More than 50 % of stove fires are alcohol stove fires

[ris]

Seaworthy Oct 15 edition states "The incidence of fires due to stoves has decreased with the gradual REPLACEMENT of alcohol stoves with propane stoves and electric ranges. Two percent of boat fires were caused by stoves, more than half resulting from problems with lighting alcohol stoves. Given how few alcohol stoves there are on boats these days they are significantly more dangerous than those that use other fuel sources. If you still have an alcohol stove on board, you may want to consider upgrading. Most people agree that they don't heat very well, anyway." This entire quote is from the article on boat fires.
"Seaworthy" is the BoatU.S. Marine Insurance magazine.

[mallardjusted]

There's got to be more to those statistics ..... I.e., how did they start, because there is no way an alcohol stove would be more at risk than a propane one?

[ris]

Insurance companies are in the risk management business. BoatU.S. is an insurance company they are the ones publishing the magazine. It might be all the safety features built into the modern propane systems. I do not think they are trying to fool people into using propane stoves on their boats so they have to pay out more money. It was interesting to me in that only 2 out of 100 boat fires are from the stove. I would have thought the number for stove fires would be much higher.

[Russ]

I would love to drill down on those stats.

When was new to boating (1970s) as a kid we had horrendous alcohol stoves. These were pressurized monsters that required preheating the burner. I swear my dad almost burned up the boat dozens of times with these things. Really scary stoves.

Modern alcohol stoves I believe are much improved. I don't have one, however I've heard they are very safe, no big flames, not pressurized and most importantly can be extinguished with water.
We have a butane stove. Works great. Easy to use and heats water super fast. However, I'm always uneasy using it. I "sniff" the cabin floor and make sure we have hatches open. Yet I do believe the stats are true. Bottled gas fires are rare.

[bahama bound]

My boat came with a propane two burner stove ,I was not crazy about it but now we use it alot ,I always cut it off on the valve outside the boat ,it has a bottle about half the size of what a BBQ grill uses and last forever ! I never liked the alcohol stoves ,I think the key is common sense in either one you choose .

[WASP18]

My guess is flames from an alcohol stove are nearly invisible. That could contribute to the problem.

[kadet]

I suppose it is what you are use to, I grew up with LPG stoves in the house and camping we used shellite stoves and pressurised lights. I now have LPG in my house as due to the summer storm season it is not unusual to loose power when you want to cook dinner no town gas so we are on bottles.

I think as others have said it is the old pressure alcohol stoves that cause the problems and or people not familiar with them spilling the alcohol during filling then lighting them with the fuel outside the burners. Also as said the flame is almost invisible which can be dangerous.

[Highlander]

I use Butane stove


But I also have a fume alert installed on my boat top left in this pic


J

[Ixneigh]

The origo stoves seem pretty safe if you allow it to cool before refueling. However I now use a butan stove since it heats faster.
Ix

[NiceAft]

Seaworthy Oct 15 edition states "The incidence of fires due to stoves has decreased with the gradual REPLACEMENT of alcohol stoves with propane stoves and electric ranges. Two percent of boat fires were caused by stoves, more than half resulting from problems with lighting alcohol stoves. Given how few alcohol stoves there are on boats these days they are significantly more dangerous than those that use other fuel sources. If you still have an alcohol stove on board, you may want to consider upgrading. Most people agree that they don't heat very well, anyway." This entire quote is from the article on boat fires.
"Seaworthy" is the BoatU.S. Marine Insurance magazine.

Ris,

It would be nice if you could post an address for us to read the article, or you could just cut and paste it in a post. I am a BOATUS member, but have not yet received this issue.

Ray

[Chinook]

We brought a butane stove along as backup to the Wallas, and when I had to send the Wallas in for repair the butane stove stood in nicely. I did pick up a battery powered carbon monoxide detector just to be safe. Two evenings ago that alarm fired off, and for no apparent reason. It had been hours since we'd run the stove, the Wallas in this case, and it is externally vented. We were at a dock in a marina, with no engines nearby running, ours included. I'd just finished putting up the cockpit surround, since rain was expected later that night. If I put the alarm up in the open air it shut right down, but down in the cabin the readings rose quickly. It sure acted like it was working properly. I opened the forward hatch and put the bug net on it, and the alarm finally settled down. I have no idea where the CO was coming from, assuming that the alarm was working properly. It's been reading at zero ever since.

[Russ]

It would be nice if you could post an address for us to read the article, or you could just cut and paste it in a post. I am a BOATUS member, but have not yet received this issue.

I love Seaworthy Magazine.

http://www.boatus.com/seaworthy/magazin ... -fires.asp

[sailboatmike]

You will notice the BIG WARNING sign on the Butane stoves "Not To Be Used INDOORS" - why is this? Because they are DANGEROUS to use in a confined area that the gas cannot escape from.

Any gas that escapes will build up in the bilge and stay there until you ventilate it with a bilge blower.

Alcohol will cause a low rated fire , butane wont, butane will just explode, so maybe thats the difference, you can put out a alcohol fire with water or just smothering, there is no putting out an explosion

This will put you off using gas in your boat forever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxm3uMy6MPI

[kadet]

This will put you off using gas in your boat forever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxm3uMy6MPI

Not even for a second, life is too short to worry about what ifs

[Cougar]

Don't know if this was investigated specifically in the U.S. Over here in the Netherlands by far the majority of fires in boats are caused by propane installations. Thankfully I have the good old fashioned 2 burner Origo. If you use it like they tell you to, you're completely safe imho. By the way, the flames are well visible and they get hot enough to do anything we want in a decent amount of time. If you're in a hurry, you shouldn't be on a boat.