cooker on a boat.

Reactions: 1

Puddin'_Tain

· #179 · Apr 1, 2014 (Edited)

guitarguy56 said:
Math is wrong... it should be 1500/60 minutes or 25 watts per minute... not 1500 watts per minute... ?

No, no, NO!! A Watt is a Volt*Amp (there are no units of time involved; unless you want to define Watts as joules/sec). So 1500W = 12.5V*120A. At that rate a pair of Trojan 105 batteries will be 50% discharged in well less than 1 hour. Even a fairly quick meal will draw the average sailboat house bank down to or below its useful capacity. Two burners and/or three meals a day.....? You're either going to have to run the engine several hours a day or have a genset. Physics doesn't lie.

captain jack

Discussion Starter · #180 · Apr 1, 2014

mitiempo said:
The CookMate is a good stove.

thanks. that's good to know. you can get a two burner one for a really good price.

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