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Galley alcohol, gas, diesel and induction cookers/ovens

  • 25 May 2016 22:16
    Quote
    Reply # 4039516 on 4038323
    Anonymous member
    Arne Kverneland wrote:

    If that 65£ Maxie burner lasts for 3-4 years of live-aboard use, then I think it has paid for itself. After all, one has spent quite a lot (many times) more on fuel during that period. For weekend-sailors the burner should last 3 times as long, at least.

    I notice that they sell one old style and one new style burner. I could not see the difference. What is it between them?

    Arne

    Oddly enough, Arne, it's not the cost that concerns me (did I really write that?!).  What really ticked me off was the fact that after 6 months, the corroding parts (a) started to have sharp corners and (b) shed bits of crumbling metal onto the cooker base.  This meant that when I went to clean the cooker - call me house proud if you must - I occasionally cut my fingers and always got gritty bits all over the cloth, which were very unpleasant.  This also meant I needed a lot of water to rinse the cloth clean and although the stove is stainless, I still preferred not to leave salt water sitting on it, so would have to wash all the nasty bits out with fresh water, before going back for a final wipe clean.  A silly thing to irritate me, I know, but it did.
  • 25 May 2016 10:08
    Quote
    Reply # 4038368 on 1195343
    Anonymous member

    New style:  6mm hose tail.

    Old style:  threaded connection.
  • 25 May 2016 09:02
    Quote
    Reply # 4038323 on 1195343
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    If that 65£ Maxie burner lasts for 3-4 years of live-aboard use, then I think it has paid for itself. After all, one has spent quite a lot (many times) more on fuel during that period. For weekend-sailors the burner should last 3 times as long, at least.

    I notice that they sell one old style and one new style burner. I could not see the difference. What is it between them?

    Arne

     
  • 25 May 2016 08:07
    Quote
    Reply # 4038267 on 1195343
    Anonymous member

    Go right ahead, Annie. This is the only contact info I can find (the links lead nowhere):

    MAXCO INDUSTRIES

    +61 2 97361633

    8 Bennett St

    Mortlake, New South Wales, Australia 2137-2137

    http://www.maxcoindustries.com

    or:

    Unit 7/20 Loyalty Road

    North Rocks

    NSW 2151

    (612) 9683 1255

    Topstoves@MaxcoIndustries.com

    http://www.maxiemarinecookers.com


    "The Broadwater range of gas fuelled marine stoves is a world leader in quality, style, reliability and durability. The Maxie and Tudor ranges include gas and spirit fuelled burners. The stoves are proudly Australian made and have been manufactured for over 75 years".

    But I don't hold out any hope of success. It would be easier to make our own:

     I entered 'copper stopend 54mm' into the eBay.co.uk search box, and very quickly found the basis of the burner chamber. Add in some sheet copper to form the preheating cup - an easy job. Add in some 6mm copper tube, that must pass through the burner chamber and then turn back on itself, to be squeezed shut and then re-drilled with a 1mm hole. Make a 10mm hole in the burner chamber, opposite the 1mm hole. Add a 6mm needle valve with compression fittings. Buy a MAPP gas torch and some sifbronze rods. Add in a little bit of metalworking skill, and some time, and you're there.

    Total cost for materials for two burners: £39, free carriage

    Cost of one Maxie burner £65 + carriage

    Last modified: 25 May 2016 08:30 | Anonymous member
  • 24 May 2016 21:49
    Quote
    Reply # 4037633 on 1195343
    Anonymous member
    Maybe we should send a petition to Maxie asking them to upgrade the quality of their burners (and their stove gimbals, come to think of it) and tell them they will be assured of a steady market of junkies!!
  • 24 May 2016 15:38
    Quote
    Reply # 4036717 on 4036394
    Anonymous member (Administrator)
    David Tyler wrote:

    The Maxie burner flame is as robust as a LPG or pressure kero flame, and I've settled on a one litre tank. I think this is a setup that's safe enough.

    One litre of spilled alcohol is a nuisance, but not a disaster. Even if it catches fire, a frightened man with a bucket will deal with it quickly and safely - water both extinguishes the fire, and dilutes the alcohol so that it will no longer burn.

    One litre of kero is a mess. It would be difficult to make it catch fire, but if it does, a dry powder extinguisher will be needed, making more mess. A frightened man with a bucket will spread droplets of burning kero around the cabin.

    One litre of spilled LPG, expanding to several cubic metres of gas, is a Red Alert. if it catches fire, my hypothetical man won't live long enough to be frightened.


    David,
    I buy your arguments and agree with you with respect to safety. It appears very unlikely that the Maxie burner will fail and create a dangerous situation. I would like to build a one-burner Maxie stove myself, but these days my focus is on  assembling a big puzzle: Ingeborg's junkrig...

    Good luck with your Weaverbird, she makes a lot of sense to me.

    Arne
  • 24 May 2016 12:34
    Quote
    Reply # 4036394 on 4035699
    Anonymous member
    Darren Bos wrote:If you haven't bought a little kettle yet David, I bought a 1.5L Fire Maple kettle from Amazon with a heat exchanger on it (similar to the BruPot Mark was talking about).  It reduces the time to boil a litre of water by about a minute.  I can't imagine anyone so desperate for a cup of tea it would matter, but the fuel savings are nice. 

