Origo Stove Parts

[pateco]

On the Stargazer we have an Origo Alcohol stove. It has had a generic replacement knob for the left burner control since we got her. A couple of weeks ago we had a dinner party aboard for our local holiday boat parade, and found two issues. The first issue is that we only have one set of Pot/Pan retainers. This means we can only keep one pan centered and balanced over its burner at a time. This issue caused a separate issue. With the pots unbalanced, the stove tilted to starboard while we were cooking, and overheated the cheap plastic replacement knob on the left burner which then melted and fell off. LOL

I would like to get an additional set of pan retainers, and a replacement knob for our stove. I have found the retainers online in several places, but they run over $50 for a pair. The only place in the US that I have found the Knobs is at West Marine for $34 for one plastic control knob.

I am hoping that someone here has an old stove lying in the back of their storage, or buried in a dockbox somewhere that they would be willing to part it out.



Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

 

[SFS]

PM sent.

 

[Ron20324]

I went to Bacons today, and they had NO Origo stoves, nor parts. Sorry.

 

[Pat]

use to be able to order parts from West Marine, but no longer...not even the fuel.....I know there are other fuels
denatured alcohol brands, but not from West Marine or Defenders that I have seen lately....maybe you can help me.
Pat

 

[SFS]

The big box home improvement stores should sell denatured alcohol in the paint department. Check Walmart as well, along with your local hardware store.

 

[pateco]

The big box home improvement stores should sell denatured alcohol in the paint department. Check Walmart as well, along with your local hardware store.

I use the one from Home depot.1 gal. SLX Denatured Alcohol I would get some different containers to store it aboard, as the 1 gallon can is very hard to pour into the stove fonts. Something like this.
Alcohol Liquid Gas Tank Fuel Storage Bottle

 

[Ron20324]

That looks like alot of water bottles I've seen, so maybe not a good idea around kids? I use a soap bottle of about a quart- the kind with the lift-to-dispense top. Tilt the canister so the little bent part is down. Fill till the alcohol comes to the rim.

 

[pateco]

That looks like alot of water bottles I've seen, so maybe not a good idea around kids? I use a soap bottle of about a quart- the kind with the lift-to-dispense top. Tilt the canister so the little bent part is down. Fill till the alcohol comes to the rim.

This sounds like a great Idea. How does the alcohol affect the plastic? I have some jumbo Shampoo bottles with the snap caps.

 

[SFS]

As a chemist, I prefer my ethanol (denatured alcohol is simply ethanol with additives to make it unpleasant to drink) to be stored in something other than plastic, but the booze companies obviously see nothing wrong with it. Other alcohols have come in plastic containers for a long time.

The concern about looking like a water bottle is a valid one, but you could always put a label on it, or pick up some adhesive "Poison" labels. Also, I recall a time when you could go to your pharmacist and get stickers (Mr. Yuck?) to put on your childrens' prescriptions, so they would not be mistaken for candy. That might be an option.

 

[Ron20324]

Not an hour after I posted, there was a commercial for something on TV with a guy opening what looked like the same bottle! It's nice that it is labeled and orange, but with kids, you never know. I have had the soap bottles under the kitchen counter for years. The alchy is good for degreasing things, too.

 

[heritage]

I also buy the 1 gal. cans of alcohol from the box stores. Then pour some into an empty qt. can of alcohol that I had bought earlier and finished using. Quart can is much easier to pour into the stove canister without spilling.

 

[JimInPB]

This sounds like a great Idea. How does the alcohol affect the plastic? I have some jumbo Shampoo bottles with the snap caps.

It depends what type of plastic. It also depends on the strength of the alcohol & to a lesser extent the temperature. I have seen high proof alcohol dissolve some plastics. I think that PVC was one of the ones that got dissolved. I think that most members of the PE family held up better.

When plastic was dissolved in alcohol, it dropped back out of solution as flakes when the temperature &/or the strength of the solution was decreased.

According to the Wiki page for PVC, Studies of waste incinerator byproducts have shown dioxins to be a byproduct of waste PVC combustion.

