Wallas stove/heater Question

S

Sea-C

New member
Just curious,,, Has any of you ever tried using alcohol in your Wallas stove instead of Kleen Heat or kerosene?? I removed mine to replace the wick and looked at the burner setup, and I don't see any reason it wouldn't burn OK, but don't know if it would explode in the process. Big thing would be regulating the flow I would think. At least it would get rid of the smell that you occasionally get if it would work. I would ask Doug or Mike down at Scan, but I'm afraid they might think I am a little crazy for even thinking about it..
 
Don't do it. Alcohol has a much lower flash point, will burn much hotter, and will most likely damage the Wallas. Alcohol also has an odor, just different.

The "Kleen heat, Kerosene, #! and #2 Diesel are all fairly similar, even mineral spirits, is similar.
 
You may get busted anyway. :P Doug from Scan watches this place from time to time! What stove/heater do you have? If you have a "paraffin" model, you can burn Kerosene or Kleen Heat in it, but not diesel. I think adding a drop or two of alcohol to the fuel as a drying agent, or burning a little as part of an annual cleaning routine is OK, and maybe even recommended, but I believe Bob is correct about not using it as regular a fuel.
 
I was just curious,,, But you are probably right. I thought maybe someone had tried it. I have a model 100 with a blower lid and I burn Kleen Heat in it. Can't burn #2 in this model. Who ever put the stove in the boat, ran the exhaust out through the bulk head onto the back deck and I am thinking I should run it out through the hull instead. I do get an odor in the cockpit when there is no wind blowing. I don't remember getting any odor on any of my alcohol stoves though. Thanks for the reply guys,,,
 
What Bob said, "Don't do it". I would think damaging the Wallas, would be the very best that would happen, if you follow my drift. I would worry about something even worse.
 
From Scan Marine site:

"Diesel stored in tanks can become contaminated by water (usually
condensate). If this happens, 3% to 5% isopropyl alcohol can be added
to the fuel, but ONLY in the case of this being fuel that will be used solely
in the heating system."

I have burned a lot of Denatured Alcohol in stoves and it is NOT a substitute for Kerosene or Diesel.
 
Thanks for the reply and I am aware of the difference and have had 4 diesel boats in the trolling operation we did. I like alcohol over diesel even though we did use dickenson stoves on our commercial boats. I had read that you can also take the wick out and soak it in alcohol and desolve the gum formed on them. It is easy to replace so that would probably be something to do on a cruise and it quit all together. I think if I change my outlet to the side hull fitting, there will be less smell in the cockpit. Mine runs great on Kleen Heat so I will stay with that unless I have nothing else to do some day and see how or if it works on the Wallas,,,(while out of the boat)
 
Definitely get the exhaust out of the cockpit--Although there is far less CO in diesel than many other fuels, it still can be an insidious problem. I am sure you have a digital CO detector just in case…

The old alcohol stoves which ran a pressurized system had many problems, including fires which were difficult to control Also, alcohol floats on water, so putting water on the fire, only spreads it. I have treated several patients with burns from those type of alcohol stoves.
 
I agree any fuel can be dangerous, but I have had several alcohol stoves over the years and if you use them the way they should be, they are probably as safe as any of the marine stoves. I think most people get in trouble not knowing how to light them and get way too much fuel in them when priming them. If it gets away from you, actually alcohol is one of the few fuels you can put out with water. True it will float on water but water will also put it out without spreading it all over...I'm still going to hold off on the trial anyway,,,Thanks for the reply
 
The worst alcohol fire I have seen was on a 30 foot Catalina which had been chartered out of Marina Del Rey, CA. The gimbaled stove was 3 burners and an oven (Hiller Range) , with a remote pressurized tank. The fitting between the hose and the stove was behind the oven had developed a leak which was spraying alcohol over the area behind the stove, which caught on fire. The stove was near the companionway. When we first realized the situation, there were flames coming out of the companionway. Crews from several boats responded with fire extinguishers. As the 3 burned people were evacuated, the pressure tank in the burning boat had to be found, while the fire was fought. The valve on the tank, was closed to stop the source of the fuel which was burning. Fortunately not much of the structure or material of the boat was burning, and the fire was easily extinguished after the source of alcohol fuel flow was stopped. The charterers had little boating experience. They were medi-vaced to a mainland hospital, and the boat was left on the mooring for the charter company to pick up.

Certainly the modern alcohol stoves are much safer, but there are still some of the pressurized alcohol stoves around.
 
I guess I would have to refer back to my last post, "any fuel can be dangerous" If it had of been propane I imagine things would have got a lot worse. It's true, diesel is probably the safest fuel, but hot diesel can be as dangerous as any of them. I prefer natural gas actually on a boat, but it is hard to find in some areas. At least I can smell it, and it rises instead of sinking to the floor like propane. The main thing I don't care for on the Wallas stoves is the fact I can't see the flame and know what it is doing. But they seem to work, most of the time anyway.
 
Just answered my own question. I read the installation instructions and maintenance manual again and it says under the old fuel paragraph that isopropyl alcohol can be ran in the stove to clean dirty fuel pumps and burners. It says for 10-20 minutes, but if you could run one that long why couldn't you run it in a pinch????
 
There is a reason that isopropyl alcohol is not commonly used as a fuel. It is not clean burning. It is a 3 carbon alcohol, and will burn with a sooty flame. You may clean out the fuel pump, put you may also soot up the burner and exhaust. I certainly would discuss with the folks at SCAN Marine, who are most helpful. (I had to call them this AM--to ask a question about the fuel line--and they are the most pleasant folks to deal with).

I have owned a boat with Compressed natural gas, and it was a pain because the fuel was difficult to find, you had to " exchange" cylinders, and the amount of fuel is far less than propane which can be liquified. CNG is also under higher pressure than LPG. It is just as explosive, if in a confined space--but as you note is lighter than air, thus rises. Also as Pat's link shows natural gas can go "Boom". Certainly there are more propane fires and explosions than CNG--but the CNG is used so rarely.
 
The reason for adding up to 3% alcohol to a diesel or kerosene tank is simply to convert any water present into something burnable. It is not a viable fuel for a Wallas device by itself.

Depending on which Wallas you may have, a better choice than adding alcohol may be simply disposing of any contaminated fuel you may have responsibly and buying new fuel. Kerosene fuel should be checked for date of manufacture before purchasing, since it has a 12 month life expectancy.

Be sure to run kerosene in Wallas kerosene products and diesel (#2 or #1) in Wallas diesel products (diesel products all have a "D" in their model number/name).

Doug at Scan
 
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