peter johnson wrote:thoughts on kerosene, try to by the best quality you can and if storing on a boat a small storage tank is goodwith a bit of flexable hose and a shut off tap makes filling easier also put a fuel filter in the line it makes a huge differance

The best system I ever used was to have a little pump led directly into a 20l container, with a filter leading up to the pump.  Just pump what you need directly into a lamp, or into a jug for filling the cooker.  A bowl to catch spills is good, too.

I've got a Broadwater gas stove with cast stainless burners.  It is 20 years old, and has never needed any replacement parts.  If I had grandchildren they could still be using it in their old age.  Indestructible, and it burns clean and hot.  Though refilling bottles can be a challenge in remote Pacific islands, especially French ones.  Alcohol stoves are also clean and easy to use, though they don't burn as hot, and the fuel is still prohibitively expensive in many places, even big cities like Suva, capital of Fiji.  I agree that kero can be messy and finicky unless the fuel is spotlessly clean, which is also becoming an issue in third world countries.  Boat stoves for long distance cruising have become a vexed issue, but then, come to think of it, so has long-distance cruising, with visa requirements, advance notification regulations, excessive admin fees for clearing into places like Australia etc.  There is no perfect commercial stove but perhaps a genius like David Tyler can invent an efficient alcohol one and we can fit a large, separate storage tank, so we can stock up with alcohol in places where the costs are reasonable.

Annie Hill wrote:

Arne Kverneland wrote:My guess is that pricking the jet just before shutting down, with the burner still hot, was less hard on the needle.

That could well be so.  It wasn't something that ever occurred to me.

On the other hand, I was less lucky with the burner in Johanna’s Taylor heater. That one also had an Optimus burner, but not of the same model as those in the Optimus 155 stove, so regular attention was needed.  Frankly, that burner could be a real pain.

One of the things that you learn, when you cook with kerosene, is that you are dealing with something that has personality.  Nearly always there is a 'good' and a 'not so good' burner and you find yourself lighting the good one first and using it for preference.  Then, one day when you have two burners going, you discover that they have swopped roles for no apparent reason and start using the other one for preference until it happens again.  It all adds variety to life.

Annie,

remember then that fourteen years of my use in Johanna may sum up to fourteen months of your use. Still, I was quite happy with it. My guess is that pricking the jet just before shutting down, with the burner still hot, was less hard on the needle.

On the other hand, I was less lucky with the burner in Johanna’s Taylor heater. That one also had an Optimus burner, but not of the same model as those in the Optimus 155 stove, so regular attention was needed.  Frankly, that burner could be a real pain.

Arne

Jim

no, the dirt did not «come right back up», as you put it. Still, this was not as good as the internal pricker, and it was a relieve when I got the Optimus 155 with these improved burners. I guess one could say there was a reason for inventing the internal pricker (and the ‘throttle/shut-off valve’). However, adjusting the heat by increasing or relieving pressure in the tank, as on that butterfly stove, has worked well enough for me, since each burner had its own tank, pump and valve.

The standard procedure before shutting down a self-pricking burner on Johanna’s stove was to turn the valve knob fully ccw before finally shutting down by turning it fully cw. This ccw. action made the pricker protrude up from the jet, and this simply meant that next start-up would be trouble-free. I used ordinary kerosene, not fancy stuff ‘for soot-free and odourless cooking’, and the stove still worked very well for the 14 years I had it in Johanna. I have to add, of course, that I didn’t live on board, but on the other hand, I visited Johanna often, summer and winter, and the stove was lit just about every time.

Arne