Alcohol Stove lovers

[Hermit Scott]

OK, so I finally got this fire extinguisher to stop leaking fuel all over the place. There is no emergency way to shut this off or release the pressure so I need to add a ball valve to the nozzle.
The problem I am having now is when I turn the valves to the on position, alcohol starts leaking at the connection point of the burner and the injection nozzle. I disconnected the burner and I see where the alcohol is coming out in a perfect little stream out of the injection nozzle.
Anyway in the first pic the burner is almost connected in the second pic it is all the way connected. When I try to use the stove it leaks at this connection point.
Is there supposed to be an O-ring in there where the burner meets and connects to the injection nozzle?

 

[Hermit Scott]

Here is the stove and the alcohol pressure tank.

 

[Joe]

Is that a Princess? here's the operating manual:

http://www.catalina27.org/Clips/PRICESS ALCOHOL STOVES.pdf

Here is excerpt that may interest you.... troubleshoot...

Remember, the fuel must be preheated to vaporize...

 

[Hermit Scott]

This is the tag. It says Optimus Princess. It appears to be a different stove than the one in the manual.
With the stove I have, I don't see any way to leak fuel down into the cup area to preheat the burner.
It looks like it's made like a propane grill. I wonder if this stove has been converted to propane. That would suck after spending the money and time on that pressure tank. In the diagram you provided there are a million little parts, there are very few parts to this stove I have. The burner is one piece.
I don't know anything about alcohol stoves or how they work, but I guarantee that if I hooked propane up to this it would burn it.
Does that look like an alcohol burner?

 

[thereisabelle]

looks like a propane rig to me. i'm looking at the hole in the side of the tube. is that for air mixture? jimbob

 

[thereisabelle]

when we first bought our boat the p.o. had a stove like the one in joe's diaghram mounted on plywood where the gimbled stove would go. it also has 2 elec. burners. the wife told me it shocked her, then it shocked me. now it sits in the bottom of the lazerette. don't know what they are worth but it may find it's way to the marina day yard sale. i had completely forgotten about it. jimbob

 

[BobM]

I can't tell you about the burner, but it isn't unusual for my alcohol stove to leak a little from the connection to the burner. Once you add a little, shut off the alcohol and light it to preheat it the leak isn't an issue during normal operation because the hot burner vaporizes the alcohol.

 

[Hermit Scott]

I can't tell you about the burner, but it isn't unusual for my alcohol stove to leak a little from the connection to the burner. Once you add a little, shut off the alcohol and light it to preheat it the leak isn't an issue during normal operation because the hot burner vaporizes the alcohol.

In the diagram, there is a way to fill the open area of the stove with alcohol and I guess light it with a match? IF I tilt the stove backwards, all the alcohol will go into the burner. But the burner only has holes on top that you can see in the picture. I can not light the alcohol because it is inside the burner.
Where the burner mounts into the middle of the depression in the bottom of the bowl, there is a fender washer with no seal. Even if I filled it externally the fuel would leak right through the bottom.
This must be propane.

 

[ffaubert]

This is the tag. It says Optimus Princess. It appears to be a different stove than the one in the manual.
With the stove I have, I don't see any way to leak fuel down into the cup area to preheat the burner.
It looks like it's made like a propane grill. I wonder if this stove has been converted to propane. That would suck after spending the money and time on that pressure tank. In the diagram you provided there are a million little parts, there are very few parts to this stove I have. The burner is one piece.
I don't know anything about alcohol stoves or how they work, but I guarantee that if I hooked propane up to this it would burn it.
Does that look like an alcohol burner?

That's a propane burner isn't it? Propane need to be mixed with air to burn without a yellow/orange flame (hence the hole in the stem). Yellow/orange flame (like a match) has little to no usable heat for us . How many matches do you think you'd need to boil a kettle of water?

Alcohol only needs to be pressurized to get it to where it needs to be. It is usually de-pressurized at that point.

I would think that lit pressurized alcohol (like any lit pressurized flammable liquid) would be akin to a flame thrower.

Frank

 

[BobM]

I'd give these guys a call. http://www.packstoves.net

They specialize in backpack and marine stoves and can probably identify what you have. Perhaps there was a propane modification done.

 

[Hermit Scott]

I'd give these guys a call. http://www.packstoves.net

They specialize in backpack and marine stoves and can probably identify what you have. Perhaps there was a propane modification done.

I'm sure it has been modified to use propane. AND unfortunately it doesn't have a thermo coupling. And the knobs don't click off. It is set up more like a blow torch than a stove on a boat.
I was really excited to have an alcohol stove. I like the safety of not blowing up the boat, only catching it on fire from the flare-up. I will probably set it up to use the 1 lb. bottles and remove them when we are finished cooking. I am looking for an electric double burner anyway that's all SS. That's what will be used most of the time. On the rare occasions that we will be somewhere else and wanting to cook on a stove, it will be fine for that as long as we observe the proper precautions.

 

[Joe]

This guy seems to know a lot about the Optimus-Princess... why don't you contact him?

http://www.spiritburner.com/fusion/showtopic.php?tid/6941/

 

[sailaway78]

Great Minds Think Alike

Hermit,
Your tank is exactly the same as the one I have made up. After seeing the prices for a "real" alcohol tank, decided there was something better. The fire extinguisher is a very good solution.

 

[Hermit Scott]

Hermit,
Your tank is exactly the same as the one I have made up. After seeing the prices for a "real" alcohol tank, decided there was something better. The fire extinguisher is a very good solution.

I bet you do think that was a good idea...It was YOUR idea. You told me about it a year or more ago. I am just getting around to finishing it. Then it turns out, I don't need it.

 

[Hermit Scott]

If someone needs this tank, let me know. I need some cheek blocks or a deck organizer to run some lines back to the cockpit, or a line clutch or cam cleats or anything that will help me get lines back to the cockpit.