How to use an alcohol stove

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Chip Chalker

I am new to sailing and do not know how to fill the alcohol stove on my O'Day 272. It appears the only way to fill it is through the burners. I don't know how to go about lighting it once it is filled. This is my first experience with an alcohol stove. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Chip
 
Dec 2, 1999
15,184
Hunter Vision-36 Rio Vista, CA.
Your guidance will help

Chip: We need to know what type of stove you are dealing with. If it is an Origo, then you lift the top and remove the canisters. It is usually not a good idea to fill a stove while it is in place and especially while it is hot. Alcohol will ignite at a very low temperature so be very careful.
 
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Scott Mathey

Alchol Burner

As Steve said, there must be a way to remove the canister that holds the alchol, to fill it. fill the canister aprox 1/2 full of "denatured alchol" and dry off any spillage on the outside of tank and then replace back in the housing. On mine there is a lever to control the heat output, simply open it all the way and I have to use a long distance lighter like the kind to light a barbaque or a kitchen match with a pair of pliers to get the flame down in far enough to light the top of the alchol container. After that adjust the heat by the size of the opening over the top of the alchol tank. I hope this helps.
 
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Gord May

'Shipmate' Alcohal Stove Instructions

Instructions For Shipmate Alcohol Stoves #953 The alcohol burners in your Shipmate Alcohol Stove convert liquid alcohol into a gas which is then burned. This is accomplished by passing the liquid alcohol through a pipe which is exposed to the heat of the burner. This pipe must be hot enough to change the liquid alcohol into a gas. Therefore to light the burner, this pipe must be preheated. Once the burner is lit, the vaporization is automatic. FUEL: Fill the tank with a good grade of de-natured ethyl alcohol stove fuel. Do not use radiator anti-freeze or methyl alcohol as the burners will not operate properly and the vaporizers will clog. One test that might be made on your fuel is to allow a little to burn in a clean dish. If a gummy residue remains, do not use this fuel in your stove as it will clog your burners. OPERATION: Close the burners of the stove by turning the handles in a clockwise direction as far as they will go. Pump the tank up to between six (6) and seven (7) pounds pressure. Fill the small cup on the shank of the burner with alcohol by turning the handles counter-clockwise and allowing the alcohol to run into the cup. When the cup is full, close the valve. Light the alcohol in the cup. When the alcohol in the cup is almost consumed, open the valve on the burner by turning it in a counter-clockwise direction. If the alcohol flame has gone out before the valve is opened, it is sometimes possible to light the burner with a match without preheating again. The size of the flame can be controlled with the knob. For a stronger flame increase the pressure in the tank. The extreme counter-clockwise position of the knob cleans the orifice of the burner by pushing a needle through it. The burner will not operate in this position. Maximum flame is at the middle position of the knob. If the burner smokes or burns unevenly, turn the knob rapidly to the clean position and back again. When you have finished with your stove, close the valves to extinguish the flame loosen the fill cap to release the pressure in the tank. MAINTENANCE: The packing nut may leak on a new burner after it has been lit a few times. This is caused by the packing drying out from the heat and can be corrected by tightening the packing nut on the valve stem. The valve packing and cleaning needle can be replaced if necessary. To do this, remove the two caps from the top of the burner. Unscrew the orifice. Turn the handle to the clean position and take out the needle and rack. Then loosen the packing nut and pull out the knob and valve spindle. Remove the spindle form the knob and replace the packing. Put the knob and valve spindle back in place and tighten the packing nut. Turn the knob to the close position. Carefully push the new needle into the end of a wooden matchstick. Put the needle and rack into the nozzle hole with the toothed side facing the valve spindle teeth and hold it in this position with a light downward pressure. Turn the knob towards the clean position until there have been four or five clicks. Then turn the knob to the close position. Remove the match and screw the orifice back in place. Check that the cleaning needle is correctly seated by turning the knob to the clean position. The tip of the cleaning needle should be visible. Finally replace the caps on top of the burner. CAUTION: We caution you when using this stove not to try to cook with too small a flame. These small flames can accidentally be blown out and the alcohol will continue to flow through the burner creating a hazardous condition. This particularly is true of the oven burners which cannot be readily observed. Richmond Ring Company Shipmate Stove Division Souderton, Pennsylvania 18964
 
