Airpot for storing hot water

[dancrane]

I saw a smallish "Airpot" last year on a very small yacht I didn't buy. I hadn't seen one before, but it struck me as a great way of having enough very hot water boiled in advance, to make tea or coffee, or to blend with cold water for handwashing etc, without needing to boil a kettle or fit and run a more complicated water-heating system.

The vacuum-flask construction claims 24 hours of keeping things hot, and they're available up to a 5-litre size...

...so in effect, one could boil that much water in advance of a long day or night at sea, knowing you have at least a gallon of very hot water (enough to mix into over two gallons at hand-washing temperature), which only needs pumping out by the sprung lid on top...so no opening flasks of scalding liquid in a seaway.

I'm not so addicted to coffee that I need a gallon a day, nor do I obsessively handwash...and obviously this large unit would need careful securing, ideally by straps to hold it to a bulkhead...and it's definitely not for junior users...

...but I've been on a few small (and not so small) yachts in the last two years, where the hot water system didn't work, wasn't fueled-up, or didn't exist. Isn't the Airpot concept a great solution to uncomplicated hot water?

I did a search for the name on this forum today, and was surprised to see it has only come up about a dozen times in more years than that. And I expect in some of those times, it was a misspelling of "airport".

 

[rogerthebodger]

I think its a great idea. You could also fit a kind of big cup holder in the cockpit for use on night passages eliminating the need to go below to have a cuppa.

 

[Rum Run]

This looks like a potentially useful thing I agree.
I think that if used for hot water they lose heat fast enough that Proper British Tea cannot be made after about ten minutes, but fine for instant coffee, hot chocolate etc for a good while. The claim of hot for 24 hours is true only for a given value of "hot"

 

[dancrane]

As you say, probably not hot enough for tea, which really does need to be freshly boiled.

Personally I always take a flask of coffee in the dinghy - though I'm rarely out for more than six hours.

But if I had a cabin and didn't have a plumbed hot water system, I reckon a gallon of very hot water, kept hot for most of a day and a night, ready for mixing with a pint or so of cold in a washing-up basin for instant washing water, would make this an early purchase.

 

[rogerthebodger]

As you say, probably not hot enough for tea, which really does need to be freshly boiled.

.

You could always brew your tea before filling the airpot.

I am also a coffee man so never drink tea.

 

[prv]

You could always brew your tea before filling the airpot.

You wouldn’t want to wash your hands in it then

You could also fit a kind of big cup holder in the cockpit for use on night passages eliminating the need to go below to have a cuppa.

I’ve never understood why “eliminating the need to go below” for things like making food or drinks, using the heads, etc, is considered a desirable goal. For navigational type stuff like VHF handsets, certainly, but you don’t have an urgent need to make coffee while approaching a lock gate, rather it’s something you do when on passage with not much else going on. At that point, a bit of moving around and doing stuff helps to break up the monotony.

Pete

 

[dancrane]

I reckon Roger has a fair point there - especially if you're singlehanding at night, you may not feel like leaving the helm and losing your night vision for a while, just to go below to brew up.

To me, the Airpot just looks like it allows all kinds of things, from shaving to dishwashing to cleaning a graze or minor injury, which would otherwise either be ignored as too much bother, or require boiling of water as the occasion arises, which is why the "too much bother" conclusion dominates.

I want one.

 

[Lodesman77]

If you just put boiling water in it and leave it at that it will initially lose temperature quite quickly - so no good for tea - but if you quarter fill with boiling water, close it up and agitate for a couple of minutes, then empty and refill with boiling water it should remain good enough for tea making for an hour or two.

 

[Kukri]

I have used one for years; I was used to Thermos glass ones - no East Asian office complete without / and about 20 years ago a Chinese-American physics professor recommended the all stainless steel type on a sailing forum.

My first one was not a success because I bought it in an English kitchen shop; it was a cheap Chinese one and it lost heat. On a visit to Hong Kong twenty years ago I bought this one in one of the Japanese department stores - Mitsukoshi, iirc - and I have used it ever since. It holds three litres and keeps the water at tea temperature for twelve hours. It comes ashore in the winter. Dump two kettles of boiling water into it at teatime and the crew can have hot drinks - tea, coffee, soup, etc all night AND wash their mugs up.

The brand name is “ZOJIRUSHI” but I’m sure there are others.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

That kind of thing is very common in conference centres, where they are used to store tea, coffee and hot water for the breaks. As conference timings tend to be elastic, they are very useful in that role. Tea and coffee don't keep well in them - both get stewed pretty quickly. But that's irrelevant for hot water. The ones I've seen keep drinks at a reasonable temperature for drinking, but probably not hot enough for tea.

