Poignard
Well-Known Member
That's a good question! I see it in every French supermarket and DIY store I have ever been in. Even little grocery shops seem to have it.
But I have never seen anyone but me buy it!
Spirit cooker
- Thread starter Yelsel
- Start date
But I have never seen anyone but me buy it!
pvb
Well-Known Member
Praxinoscope
Well-Known Member
The French probably drink it!
Can't taste any worse than Marc!
Beneteau381
Well-Known Member
Ok, we are not regulated, the people promulgating that scheme would like us to be! It is aimed at canal boats which are. Tooth suckers love that official sounding website! Refuelling a gas bottle is no more dangerous than filling a petrol tank if done correctly. as others have said on here, the exploding of boats is very rare! YM tried several times to explode their test boat!
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Bru
Well-Known Member
Table plate warmers, coffee pot heaters, even some cooking etc or so I've been told. (the latter especially in rural areas where the main cooking appliance isn't as convenient as flicking a switch e.g a traditional range)
zoidberg
Well-Known Member
Of course, 'pvb', it's just my opinion - and yours may very well be different. For much of the 45+ years I've been sailing, I've been 'crew', or 'sailing master,' or 'delivery skipper' on others' boats. And I have not once seen a private owner perform a safety check on his gas installation. I've identified myself frayed/cracked supply hoses, split copper supply pipes, corroded regulators, and blocked-up gas lockers. I even watched a boat owner switch off his screeching gas alarm because it annoyed him!
But I agree - a well-installed and maintained gas system is probably OK. Like an MOT certificate...... for the day of issue only. My current boat has a deep bilge. There's no practicable way to remove accumulating gas from down there. No marine bilge pump sucks gas out - ask the makers - but they are 'switched electrical devices' and not sparkproof.
As for the Lord Trenchard, I sailed on that boat a few times when she was new, in the early 70s, as 'mate'. Her skipper, John Reeve, examined RAF types for their 'tickets and was largely behind theearly shape of the RYA National Training Scheme which Cdr Bill Anderson managed for some decades. He showed me LT's state-of-the-art gas safety systems and procedures and I took that as the Gold Standard for many years, until.....
One can be as critical as one wants with hindsight, but that accident shocked me, for"It shouldn't have been possible". It was.....
I can't inspect every copper tube through a bulkhead, every joint, every corroding/encrusted Flame Failure Device, every flexible hose behind a gimballed stove every time I go on the water. I can't monitor every other crew member every time they want to brew some tea. i can't prevent a gas flame blowing out intermittently/partially on a ring which doesn't trigger the FFD but still spills unburny gas..... so I've now made my choice. It's cheaper, and it's one less thing to nag at me when I have others reliant on my getting it right. All of it . Every time.
Seemples.
coveman
Well-Known Member
One point that I don't think has been mentioned ( I apologize if it has) is that a spirit stove needs good ventilation otherwise you can quickly get a build up of carbon monoxide. I have one of these stoves and find it ok for my needs but this point does need watching, and is not suitable as a cabin heater for this reason.
A carbon monoxide detector is worth having. Its not a problem as long as you are aware of it.
A carbon monoxide detector is worth having. Its not a problem as long as you are aware of it.
thinwater
Well-Known Member
Actually, if properly adjusted, it is about the same as other cookers. I've done testing and CleanCook has done a lot.
In fact, there are several ways to put a smoke dome over a spirit heater and make a very servicable vented heater, with zero CO, CO2, or moisture in the boat. This was published in Good Old Boat earlier this year, and I saw one on-line.
