alcohol stove question

[Les Blackwell]

Hello all,

We just got back from a three day cruise to Spencer Spit on the east side of Lopez Island in the San Juan Islands. For those of you coming to the islands for a first time make this on your charts. It is a beautiful state park with good holding ground for anchoring. Nice rocky beach good for walking and working the dog or kids. When there this past weekend we watched a comely young lady paddle board her dog to shore. Cute.

But here is my question. How do you that have an alcohol/electric stove use the alcohol part of it. I filled the tank with 6 oz of alcohol with a little extra for the center. It would light with a little puff, I would put the electrical part down and put my tea kettle on......and it took over forty plus minutes to heat water.

So what am I doing wrong. I use to have a boat with a pressure alcohol stove and it was faster then this one.

Any hints that any of you have on the use of the alcohol stove would be gratefully appreciated.

Les

reasonably new owner of a RT 25SC adagio.

 

[Navigator's Son]

I've never used the alcohol portion of my stove. Only the electric.

But now you've got me wondering... Are you really supposed to have lowered the electric component, or is that supposed to stay raised, out of the way?

I'm guessing you're not supposed to lower the electric heating element, waiting for answer from other experienced users

 

[baz]

I've never used my alcohol stove on my R-21EC and don't believe there's any electrical aspect to it. It does have a black glass that lowers/sits on top of the stove presumably for the stove's protection. If you're sure yours does have electric then it's different from mine on my R-21EC.

I'm going down to my R-21EC later today and will look into this aspect and post back what I find out.

Of course, you could call Andrew or Kenny to get answers quickly if they respond to their mobile phones (which they normally do). 🙂

 

[oneeyedjackass]

I'm going to watch this thread for sure. We've had some issues with our stove, most likely operator error. It's hard to light and seems to take a long time to really get burning hot. I've started taking a small container of fuel to prime the element. 30min later I got coffee 😀 Not user friendly like our propane stove in RV.

 

[Navigator's Son]

I decided to do some searching for myself. I don't know if our exact model is the Kenyon B61145, but this sure does look like the same thing to me.

Features
The burner is easily controlled by rotating a wheel that extends slightly through the cooktop flange
The electric element can be used as the grate for the alcohol burner and pivots up out of the way for easy cleaning
Electric element are provided in addition to the alcohol burner

I further did a search for the user manual - you think they'd have a statement that clearly says what to do with the electric element when using the alcohol portion, right?... Not one mention at all.

https://www.ajmadison.com/ajmadison/ite ... manual.pdf

Some of the other reading I've done says alcohol stoves do not burn nearly as hot as propane stoves do - but come on - 45 minutes to heat water?

I have an old Coleman camping stove and I've made a table to cradle it on the bow of my former Bayliner 265. I've since converted the cradle to fit the cockpit table bracket - if I need to cook something when I'm away from shore power, I will not be relying on alcohol. I also have a $25 butane stove, just in case.

 

[baz]

I've never used my alcohol stove on my R-21EC and don't believe there's any electrical aspect to it. It does have a black glass that lowers/sits on top of the stove presumably for the stove's protection. If you're sure yours does have electric then it's different from mine on my R-21EC.

I'm going down to my R-21EC later today and will look into this aspect and post back what I find out.

Of course, you could call Andrew or Kenny to get answers quickly if they respond to their mobile phones (which they normally do). 🙂

My stove on the R-21EC is just alcohol..... it has no electric aspect to it. Yes... I'm told it's not that good for cooking things. In a pinch I suppose it's better than nothing. 😉 😱

Also, I must admit, when I reviewed the R-23 I was somewhat disappointed in it's dual alcohol/electric stove even with it having the electric element. Having the electric when on shore power is a plus though.

 

[Foxislandmotts]

I use the alcohol stove often. Once it heats up it works quite well. I keep it full. I have never had to douse the pad, I just light it and lower the coil. When it heats up the flame begins to come out of the jets. Works just fine for oatmeal, soup, eggs, etc. I do plan ahead and light it a good 10 to 15 minutes before I start cooking.

I use an electric kettle with the inverter to heat water. This past weekend, I boiled water in the kettle, measured the hot water into the oatmeal, stuck the pot on the alcohol stove that I lit a few minutes before, and it was boiling in just a couple of minutes.

Janine Mott

 

[baz]

Yes, it does take a bit of patience and a little bit of time for sure. Well done. 😀

 

[Two killicks]

We used ours many times last year, it takes about 10 minutes to boil water, we fill it only thru the filling hole and it last for about 4 meals. We never put any alcohol on the middle pad like you mentionned, could this be the problem, too much fuel, not enough air surrounding the pad it self? we like the stove, but it does get the pan all dirty...

 

[Les Blackwell]

Thanks to all for your replies. I'm feeling better about the stove. I hadn't thought to go to the web to find the owner's manual. Duh! Brilliant. At least I now know I'm following directions.

To the Two Killicks--you make a good point. I won't use some alcohol in the center and see if that works better. Makes sense. I could live with ten minutes for boiling water.

Les

 

[baz]

RTFM as some would say.... :lol: (joking now, OK)

 

[Foxislandmotts]

Well. We obviously haven't figured out the nuances of this type of stove. Just spent three nights in the South Sound, using the alcohol stove each morning for breakfast. After filling the first morning, it took much longer to get going...all three days. So, just want to reiterate the need to plan ahead for possible long warmup times.

Janine Mott