E29 owners - Where is your propane tank?

[Blue Chip]

I very curious. After all the stories I hav read, and heard around the dock, and from friends about " so when we bought the boat and lit the stove, we couldn't see the flame, and the next thing I know, I'm on fire" or versions thereof...why would angone ever consider alcohol. NOTE" Not arguing with you, just can't see WHY since it seems to be recognozed as so dangerous???

 

[Loren Beach]

It all depends....

I very curious. After all the stories I hav read, and heard around the dock, and from friends about " so when we bought the boat and lit the stove, we couldn't see the flame, and the next thing I know, I'm on fire" or versions thereof...why would angone ever consider alcohol. NOTE" Not arguing with you, just can't see WHY since it seems to be recognozed as so dangerous???

Absolutely true... but only for PRESSURIZED alcohol stoves. The fuel is under pressure (in order for the burner to work on that type of stove) and if there's a problem and you do not catch it quick, the fuel will continue to flow into that burner due to line pressure. Same situation if there is a leak near the burner. While an alcohol flame can burn yellow, they often burn a light blue. It's a hard flame to see.

The problem does not exist with a NON-pressurized stove like the Origo range that we have been using for many years.

So, the problem is not the fuel, but the type of burner and the requirement for pressure in those old stoves.

I certainly would not want a pressure alcohol stove on my boat, although I know other boaters that have used them for many years with no problem.

Sidebar: if you do not properly install and maintain a propane system and learn how to safely use it, you can perish considerably quicker than you would if a pressure alcohol stove happens to catch fire.
Any fuel can endanger you, whether it only burns or explodes...


Loren

 

[Glyn Judson]

To alcohol or not to alcohol.

All, I love it, all good points about the invisibility of pressurized alcohol but it reminds me of the dialog decades ago about propane being heavier than air (it is) and the anticipated fears surrounding explosions and fires onboard as a result of using the stuff. Many sailors back then offered just the opposite opinion: that no boat of theirs would ever have propane aboard. I even remember the same discussion in sailing magazines way back then discussing the comparative merits of the two fuels. I had alcohol stoves on my earlier boats and yes, I experienced a flare up or two but I simply made sure that nothing flammable hung above the stove and at the end of the day, I could see the flames that I had conditioned myself to be on the alert for. My experience was that there never was fire accident as a result. I was an early convert to propane with the understanding that it carried with it certain precautionary operating expectations only part. I know this thread wasn't comparing the merits and liabilities of alcohol and propane, it's just that the sound of it rang familiar in my memory, save the fuel being discussed. Cheers and here's wishing you all a Happy New Year as well, Glyn Judson, E31 hull #55, Marine del Rey CA