Yachting Monthly stove review gave Origo a hard time!

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LynneC

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A review of boat stoves in the recent issue of YM placed the Origo liquid-fuelled cooker 'last' overall. We have one of these. Two things:

1) We chose it primarily because it removed the risk of gas explosion from our beloved, painstakingly and beautifully refurbished mostly by our own hands (and hence to us, now irreplaceable) 1979 Fisher 25. I saw nothing in the article that gave it any credit, in relative terms, for that; and

2) The article was a bit out-of-date insofar as it gave the impression that fuel is hard to come by for these cookers. That might have been the case historically - but I stopped by my local B&Q and picked up a 2-litre bottle of bioethanol for £5 last weekend. How many people don't have a B&Q nearby?!?

Any other Origo owners out there with opinions on this?
 
Interesting about the bio ethanol. I was wondering how good that was and what it smelled like?
Currently I use meths from Robert Dyas bit at £3 for 250 ml its a but expensive!

I use about one small bottle per 5 days onboard.
 
"How many people don't have a B&Q nearby?"
Quite a lot I would imagine. I get meths for mine from a building supply company. Quite happy with it, didn't know they existed but my boat came with one, seems to work fine.
 
LynneC said:
A review of boat stoves in the recent issue of YM placed the Origo liquid-fuelled cooker 'last' overall. We have one of these. Two things:

1) We chose it primarily because it removed the risk of gas explosion from our beloved, painstakingly and beautifully refurbished mostly by our own hands (and hence to us, now irreplaceable) 1979 Fisher 25. I saw nothing in the article that gave it any credit, in relative terms, for that; and

2) The article was a bit out-of-date insofar as it gave the impression that fuel is hard to come by for these cookers. That might have been the case historically - but I stopped by my local B&Q and picked up a 2-litre bottle of bioethanol for £5 last weekend. How many people don't have a B&Q nearby?!?

Any other Origo owners out there with opinions on this?
Click to expand...

You win top tip of the year for that! Off to B&Q to get some, we cook on an Origo and have an Origo oven.
 
I had the 1500, and the 3000 for four years, used daily. Never had a problem, and never had trouble sourcing meth's. Curiously, I could get the meth's for nearly quarter the price from the local chandlers as opposed to Homebase across the road.

I tend to stay away from B&Q and all those, as they're seriously overpriced on, well, everything. Find a local supplier, help the local economy, and get much cheaper meths, would be my advice. Finding local supplier usually means asking local folk. You likely won't find them on the internet.

I currently have gas, but getting the Origo 6000 (I do love an oven) is on my list of stuff to buy one day when I can afford it.
 
Find a proper hardware store that sells a 5 litre container.

PhillM said:
Interesting about the bio ethanol. I was wondering how good that was and what it smelled like?
Currently I use meths from Robert Dyas bit at £3 for 250 ml its a but expensive!

I use about one small bottle per 5 days onboard.
Click to expand...
 
LynneC said:
A review of boat stoves in the recent issue of YM placed the Origo liquid-fuelled cooker 'last' overall. We have one of these. Two things:

1) We chose it primarily because it removed the risk of gas explosion from our beloved, painstakingly and beautifully refurbished mostly by our own hands (and hence to us, now irreplaceable) 1979 Fisher 25. I saw nothing in the article that gave it any credit, in relative terms, for that; and

2) The article was a bit out-of-date insofar as it gave the impression that fuel is hard to come by for these cookers. That might have been the case historically - but I stopped by my local B&Q and picked up a 2-litre bottle of bioethanol for £5 last weekend. How many people don't have a B&Q nearby?!?

Any other Origo owners out there with opinions on this?
Click to expand...


I bought a 3000 some years ago as a temporary measure. Still using it and with either denatured alchohol or bio ethanol there are clean pan bases and no smell though a hassle to get the former. Bio ethanol is now available from many sources to satisfy the demand for new fires being supplied and can even be ordered from amazon.


http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&...vptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_4yzc4geqz4_b
 
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EdBeynon said:
Find a proper hardware store that sells a 5 litre container.
Click to expand...

I suspect stores that sell 5 litre containers of meths may not be commonplace. They would have to comply with the regulations regarding storage of "highly flammable liquids". No problem with 500ml bottles.

