Paraffin Cookers

[alisdair4]

As re-fit time is looming, I am considering swopping my 2 burner and grill ancient gas cooker for alcohol or paraffin. Reason is safety and weight. Any advice would be welcomed, especailly as to model and advisability.

Thanks, Alisdair

<hr width=100% size=1>"so long as all you want is a penguin’s egg"

 

[Razorfish]

I've been useing an Origo twin burner stove all of this year and can recomend one if it suits your requirements. Remember that they don't have a grill which is a downside if you like your toast.
I was really impressed by its solidity and build quality. It boils a kettle pretty quickly and heats up my curry in double quick time; that all I want really.

They are nice and safe too, you can't spill any fuel once it is in the stove canisters. They have some sort of clever wicking matrix which soaks up the alcohol and doesn't let it out again.

They do weigh a bit, but I guess compared to a stove and gas bottle they are lighter.

Got mine in April from Compass for about £140 which is about £40 less than many other suppliers were selling them for.

Hope that helps.

Andy

<hr width=100% size=1>Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

 

[FWB]

I have a Taylors cooker and it is brilliant. The trick with these cookers is to put a kettle on the burner during the preheating process, then let the flame go out and light the burner just as if it were a gas one. There is no need to be worried about flare ups and all the scare stories about these cookers. Putting a kettle on during preheating is the key.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Trevethan]

We pre-heat our parfin stove with a blow lamp -- a one minute blast on the pipes and it fires up perfectly.

Lot easier than messing with meths -- also safer as if you don't heat it sufficiently yu can just give it another burst rather than having to wait for everything to cool down.



<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[FWB]

I have to disagree about the blow lamp method. There is no problem at all in using meths. But the main point is that Taylors cookers are very good and easy to use.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Gunfleet]

I've thought about doing this on my Taylors but the can of gas on the boat reintroduces the problem I wanted to get away from. How do you solve it?

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[kenpatterson]

been using a origo twin burner stove fot the last 3 yrs. would recommend it for ease of use, safety and running costs. cant speak for paraffin cookers but i do have a taylors paraffin heater and have found it to be a nightmare trying to keep it going correctly and spares are dear. will be replacing it with a charcoal burning stove soon.

<hr width=100% size=1>co. down

 

[FWB]

I have a Canadian diesel heater---SIGMAR 100, from Kuranda marine. It has a flame you can see--very cosy--and is gravity fed from the main fuel tank. The fuel is metered and it has proven to be very reliable. It gives off a dry heat. Also consider a Reflex.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[alisdair4]

I take it no-one makes an alcohol cooker which has a grill - I have looked at the Origo, and thought "that's the weakness - because I do like my toast!"

Thanks for all of teh advice thus far.

Alisdair

<hr width=100% size=1>"so long as all you want is a penguin’s egg"

 

[Razorfish]

Toast

My girlfriend reminds me that she managed to make toast using a dry frying pan on the Origo hob the other week. There are hob-top toast makers advertised in some chandlery catalogs, no idea how well the work though.

<hr width=100% size=1>Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

 

[Gunfleet]

Re: Toast

<<hob-top toast makers advertised in some chandlery catalogs>> instead buy one in Milletts and spend the rest of the money on a bottle or two of plonk

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Windfall]

Re: Toast

We make toast in the fry pan on our origo and its much better than the stove top thingy you can buy.

Overall we are very pleased with the origo - in its second summer now - and have managed to do everything we previously did with our gas vanessa, with the advantage of not having to worry about gas stowage.



<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[ex-Gladys]

We do use a hob top toaster on the Origo. It's lightning quick (much faster than the pop up at home) and if you rotate the toast properly does a good job

<hr width=100% size=1>Larry Botheras

Anderson 26 "Amber"

 

[Mirelle]

Taylor\'s Para-Fin stove, and toast

I quite agree. Like you, we just put the kettle on when we light the meths. There is therefore no delay in cooking. Very reliable, easy to overhaul, not expensive in spares, cheap to run and you can store enough fuel for a long time in very little space. Taylors say one pint runs one burner at full heat for 8 hours - certainly a gallon lasts a long time.

