Paraffin versus Gaz

Having once owned an Origo stove, one thing I wouldn't do is ever consider an alcohol stove again.
I've not yet met an enthusiastic owner of a diesel-fired cooker and some have been frankly abusive about their stoves.

The major advantage of paraffin for cooking (and I've used that too), compared to LPG is the lack of the ubiquitous gas bottles - there are several disadvantages. Lighting can prove a major challenge to the uninitiated, paraffin is frequently difficult to source and sometimes the only available alternative is a ridiculous price.

The safety issues are IMHO, imaginary, I've had a couple of gas leaks and they're easily picked up by smell, paraffin may not form an explosive mixture but it's fairly inflammable and easily spilt, especially when you have to fill a tank from a container.

On the whole I prefer LPG for its convenience, used with a piezo lighter it's by far the easiest to light. Certain obvious precautions - flame failure devices on ALL burners, remote stoptap. IMHO the greatest advantage is having a thermostatically controlled oven.
Capital costs are a consideration as well, LPG stoves are far more common than paraffin and therefore more economically priced.
LPG (providing you avoid Camping Gaz) refills are economic - I mean refills not exchange bottles, usual costs are about £1.00-0.80 per Kg especially if you use LPG car filling stations.
 
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And takes a morning to warm the iron plate,once its working,

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Really? All the Taylors I've ever used get hot enough once running to melt steel in about 5 minutes.. well, nearly. I've always got a far more solid and hotter flame off a taylors than any gas stove I've ever seen.

That said, you can't really put the hob plates back in and cook as if it were an AGA, that just burns the enamel off. Far better to direct heat the pans.
 
One of these days I'll put a video on YouTube on "how to light a Taylors". All the complaints come from ignorance on how to light one. Granted, it isn't a swift proceedure, but I can do it without bother every time. It ain't rocket science.
 
Ref Taylors stove hob plates; I agree and normally remove them for everyday 'fast' cooking. Lighting the stoves is a simple process that if followed works every time. It's amazing that with so many other technical, practical, intellectual and personal challenges to overcome, anti-paraffin sailors find this such a daunting problem.
 
Gas or paraffin? Neither what about a petrol cooker? Fuel can be found every where,though its becoming very expensive.I found a US made cooker at a flee market,you fill the tank just as you would a paraffin cooker;The difference is that theres no pressure pump.

To light it you open a tap which lets petrol out light that and it heats the burners then you turn the burner regulator and hay presto a very hot clean flame.

Wonderful!Self cleaning starts problem free each time,and petrols easier to find and less expensive.
 
<<< All the complaints come from ignorance on how to light one. >>>

Not true. I have been using Primus, Optimus, Taylors, Colemans, etc for the past 50 years. Still use a Tilley lamp and a lightweight Optimus on a regular basis. I simply think that gas has all the advantages, especially for Mediterranean cruising, with very few disadvantages. I take the point about the gas locker on a smaller boat but will point out that many small French boats have a stove that has a Camping Gaz bottle attached beneath the burners. My first boat had one of these that gimballed, although it took up rather a lot of space.
 
<<< Really? All the Taylors I've ever used get hot enough once running to melt steel in about 5 minutes.. >>

I think this is referring to a diesel powered stove, where the heat has to be indirect. The flame heats a plate and fumes are exhausted overboard. Must be horrendous in a warm climate, where even a gas ring adds heat to an already hot galley/saloon.
 
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Wonderful!Self cleaning starts problem free each time,and petrols easier to find and less expensive.

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I've a petrol stove, for camping, where I have good ventilation.

I wouldn't use a petrol stove down below as the fumes can build up and, well, kill you. Apart from the cheapness and aesthetics, by putting a Taylors in my new boat, I can do two things:

Run the cooker and the heater off the same tank. Saves space as I'll never use both at the same time.

And, I get rid of a large and inefficient gas bottle locker, and get a big locker in which I can store sailbags, and leave the focsl free for sleeping in.

And I can leave the Taylors simmering away for hours (hotpot, stews, etc) without significant fuel drain. The only trauma will be if a stray draught blows out the flame without me noticing, but I'll source a gizmo to detect this, I'm sure. Actually, as the refit season approaches, I'll post one up...

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I cant understand why Taylors,who have bought out all the competing suppliers have gone up from £300 to £1900 the cheapest costing over £1000 ???

Im not sure a taylors is a better cooker than say an optimist twin burner paraffin in stainless steel with gimbels and fiddles which costs £300, they both have the same burners.

If i found a Taylors today second hand id buy it just becouse it looks so good,but cook on a petrol cooker!
 
"but cook on a petrol cooker! "

Why not? - campers/climbers/cavers have been using them for decades. (Just don't use the 1960's French horror known as the Bivouac Bomb /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif )
 
I have been using a Wallas parafin hob for 5 years and it never let me down.The cast iron plates glow red hot on max setting and it is very economical.A flick of the switch and it's on.
 
Its an older 068 with a large tank. I have no problems pressurising, except some incipient leaks in the jointing which is this winter's job. I never (well, hardly ever) run both at once, which results in more pumping sooner, but apart from that, no problems.
 
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