Alcohol Stove

Big dave

Big dave

Member
I would like to get some input on the alcohol stove from folks that have used them. (Origo 3000 Alcohol Stove)
I have used my Wallace 95D for the past 11 years, and about every 5 years i take it in for service to Scan Marine and pay around $300.
Well my fan no longer comes on in the lid and I can see that the switch leaver is broken off and some corrosion on the circuit . Scan says it will set me back about $400 for a service and fan lid repair. Which for $360 I can get a nice two burner alcohol stove. From what I have read I like the KISS principle of the alcohol stove.
The cooking part of my Wallace works fine taking about 16 minutes to boil 7 cups of water in the kettle, I have never been one to want boiling water in 5 minutes or less.
Well let me know what you all think, and thanks for any replies.
Dave
Raven Dancer
 
The Origo 3000 Alcohol Stove is very simple--about 7,000 BTU per burner, and non pressurized, so much safer than the old stoves. The disadvantages I see are the fuel is expensive, and the fumes can be an issue. The amount of water vapor in the cabin is increased, since the stoves are not vented to the outside of the boat, as the Wallas is.

The stoves are not expensive, are safe, and have heat rapidly. You can buy a whole bunch of alcohol for $400. I still love the Wallas.
 
If you don't need cabin heat I would buy one or two of the butane stoves that come in a nice little grey case. They are pretty cheap to buy and to fuel. Asian foods stores have butane canisters for about 5 dollars each or less. They put out a fair amount of btu's and are easy to control. They don't take up much room. If you have 120 volts (generator/shore power) available the induction cookers are nice and are great for cooking pasta, heating sauces, or making rice etc.
D.D.
 
I installed an Origo stove on a sailboat, back in the '80s. They're basically a pot with wicking inside. Judy mentioned that it took a long time to heat and didn't really have a high heat. It was a long time to the first cup of coffee. A new Origo 4000 sells for ~$450, if that's cheap. And the fuel wasn't easy to find.

The fan on Journey On's stove quit. How the switch in the lid got corroded is beyond me. I replaced it with a manual switch. To tell the truth, we use a Caframo Ecofan heat powered stove fan, ~$65. It sets on top of the open stove and we can point it in any (horizontal) direction, such as the v-berth. Put it on the low heat burner and it puts out as much as the Wallis fan, quietly and with no electricity.

If you're really cheap, like me, order the parts from the dealer and install them yourself. It's straightforward.

As an alternate to the Wallis, in the morn, Judy uses a single burner butane stove, ~$20, for coffee, etc in the morn. Butane cylinders are $1.50 ea at your local Asian food store, as of yesterday. Yes, Bob, of course we keep our cylinders outside in a sealed and properly vented box.

Boris
 
I installed an Origo stove on a sailboat, back in the '80s. They're basically a pot with wicking inside. Judy mentioned that it took a long time to heat and didn't really have a high heat. It was a long time to the first cup of coffee. A new Origo 4000 sells for ~$450, if that's cheap. And the fuel wasn't easy to find.

The fan on Journey On's stove quit. How the switch in the lid got corroded is beyond me. I replaced it with a manual switch. To tell the truth, we use a Caframo Ecofan heat powered stove fan, ~$65. It sets on top of the open stove and we can point it in any (horizontal) direction, such as the v-berth. Put it on the low heat burner and it puts out as much as the Wallis fan, quietly and with no electricity.

If you're really cheap, like me, order the parts from the dealer and install them yourself. It's straightforward.

As an alternate to the Wallis, Judy uses a single burner butane stove, ~$20, for coffee, etc in the morn. Butane cylinders are $1.50 ea at your local Asian food store, as of yesterday. Yes, Bob, of course we keep our cylinders outside in a sealed and properly vented box.

Boris
 
Dave-

The two-burner Origo stove came standard with the CD-22 Cruiser for all of the 28 years that I am aware of. That says something about it's workability, I'm sure!

The original owner of my 1987 model replaced the Origo with a 3-burner Gaffers and Sattler RV propane stove because (he claimed) the incomplete combustion odor of the alcohol made him nauseous!

The propane stove is great, IMHO. You just have to understand the dangers of propane and act accordingly. I added a Force 5 Cozy Cabin heater plus all the safety equipment, and never looked back!

I do know you can smell most alcohol stoves when they are operating. A hood over the stove and an exhaust fan would do a lot to eliminate that plus all the cooking odors generated.

Some folks use a small portable single-burner propane stove that uses little canisters that is used a lot in the Far East, and is available at Oriental Markets in the U.S. for about $20-$25, plus the canisters (about $3 each).
They say the stove works well and heats fast. You just have to be careful in storing the partially used cylinders, as once in a great while one will leak! A cabin full of propane is to be avoided at all costs, so the canister (or the complete stove with the canister attached) has to be stored outside the cabin where fumes from any leak won't accumulate.

Alcohol stoves can be problematic, especially the ones that pressurize the alcohol, but the Origo works pretty much like a Sterno food warmer non-pressurized can under a chafing dish.

My Sea Ray has a Kenyon alcohol/electric stove in it that works off 120 VAC (Shore Power) or pressurized alcohol. It has a copper fuel tank with a pressure pump right underneath the electric heating element with a metal baffle separating the two. Just the idea scared the previous owner so much he cut the wiring so the electric part couldn't be used! So who's afraid of a pint or so of alcohol 2 inches away from a 6000 btu red glowing electric element?

One of the problems with alcohol is that when it burns, the light blue flame often cannot be seen, especially in daylight, unlike gasoline which burns bright yellow/orange. This can be a problem with stoves, but not as much as when refueling high performance racing engines, where you don't know you have a fire until the car's paint or your clothes start to burn as well as the fuel.