We use a stove top toaster and get very good toast from it.

Something that nobody has mentioned yet is that the Taylors burns quite a lot hotter than gas, and much hotter than meths, so a kettle boils faster. The simmering plates work well.



<hr width=100% size=1>Que scais-je?

 

[Trevethan]

I have a blow lamp onboard anyway -- useful tool. The canister lives outside in a small above deck locker so any leak would be dispersed by the wind.

I just find its much easier to light this way and quicker than pre-heating with meths

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[iacle]

I've had both an Origo & a Taylors, & one thing not mentioned here is the smell of burning meths - many people don't like it & it can even induce seasickness in some. Worryingly, I quite like it.......Other than that, I would recommend them both. The Taylors are expensive & need a storage tank for the paraffin & the odd bit of maintenance. The oven is a big plus, as are the cast iron hot plates which warm the cabin up nicely and keeps the kettle warm enough for another coffee long after the burner is turned off. The Origo has the advantage of simplicity - mine worked for ten years requiring only refills & the small amount of meths needed is easy to store.

<hr width=100% size=1>Ian

 

[tugela]

I replaced my gas stove with an origo 3000 and have found it to be an excellent piece of kit. My last boat had a paraffin stove and I was well aquainted with the art of lighting the damned thing. This can become quite a pastime - if you don't want/need anyone else (who doesn't have sooty fingers and a maniacal stare) to ever put the kettle on then paraffin is safe and cheap. However, it was not an attribute of the boat that attracted my wife to sailing and she was most pleased when our new boat had gas.

You can imagine, therefore, that ripping out the easy, fast gas system went down well. The Origo, once installed, shiny and smart on its gimbals, was greeted with suspicious mutterings on the subject of "meths and pre-heating that takes hours and then goes out I don't know why he can't leave things as they are and anyway i wanted to go to center parcs and its always raining etc etc...."

Under such critical scrutiny the Origo was up against it but, once armed with extra long matches, proved to be just as easy as gas and a lot, lot easier than paraffin. It seems to take as long to boil a kettle as a paraffin stove and toast works with a stove top device as long as you use 4 slices at a time!

Fuel is an issue with alcohol stoves, as the smell of meths can be off putting. The answer is to use Ethanol (wood alcohol) which is tricky to track down in the uk (but possible). We use "Alcool a bruler" which you can buy in Auchan supermarkets in France by the 5 litre can (£3.70). They use it for fondue, apparently. We pick up a couple of cans with the booze run. At this price I reckon it's cheaper than gas (10 litres a season). It burns with no discernible odour (I wouldn't put meths in the thing now) and the raw stuff has a pleasant brandy-like aroma to it. As above, Compass offer the best price at £140. Compared to the Taylors and the cost of installation of tanks and piping, this is an absolute bargain. The origo is also smaller and therefore easier to gimbal in a tight galley.

So, a bit of effort put into getting the fuel and it has to be favourite..... unless you like singed eyebrows that is.....



<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[30boat]

I have a wallas parafin hob and it it is amazing.Just switch it on and there you are.No preheating and no smell.The big problem was in the installation where I had to make a flexible system for the exhaust hose.I can make toast very quickly on a home made stainless toaster but since I use good Portughese bread it may take a little longer than with the crappy stuff available in the UK.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Ohdrat]

Re: Taylor\'s Para-Fin stove, and toast

ditto.. much hotter and faster than either meths (origo) or gas.. made to last too.. very happy about mine.. no smell which in small space is v good.. more expensive than gas or meths burners but in this case you pay for quality and performance and not a name..

NB I use the smallest of the range which is just a 2 burner (no grill or oven).

<hr width=100% size=1>