 

[prv]

I reckon Roger has a fair point there - especially if you're singlehanding at night, you may not feel like leaving the helm and losing your night vision for a while, just to go below to brew up.

That’s why I have a single dim red light just above the cooker and (to get the milk out) fridge

To me, the Airpot just looks like it allows all kinds of things, from shaving to dishwashing to cleaning a graze or minor injury, which would otherwise either be ignored as too much bother, or require boiling of water as the occasion arises, which is why the "too much bother" conclusion dominates.

Oh, I certainly get the “self-contained substitute for plumbed hot water” aspect. That makes a lot of sense and it’s a neat idea.

It’s strictly the “avoids the need to go below” trope that I was commenting on. It seems to come up fairly regularly, I’m not meaning to get at Roger’s post in particular. But why would I want to avoid my cabin? It’s like trying to sell some product with “avoids the need to sit down”, when sitting down is not something I need or wish to avoid.

Pete

 

[dancrane]

Agreed, speaking as someone without a cabin to get into, I doubt it will bother me to go below, when I have that luxurious option.

I hadn't forgotten that a red light enables retention of night vision - that's a handy galley-light switch you have.

Our home (gas) hot water system doesn't store heated water but flares up on demand. It is a dreadful waste of water - it has to run for several minutes to reach comfortable shower temperature. I've no idea if yacht on-demand systems are similarly imperfect - I doubt it - but I reckon a 'tank' like the Airpot is a winning solution on simple mini-cruisers.

I guess the pot could be enclosed within some kind of polystyrene cladding, for extension of the time the contents stay useful.

 

[Gwylan]

google elephant thermos pot.

Have used them for years, picked them up in China - but very popular elsewhere

Ooops look for Zojirushi or something like that - experience is the they are the best

Thermos flasks used to be made in Thetford - funny old world

 

[rogerthebodger]

I’m not meaning to get at Roger’s post in particular. But why would I want to avoid my cabin?

Pete

Thks Pete

Some do seem to get at me but I'm used to it.

Where I sail when sailing north we keep inshore as offshore we have a south 3 4 kn current so we do get quite a seaway as the wind either blows from the north east and from the south west. so it can get quite choppy. Also the closest port to Richards Bay is Durban 90 Kn trip with no bolt holes.

I do try to avoid going below to avoid sea sickness. Ok sometimes you have to but I do try to prepare as much as possible.

 

[Neeves]

We have to thank Sir James Dewar for the basic technology and in some places the basic double walled flask is still called a 'Dewar'. The technology has remained unchanged except we now also have stainless steel versions, which Stanley claim to have introduced (though I first saw them from Japan)..

The Airpot has been around for decades, I first saw them in China in the late 70's (they may have been made in Japan).

We use the Shuttle Chef, made by Thermos (but there are other brands) all the time, we have a smaller one for the boat and a larger one at home. These are effectively double walled vessels that take an inner saucepan. You heat the contents of the saucepan, say casserole or porridge, set into the double walled vessel and some time late the contents are both cooked and still hot. Its like a straw box cooker or a slow cooker - but the heat comes from boiling the contents of the saucepan and you rely on the insulation of the double walled vessel. I note that Thermos also make wide mouthed double walled vessels that are about the right size for a one portion 'one pot' meal.

We don't use an Airpot - we just put the kettle on and wait till it whistles insistently - and we then have piping hot fresh coffee. But the Shuttle Chef is great on passage as the crew can have a full hot meal, or at least one course, without any need for preparation (as its done in advance by someone who has no issues with going down below).

Watch out for 'copies' with polystyrene insulation - they don't work. Another brand from Japan is Tiger and Mr B's Thermal Cooker was available in the UK, and made in China. Shuttle Chefs and other similar devices from Japan are very popular in HK and most of the major department stores carry a decent supply. They can be difficult to source in other parts of the world (but Mr B's might be an equal alternative). There are recipes galore 'on line'

Another application off the double walled insulation is yogurt making - check out Easi Yo from NZ (available in the UK). Another company also offering yogurt kits, and some interesting 'instant' desserts, is Hansell.

There appears to be an emphasis on washing hands - whats wrong with washing hands in cold water?

All have application on a yacht.


And answering a question raised - we have an instant hot water gas boiler - the initial cold water is not wasted, we collect and use for washing up (or cooling down the hot water ). It is certainly not wasted.

Jonathan

 

[Yngmar]

Very practical. Ours is strapped to a cupboard door in the galley (with some non-slip mat pieces glued onto the back of the thermos to prevent it damaging the varnish). The fold-up handle doubles as a "hot water availalbe" indicator - we fold it down when empty. The bottom is intentionally slippery, so it just slides along when opening the door.