Speaking of alcohol strength, what is the correct strength of alcohol to run in those stoves? 70%? 50%? 91%? Does it need to be Ethel Alcohol? Can it be Isopropyl Alcohol? Methyl Alcohol?

 

[Pat]

I just fill up the canisters out by my dock box using a funnel....works great and little or no mess at all. Pat

 

[Alan Gomes]

I just fill up the canisters out by my dock box using a funnel....works great and little or no mess at all. Pat

The best method by far for filling these canisters is a slight variation from one of my list mates on the Ericson site. It consists of taking a metal soup can, removing the soup (of course!), and then drilling a small hole (like maybe 3/16") in the bottom center of the can. Then you just place the soup can directly over the center of the canister and pour a slug of alcohol into the can. The smallish hole slows down the flow so that the wicking material in the canister can keep up and has time to absorb the alcohol without overflowing. It works like a charm.

My variation on it, which may be a tad fanatical, involves using an inexpensive, small battery operated digital scale, picked up cheaply from Harbor Freight. This is the one I have: https://www.harborfreight.com/digital-scale-95364.html. It is fairly flat and happens to fit into a small storage space I have on my boat that doesn't seem to be of much use for anything else anyway.

So here is how I use the scale to good effect. I've weighed an empty canister and determined its weight to be 850g/30 oz/1.87#. A completely full canister weighs in at 1950g/68.7 oz/4.296#. When I think the canister might be getting close to needing a refill, I place the soup can on the scale and zero out its weight using the "tare" button. I then put the canister with the soup can on the scale and dump a bunch of alcohol into the can until the scale shows something reasonably close to 1950g. Then I just wait for the alcohol to drain through the small hole into the canister at a rate that does not overflow the canister, as I mentioned earlier. This is superior to dumping in alcohol, checking the canister to see if it is full, adding more alcohol, checking again, accidentally overflowing the canister, dumping the excess into the sink, and so forth.

Though the top opening of the soup can is so large that I don't have a problem with spillage, I will sometimes place the canister and the soup can both in the sink, just in case.

Oh, and as far as containers for storing the alcohol goes, this is what I use: McMaster-Carr model number 5082T7.

 

[mz4wheeler]

I also buy the 1 gal. cans of alcohol from the box stores. Then pour some into an empty qt. can of alcohol that I had bought earlier and finished using. Quart can is much easier to pour into the stove canister without spilling.

I have found that a cheap turkey baster works great to fill the canister. You can put it right to the fill lip at a 45 degree angle and it works perfect.

 

[Pat]

Thank you for the great idea....I'll try that this spring. Pat

 

[mz4wheeler]

I have found that a cheap turkey baster works great to fill the canister. You can put it right to the fill lip at a 45 degree angle and it works perfect.

A lot of turkey basters are too thick to fit down the mouth of a gallon can. This one from dollar tree works:

Thank you for the great idea....I'll try that this spring. Pat

Use one of the long cheap ones that have a narrow body. It has to fit loosely through the 1 gallon can, and be long enough to reach the bottom.

 

[jeepbluetj]

Alan: The soup can idea is great. I think I'll start doing that. I currently just slosh it out of the gallon jug it came in into the "land mine" for the stove. Yes, I spill a bit. So the can would be an improvement.

I don't think I'll go as far as the scale tho...

 

[Alan Gomes]

Alan: The soup can idea is great. I think I'll start doing that. I currently just slosh it out of the gallon jug it came in into the "land mine" for the stove. Yes, I spill a bit. So the can would be an improvement.

I don't think I'll go as far as the scale tho...

You'll love the soup can idea; credit for that goes to Loren Beach on the Ericson list. Spillage will be a thing of the past. And yeah, the scale may be a bit much. But it really does work well--trust me!

 

[Allan12210]

You'll love the soup can idea; credit for that goes to Loren Beach on the Ericson list. Spillage will be a thing of the past. And yeah, the scale may be a bit much. But it really does work well--trust me!

I use the same technique except with a red Solo cup. I poked about 5 holes in the bottom of it with an ice pick. It acts like a funnel because of the the taper and it never rusts. I thought I invented the method, but apparently not. Should have registered it with the patent office.