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Matt Borders

Cooking with Alcohol

I have never cooked over a non-pressurized alcohol stove.....About how long should it take to boil water? I have a single burner stove in my Hunter 22. Just curious on how good it is. I bought a propane grill that mounts to my rail...think that I will do most of the cooking there :)
 
Dec 2, 2003
4,245
- - Seabeck WA
Gord, I made an exception, and didn't read every

word of this last post of yours'. I use propane. Sorry. :)
 
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Chip Chalker

tks for the responses

Not sure of the brand of stove. However, I appreciate all of the responses, I plan on giving it a closer examination this weekend. I will have a little better idea how to proceed when I go back to the boat. I am gradually learning what makes the boat tick. Chip
 
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Ed Welp

I learned to like the alcohol stove

When we purchased our H31 five years ago, I wanted to replace the alcohol stove with propane. Someone on this forum suggested I give the Alcohol a try first. I was pleasently suprised. The no pressure alcohol stoves are very easy and very good for cooking. We fill the canisters through the top at the beginning of the season and they last. We seldom use the oven,which I am told will use a lot of fuel. A helpful hint is that I keep a few ounces of fuel in a squirt bottle to prime the canister before lighting. Just a few drops will get it going very easily. Alcohol is a good safe fuel. Good luck. Ed Welp Alure
 
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John Dawson

Origo filling

What I don't see mentioned (if its an Origo) is that you hold the (cold) cannister vertically to check the level of alcohol. There is a little spot in the wire mesh that is pushed in to allow liquid to visibly puddle outside the absorbant material. You only fill the cannister enough so that when you hold it sideways, some liquid alcohol is visible in this space near the rim, but not spilling out over the rim. Thats the 'half full' referred to.
 
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Kathy

Manuals Available

We've never used ours, but there are manuals available online at the link below. Be careful though - a friend of mine was badly burned on hands and arms while filling a tank that all thought was not lit.
 
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Chip Chalker

Manuals

I checked out the related link. Didn't see one that resembled mine. Guess my stove is out of production, as the vessell is an 87 model. Mine has the control knobs on the top. I will check it more closely this weekend. Thanks for the link though.
 
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Bob Noble

Kathy's link helped me :)

I’m new to sailing also and had no ideal how to use my Origo 1500 Stove. With my newly printed manual, I feel more comfortable. Thanks Kathy:)
 
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Steve

Two Kinds of Alcohol Stoves

I've had both an Origo non-pressurized alcohol stove that I installed on my first boat, and a Seward pressurized alcohol stove that was installed at delivery on my '87 C-30, and was fairly happy with both. If I read your post below correctly, you don't have an Origo non-pressurized stove. From this, you most likely have a pressurized alcohol stove, and the instrructions for lighting them were given below by Bob May for the ShipMate stove. Those instructions applied to my Seward stove too. You can recognize a pressurized alcohol stove because 1) There is a pressure pump somewhere on the fuel tank or the top of the stove and 2) The burners look something like a Coleman pressurized gasoline stove (BTW, DON'T USE A COLEMAN (or any other) GASOLINE STOVE on a boat for safety reasons!) Best of luck, be careful, and don't burn the boat down. Steve
 
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Harley

testing how to use alcohol stove

I took my pressure stove out of the boat just to practice and see how it worked. Concrete dosen't burn like fiberglass.
 
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Matt Borders

Mine Works

I finally tested the alcohol stove in my new boat. It is the non pressurized stove. It is an Origo. Is there any special type of cookware that I should use with it or is anything okay (tefflon etc.)?
 

Rick D

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Jun 14, 2008
7,131
Hunter Legend 40.5 Shoreline Marina Long Beach CA
It All Works, Matt

Nothing special required. However, since the flame is tight, you want to get a thick-bottom cookware to avoid hot spots. You should have flame-dispursers on the burners. Origo added them later to keep people from trying to fill the canisters without taking them out. But, they do a good job dispursing the flame too. They just clip in and you can get them direct from the distributor. Rick D.
 
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