Stove top cooking

[Moe]

And given this Harbor Freight stove appears not to come with a regulator, keep in mind there are two types of regulators. High pressure (13 psi) is for outdoor equipment, such as gas grills. Low pressure (< 1 psi) is for lines and equipment used in habitable spaces, such as in RVs.

--
Moe

[Terry Chiccino]

With all this talk of propane settling in the bilge, how do you tell it's there? Seems like it would be difficult to detect with your nose!

[DLT]

A match is a sure way to find it...


Sorry, couldn't help myself...


That's part of the danger... You may not know it is there until you find yourself flying through the air...

They make all kinds od gas detectors, that you can use. But, then you have to find a way to get it out... Bilge blowers might help...

At any rate, I'd rather just not put propane in there in the first place...

[kmclemore]

Indeed, Terry. I've yet to hear of a bloat blown out of the water by the occasional connecting/disconnecting of a propane stove. Now if you have a leak, that's a whole different animal, of course.

I'll tell ya, I'm so paranoid at this point that I'm considering leaving a pilot light going down there in the bilge just to burn off any stray gas!

[Catigale]

Its amazing, but your nose is actually sensitive enough to detect the class of smelly chemicals (the thiols) that they put in propane at the single molecule level - better than any instrument. Coke heads from the 1980s lack this safety system of course.

There is a reason for this of course. Everyone knows the smell of rotten eggs (Hydrogen Sulfide) - but H2S is actually more toxic by mass than cyanide!! If you get exposed to lethal levels of cyanide you will be so nauseated by the smell that you would know to stagger from the room. Cyanide doesnt smell that much, and once you detect it its already bound up your HGb and snuffed you.

You cant get enough LP from connect/disconnect in your bilge to blow yourself up unless the valve is faulty and spews gas out - still, there is no reason to tempt fate when its simple to come upstairs is there??

[Don T]

Hello:
I googled boat fires and came up with the insurance company risk figures. Turns out last year only 1 boat had an explosion due to propane and it was from defective and bypassed equipment. 5 fires due to alcohol stoves. 4 of which were from other items catching fire cuz they were too close and one from a spill when filling that went un-noticed. There were 18 engine fuel fires. I didn't get the details on those. Pretty interesting read though. I don't quite know how to take the data cuz' they didn't have percentage figures of alcohol to propane use. So with no frame of reference I can't say which is safer. It's for sure greater safety measures, equipment and caution must be used for propane. Common sense must prevail. It looks like stupidity is the greater danger no matter which fuel is used.

[Catigale]

It looks like stupidity is the greater danger no matter which fuel is used.

indeed.

A google search is interesting, but not statistical until you get quite a few hits ..more like 30 cases. Still, the statement about common sense is profound and is more important than what kind of fuel you use...

[kenny]

For those of you that already have generators, does anyone use them to run small AC powered hotplates to cook on. I'm thinking I need a Honda 2000 (opr 2X 1000i units) for other AC loads, and just wondering if anyone has tried this. Seems AC hotplates etc are very, plus can run other AC loads as well ( or at least right after cooking etc)
Any comments. I currently have no stove, but am thinking this is a possible approach to at least investigate.
(also, even with a lower efficiency difference which I assume exists, I assume liquid gasoline has more BTU per space and weight than propane bottles or small tanks??

[Catigale]

Kenny

this would work fine, a hotplate is a resistive load which is forgiving to voltage variations and spikes, so it wont care too much about the power source

Energy wise, the efficiency will suck - you are basically burning fuel to make electricity at 35% efficiency, then using that electricity to make heat.

You could buy a simple one burner gas burner for $40 or so (Coleman or like) and get your heat directly from fuel.

Of course, if I had a generator running already, I could see adding the $10 hotplate for light duty stuff as convenient.