     I still think the Origo is a nice stove, and I can't imagine anything safer (the Maxie will continue to leak fuel if the burner goes out).

    I did consider these kettles with extra heat absorption devices, but they make the kettle higher, which is not so good on a gimballed cooker.

    I can think of something as safe - the wick burner with rack-and-pinion adjustment and a perforated metal chimney. But it's beyond my powers to make one.
    Arne Kverneland wrote:

    Interesting, Darren.

    The natural follow-up question is then; is the flame on the Maxie vulnerable to be blown out by draft/wind? If the flame is robust against being blown out ( and the feeder tank is kept small), the lack of automatic shut-off may not be such a big deal. Unlike with kerosene, if one spills alcohol, one may just wash it off with plenty of water.

    Arne 

    The Maxie burner flame is as robust as a LPG or pressure kero flame, and I've settled on a one litre tank. I think this is a setup that's safe enough.

    One litre of spilled alcohol is a nuisance, but not a disaster. Even if it catches fire, a frightened man with a bucket will deal with it quickly and safely - water both extinguishes the fire, and dilutes the alcohol so that it will no longer burn.

    One litre of kero is a mess. It would be difficult to make it catch fire, but if it does, a dry powder extinguisher will be needed, making more mess. A frightened man with a bucket will spread droplets of burning kero around the cabin.

    One litre of spilled LPG, expanding to several cubic metres of gas, is a Red Alert. if it catches fire, my hypothetical man won't live long enough to be frightened.
  • 24 May 2016 07:38
    Quote
    Reply # 4035978 on 1195343
    Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Interesting, Darren.

    The natural follow-up question is then; is the flame on the Maxie vulnerable to be blown out by draft/wind? If the flame is robust against being blown out ( and the feeder tank is kept small), the lack of automatic shut-off may not be such a big deal. Unlike with kerosene, if one spills alcohol, one may just wash it off with plenty of water.

    Arne 

    Last modified: 24 May 2016 07:41 | Anonymous member (Administrator)
  • 24 May 2016 04:55
    Quote
    Reply # 4035699 on 1195343
    Deleted user
    If you haven't bought a little kettle yet David, I bought a 1.5L Fire Maple kettle from Amazon with a heat exchanger on it (similar to the BruPot Mark was talking about).  It reduces the time to boil a litre of water by about a minute.  I can't imagine anyone so desperate for a cup of tea it would matter, but the fuel savings are nice. 

    My biggest beef with the Origo isn't the time, or insufficient heat, it is the incomplete combustion.  I took a Maxie and an Origo side by side and put them through their paces.  The Origo was slower and used more fuel, but more annoying is that it leaves an ethanol smell compared to the Maxie.  Also, when using an identical pot on both stoves, the handle was only warm (I could hold it indefinitely) on the Maxie, while on the Origo the pot handle was very hot and had to be released  immediately.  I still think the Origo is a nice stove, and I can't imagine anything safer (the Maxie will continue to leak fuel if the burner goes out).
  • 23 May 2016 22:41
    Quote
    Reply # 4035435 on 4034371
    Anonymous member
    David Tyler wrote:

    I'm going to have a rethink, and scale down the size of my Maxie-based cooker. Looking at my requirement with brutal honesty, I'm going to be cooking for one on a small boat with a very small galley. I don't really have room to store my 20cm Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker, though it has been a good friend to me when cooking year in and year out on a larger boat. 

    I've ordered an 18cm cast aluminium pan as the basis for the cooker, so it's thicker-walled and heavier (though I think I'll forget gimballing for the time being - boiling a kettle and heating a can of soup will suffice while underway this summer). 

    I've bought a tiny pressure cooker, a Premier Handi Hard Anodised Pressure Cooker 1.5 Litre made in India and sold by Amazon UK. It's actually 1.2 litre capacity, but I've found that it is exactly the right size for a one-pot meal for one person. Its diameter is 16cm. So I can follow that up by buying a 1 litre hard anodised camping kettle; I already have some 16cm stainless steel pans. 

    This plan wouldn't do for living aboard; but I'll be sailing during the summer months only, in Weaverbird, and that makes a difference.

    Well, you are at the cutting edge of technology, here, David :-)  I think you'll find you can do an astonishing amount with this kit.  I managed to cook myself some quite elegant meals when tramping, and carrying the food was even more of an issue than the cooker!

    Your new pressure cooker is cute as ..., but they say they won't deliver to New Zealand - nasty people.  Because of my predilection for making soup in the winter, I went for a three-litre Futura pressure cooker and am completely besotted with it.  It was displayed by The Museum of Modern Art,in New York, too.  Its hard anodising appears to be holding up, unlike that on the Jamie Oliver pan that I bought.  However, I reckon if you add a small frying pan to your kit there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to cook 'proper' meals and leave the cans of soup where they belong, on the supermarket shelf. 

    If I had some of your skills - and more time - I'd be tempted to try out making a cooker myself.  I just cannot understand why no-one is manufacturing a good-quality, solid, seaworthy alcohol cooker!
       " ...there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in junk-rigged boats" 
                                                               - the Chinese Water Rat

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