Where's the Dometic alcohol stoves?

[CarinaPDX]

Originally Posted by Mickeyrouse

I had an Origo on a previous boat. I felt safer than with the kerosene Kenyon it replaced. That is, until it ran out of fuel half way into a batch of spaghetti. Just re-fuel, right? ... I didn’t re-call any warnings about re-fueling if other than stone-cold.

Sorry you didn't get the memo: refueling while hot was the main cause of fires from pressurized alcohol stoves. Early designs had the fill for an integral pressure tank on top of the unit, near the burners. When the fuel runs out mid-cooking (which happens more because of the small tank and low BTU/gallon) if the cook opens the tank and starts pouring alcohol the vapor will reach the hot burners and explode, spreading the pouring alcohol back onto the cook. There were many cases of severe burns needing hospitalization. If you can't comfortably hold the burner with your hand it is too hot to refill. IIRC one of the safety features of the Origo is that you have to remove the burner to refill, so it should be cold enough to do safely. How did you get the burner off while it was still hot enough to ignite the flame? Or did you try to refill one burner while another was still lit?

The dangers of alcohol are a low vapor point (temperature where the alcohol evaporates), low ignition temperature, and nearly invisible flame. In theory an alcohol flame can be extinguished by water, but throwing water onto a flame often splashes the alcohol and spreads the flame before it gets diluted, while the nature of the flame is that this spread may not be noticed at first. From what I can see the Origo burners are a very safe way to use alcohol for cooking but I would warn everyone off of the old pressurized stoves - not that there are a lot of them left.

Personally I use a kerosene (paraffin) Taylor 030 stove. Admittedly there is a learning curve but once mastered flareups are very rare, and more surprising than dangerous (assuming you are not hanging flammable things above the stove, but who does that?). With quality deodorized kerosene and clean burners there is little smell, and cleaning of burners is only needed every few years. Just don't use low quality fuel as it is stinky and fouls the burners. Admittedly not for everyone...

Greg

[scandium]

Originally Posted by thinwater

There is a German maker of something very similar.

https://translate.google.com/transla...search&pto=aue
https://www.toplicht.de/en/shop/neu/...ituskocher-hpv

Thanks! Those are very interesting. Bit pricey, but looks like that store will ship to the US for $55. I didn't buy it, but was quoted $187 total. Concept is different from the origo stoves, as alcohol is gravity fed to the burner from a tank. This should make refueling safer as well, while still keeping it a very simple system. I'm almost tempted to buy one just to test, and use as a car-camping stove. I hate the loud, wasteful gas canister stoves.

[SuW]

We've cooked on Origos for many years. When we had a big boat with a propane system we used an Origo up on the deck at anchor when the weather was too hot to cook below.

The Origo is safer than propane or pressurized alcohol stoves in my direct experience.

Our current boat came with a built-in Origo. We love it. We fuel with methyl hydrate from the local hardware store.

As for running out of fuel, having two burners I always keep one full, if not both. You will not run out in one session of cooking.

To reduce evaporation of the fuel after the stove has cooled, we put a circle of polyethylene plastic (small ziploc) against the grid of the canister with thin neoprene on top of it and then shut the lid.

[barryglewis]

Originally Posted by Ken Pole

Ås previously offered, I have a free but unused Origo which I'm willing to send to whomever pays shipping costs. I'm in Ontario.

Hi Ken, still available, I will gladly pay for shipping costs to Sydney Australia. I'll PM you.

Our local manufacturer of maths stoves, the Maxie has closed up, and we can't get spares any more. Maths from Italy (10% water), Cuba (?% of who knows, but burnt very hot and dirty), and Panama also very dirty has ruined our burners and the spares we had.
Aussie maths is clean and does no damage to burners. Future voyages, if we can't carry enough for the whole trip, we intend to take a still and make our own!

[Sailor George]

I was able to order online at West Marine and it was delivered to their Alameda, CA store. Price was higher than Home Depot, but at least I could get it locally! No shipping charge if you had it shipped to the store, for pickup. Thanks DON CL for the tip!

[cal40john]

Originally Posted by scandium

Thanks! Those are very interesting. Bit pricey, but looks like that store will ship to the US for $55. I didn't buy it, but was quoted $187 total. Concept is different from the origo stoves, as alcohol is gravity fed to the burner from a tank. This should make refueling safer as well, while still keeping it a very simple system. I'm almost tempted to buy one just to test, and use as a car-camping stove. I hate the loud, wasteful gas canister stoves.

There was another link in the thread pointing to something very similar to Origo, but even more expensive -

https://www.compass24.com/comfort/pa...caAqDFEALw_wcB

[Phantom Jim]

The unit seems very similar/identical to the Origo. Listed price, including the VAT is $269.99. Since the VAT will be removed when selling to someone outside the EU, the US cost should be $224.99 plus shipping.

Not a bad deal.

[Rockinar]

Bought a used 1500 off FB Marketplace. Came with pan holder and gimble.