Every once in a while an Origo 2-burner comes up for sale on this site for sale by an owner who has gone to a Wallas or another route. Someone out there might have one available in their workshop/garage right now.

Good Luck, tough decision! Lots of compromises, no perfect solution!

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Perhaps Dora~Jean will chime in, or if not you might PM him. I remember that he's had an Origo on two boats (put one on the second time because he liked it a lot the first time). And if I remember correctly, he likes to cook (so I mean, he's not just making Mountain House insta-meals, which just about anything can do).

I think for someone who's going to live aboard and cook day after day, alcohol is a bit expensive. But for the semi-regular use most C-Dory's get, I'd say it's a good contender if it suits your likes.
 
We have a Wallace that still works very well, But we too have one of the inexpensive butane stoves. ours is Coleman, but there are many other brands that all look like they are made by the same manufacture. for $20 on sale you get a one burner with pizo lighter that works flawless and takes up very little room. you can get butane bottles on ebay for as cheap as $3 if you buy quantity. If it is cold we use the wallace. If not we use the butane stove, as it is much quicker and sits perfectly on top of the wallace, or we have a shelf on the transom that it can sit on. If we need another burner we will use both sometimes. For $20 you can't go wrong.
 
I ordered the alcohol stove when I had the boat built. It is simple and doesn't need a lot of maintenance. The down side is it doesn't produce a lot of heat.

I am happy with it, but I also have a two burner GE electric flat surface, a single burner butane (like you see at an omelet station), a two burner Coleman propane, and most recently a Coleman one burner/grill combo (keeps me from hauling out the big stainless steel grill that clamps to the railing). I always have alcohol on board, so I can use the alcohol stove at any time and I take one of the other stoves on board if I need something different.

I don't have $400 tied up in all of them combined, plus I have use of the additional units in case of power outages at home.
 
Like everyone said, the alcohol is slow, puts out some fumes and puts lots of water vapor into the cabin. I had a two burner on a sailboat, it also had the oven. I did find that if I could buy the alcohol from canada it worked much better, bit still not near what the little butane burners do.
 
Hope I'm not changing the subject but related question...

For those of you with alcohol stoves...what do you use for heat at night?

Thanks,

John
 
All we have used is the Origo two burner that was stock in our 22. We like the way it cooks. Alcohol like propane generates moisture but it is not an issue with a little ventilation while cooking. No more so than any stove boiling water. Alchohol is very safe in that it can be extinguished very easy by smothering or with water.

Denatured alcohol is ready available in any hardware store, Walmart, etc. It runs about $15 per gal. but a gallon lasts a long time. We added the Dickinson P9000 propane stove for heat and love the simplicity and reliability of both.
 
kennharriet":18bhfir8 said:
Alchohol is very safe in that it can be extinguished very easy by smothering or with water.
.
Click to expand...

Be cautious with water and an alcohol fire. The alcohol is lighter than water and floats on top of the water spreading the fire. I had to board a boat to help out with a fire (pressurized alcohol, spraying and they had thrown water on it--spreading the fire thru the cabin. It was a chartered boat, and the occupants were medevaced to a burn unit, and the charter company told to come and pick up what was left of the boat!
 
Hey Big Dave, I have two burner Origo in my shed that you can test drive. If you like it & it will work for you I'll make you a real good deal on it
 
As with most alcohol, be careful what you do with it.

Internally, with moderation, well you know...

I almost became a statistic years ago 'borrowing' my
dad's Sea Ray with a pressurized alcohol stove I figured
was the best way to cook a fish I caught. No instruction
manual. No experience. Just pumped'er up, tuned the dial
and light a match...

Well, I'm glad to be here to tell you that was one of the most
frightful experiences* I've encountered on board as I swore
I was dancing with the Grim Reaper Himself in Dante's Inferno.

Short story even shorter, I put it out with only burned cabin
carpet headliner and smelled like a burned chicken from my
singed body hair.

No. No. No, alcohol stoves for me.

Aye.

* I've come close to repeating that nightmare experimenting
with grilling 151 rum soaked goodies on my Big Green Egg.

Grandma used to say, "Play with fire and you will get burned."
 
Foggy":1spolrol said:
I almost became a statistic years ago 'borrowing' my
dad's Sea Ray with a pressurized alcohol stove ...

No. No. No, alcohol stoves for me.
Click to expand...

One note though is that the Origo alcohol stoves are non-pressurized. Of course one should exercise caution with any fuel/flame combo, but the non-pressurized stoves are not nearly as "exciting" as the pressurized ones.
 
I replaced my Wallace Stove, which, when it worked, was great, but always broke at the worst of times, like when it was 45 degrees out, damp and raining, and with half a pound of raw bacon in the skillet. Each time I had to ship it back to the manufacturer for repairs. I wonder who dreamed up a circuit board for an onboard stove? I replaced the Wallace with a 2-burner Origo alcohol stove, and I couldn't be happier. It has two moving parts, and if it ever breaks I'm confident I can fix it myself. I use 180-proof rum for fuel. I also keep on board a Coleman propane camp heater that works fine, but I don't trust it enough to keep the windows closed when it's in use. It doesn't heat the cabin as well as the Wallace did, but I won't have to ship it back to the factory if it breaks; it's cheap enough, I'll just buy a new one.
 
I've been contemplating this switch over: alcohol stove & diesel heater. But at this point we decided to just hold onto the Wallas until I retire in 5-7 yrs. We don't cook enough on it now, so it fits the bill. We have never had "an issue" with it...yet.
 
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