Dunno how B&Q deal with such regulations ... Big enough to say "up yours" to the people who might try to enforce the regulations perhaps or maybe do have the appropriate storage facilities.

I am a little puzzled by this supply of bioethanol. Not quite sure what it is or how it fits in with HMR&C regulations concerning supply and use of denatured alcohol if it is not the old "blue meths" by another name.
 
There's one 5 mins up the road from me and another in Grainger Market who will order it in. Or get it on ebay. The postage is reasonably if you get a few:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_nkw=methylated+spirit&_frs=1

VicS said:
I suspect stores that sell 5 litre containers of meths may not be commonplace. They would have to comply with the regulations regarding storage of "highly flammable liquids". No problem with 500ml bottles.

Dunno how B&Q deal with such regulations ... Big enough to say "up yours" to the people who might try to enforce the regulations perhaps or maybe do have the appropriate storage facilities.

I am a little puzzled by this supply of bioethanol. Not quite sure what it is or how it fits in with HMR&C regulations concerning supply and use of denatured alcohol if it is not the old "blue meths" by another name.
Click to expand...
 
VicS said:
I suspect stores that sell 5 litre containers of meths may not be commonplace. They would have to comply with the regulations regarding storage of "highly flammable liquids". No problem with 500ml bottles.

Dunno how B&Q deal with such regulations ... Big enough to say "up yours" to the people who might try to enforce the regulations perhaps or maybe do have the appropriate storage facilities.

I am a little puzzled by this supply of bioethanol. Not quite sure what it is or how it fits in with HMR&C regulations concerning supply and use of denatured alcohol if it is not the old "blue meths" by another name.
Click to expand...


I have been wondering about this....Wondered if they had found some loophole?????? It is now widely available as Google will show so must be cleared for courier delivery??????
 
Bilgediver said:
I have been wondering about this....Wondered if they had found some loophole?????? It is now widely available as Google will show so must be cleared for courier delivery??????
Click to expand...

Couriers will transport it. A recent parcel delivered by UK mail contained a tin of acetone amongst other things . All correctly labelled on the outside of the box. I think its only the PO/Royal Mail/ Parcel Farce who wont handle them.
 
VicS said:
I suspect stores that sell 5 litre containers of meths may not be commonplace. They would have to comply with the regulations regarding storage of "highly flammable liquids". No problem with 500ml bottles.

Dunno how B&Q deal with such regulations ... Big enough to say "up yours" to the people who might try to enforce the regulations perhaps or maybe do have the appropriate storage facilities.

I am a little puzzled by this supply of bioethanol. Not quite sure what it is or how it fits in with HMR&C regulations concerning supply and use of denatured alcohol if it is not the old "blue meths" by another name.
Click to expand...

I have been dealing with these people for years. 20 litres of Meths for £40.46 which gets you Free Overnight Delivery. Have posted this before.
http://www.restexpress.co.uk/acatalog/oils_spirits_and_solvents.html
 
Any other Origo owners out there with opinions on this?[/QUOTE said:
I have happily used an Origo liquid fuelled stove for the last year or so. It seems a little bit slower than a gas stove to bring a kettle to the boil, but so much safer than having gas on board.

Following recommendations on Scuttlebutt, I have always used alcool a bruler from France as fuel for it - to avoid those horrible fumes from burning meths. If I need to make three hot drinks, I just put three mugs of water in the kettle to speed things up. Five litres of alcool a bruler costs around 10 euros in France, so it is very cheap to run!
Click to expand...
 
I haven't read the article yet but am not surprised at the quoted result. The Origo may well have come last for certain parameters such as cooking time but owners will value it for its unique properties such as safety and simplicity, under which rules it will come out top.

We lived with one for 14 years. It wasn't the best thing I have ever lived with, but it worked, and with a petrol engine on board, it kept us alive, for which we are grateful.
 
Lazy Kipper said:
That's a great price but its the smell I don't like, I'll try the bio ethanol and see, it's about the same price.
Click to expand...

It will be interesting to learn if the bioethanol is without the unpleasant smell of mineralised meths (aka CDA)
 
How many people have a B&Q near their boat?!? :)

It took a lot longer than gas to get the oven to temperature, and was twice the price of the test winner.

And YM gave it a less than glowing review? Who would have thunk it?
 
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