Hi All,
My Phantom 32 has a very useful LPG stove and BBQ. with the gas bottle mounted outside on the pushpit. Currently in at the marina to have a gas sniffer fitted. The gas fitter wants to also install a bilge blower (which will necessitate an outlet on the topsides) before giving the system compliance.
Does anyone know if a sniffer and blower are required for compliance in NSW??? Seems a bit of overkill if I always turn the gas off at the bottle when I am finished cooking.
Cheers,
Mark
Phantom 32 "Aruba"
When I purchased my boat (NSW) it had a compliance plate, no sniffer, no blower. I added a sniffer.
The compliance plate would be around 7 years old and current for 10 years. None of this means that a blower is not required, that is just the set up on mine.
It would be interesting to ask the installer how he is planning on configuring the blower? LPG is heavier than air, so be effective against LPG the blower would need to be at the lowest point in the bilge or suck from that point. Funnily enough water also tends to collect here. I would be interested to hear how this is resolved to ensure that the blower collects and clears the air.
Gas fitter now tells me, "no blower - no compliance, no compliance - no insurance". He estimates the total cost to bring my LPG system (that has worked fine on the boat for the past 15 yrs) up to current compliance standards would be about $1000.
I am actually considering taking out the old LPG stove and taking the stainless steel BBQ off the pushpit and installing a two burner metho stove instead, which would cost about $500 and be safer and simpler (though a hell of a lot slower for cooking) and less convenient than the LPG set up.
What do others think about the LPG/metho decision, now compliance requirements are so rigorous???
Morning Bird has compressed natural gas (CNG). Very safe but now almost impossible to get the cylinders filled. I am looking at going metho as LPG will cost me a bomb to get installed with compliance and I don't like the idea of gas pooling in my bilge next to the starter motor of my centre mounted engine.
They have a compressed natural gas filling station at 7/11 service station Heathcote road moorebank maybe give them a call or go out and have a look
Maybe the best plan would be to keep the LPG and BBQ but disconnect it from the rest of the boat and go back to metho inside. Hopefully no compliance issues. Anyone using this arrangement?
May not have made this clear. I currently have an LPG bottle outside on the transom that is connected to a Marine Stainless BBQ and is plumbed to an LPG two burner stove/oven in the cabin. Gas fitter is saying a blower in the cabin is now needed for compliance/insurance.
My thought was to keep the BBQ and outside LPG bottle only. Remove the plumbing and LPG stove and replace with a metho two burner in the cabin. I have used metho stoves on previous boats and I think provided you are careful they are safe and simple to use at sea.
From my understanding, that should be alright. But run it past the gas fitter and see what they say.
Contact NSW Fair Trading, Energy Utilities Unit. They should be able to help with the specific regs for NSW. AS 5601 is the Australian Standard, but it appears the States then have their own Regulations (whilst complying with the Australian Standards).
in WA, the quote from the Gas Standards Regulations is:
Ventilation (1) If natural ventilation is not sufficient to provide for fresh air requirements and to adequately remove any leaked gas from an appliance, the natural ventilation must be supplemented by mechanical means.
The law roughly in Qld and NSW is that a boat sold must have a gas certificate. In S.A u need to only hold one if its a new registration.
i sold my last yacht and removed the gas bottle to avoid the extra expence and hassle of getting another gas certificate.
have you just fitted the gas?
User at own risk is my moral now.
True, but apparently they can use the lack of current gas compliance not to pay up in the event of a fire.
Wow, what a tricky question ....
A few years ago I was having a beer at a sailing club on a hot summer day and "boom" from outside. A yacht went up in smoke due to a LPG leak. After that I decided to go metho stove.
But like Cisco said they have risks too. One time the metho jumped out of its burner (alight) on Trek and next thing we had a galley fire. Lucky we were on the ball and got it out.
Gas and metho are both risky. But there's two things in favour of old metho stoves - #1 once the flames out the risk is gone. No tanks of explosive gas hanging around. Whether I was fantasizing or not I always worried about having a tank of gas on the boat in a thunderstorm. And - #2 you can get metho anywhere. Even on a island out the back of Vanuatu.
We went with boring old metho!
Well after considerable thought I have decided to get rid of the LPG totally including the BBQ. Never liked the look of the gas bottle and BBQ hanging off the transom anyway. I can also live without an oven so I an just going back to a two burner metho stove.
Next question Maxi or Origo??
I think Maxi would be the go.
There seem to be more of them around and even Whitworths have spare burners for them. Maxco are still in business I believe
Maxco Industries, Unit 10 / 45 Powers Road, Seven Hills 2147, (02) 9620 7088.
Referring to Trek's post re metho fires. As water absorbs metho, in case of a fire on a yacht where there will not likely be pools of flaming metho, using water to extinguish the flames should be quite safe.
Hi, thought I'd join the forum.
I like pressure kero, as it has a high energy content, it is like cooking
with gas, and does not explode like LPG.
Since kero has such high energy content, it is possible to carry enough
fuel for cooking to last a year.
However pressure kero is high maintenance. The burners can clog up with
carbon. There are various ways to fettle them as discussed on:
classiccampstoves.com/
And in the book by Nigel Calder: Boatowners Mechanical and Electrical Manual.
Marine pressure kero stoves require adjustable burners. I see cheap burners
on ebay without any type of adjustment, I don't know how you can use those.
There are now excellent Hanse No 1 burners available, reviewed here:
www.yachtingmonthly.com/gear/tried-and-tested-new-taylors-burners-28274
They are available here:
www.toplicht.de/en/shop/ofen-herd-und-kocher/oelregler-und-brennerzubehoer/taylors-zubehoer
www.base-camp.co.uk/exploded%20views/Optimus/207%20burner.htm
Taylors still make Pressure kero stoves and ovens. Hal Roth How To Sail
Around the World: p.363 "I do not recommend the 029 Model". Chapter 24 has
stories of boats taking lots of precautions with LPG and still exploding,
with deaths and loosing limbs.
Hanse make a 2 burner stove, also crazy expensive:
www.weimeister.com/sortiment/kocher/
I guess it would be possible to convert pressure alcohol stoves to
pressure kero by replacing the burners with the Hanse No 1 burners.
I wonder if a second hand marine LPG stove could be converted to pressure
kero, I guess that would most likely require remote mounting the pressure
tank, as is done on the Taylors stoves.
Pressure kero stoves can be scary to learn how to use them. It is necessary
to have something like a frypan or pot, maybe with a little water in it
to absorb the heat, nearby to stop the flames hitting the headliner when
there is a flare up.
The way to light a pressure kero burner is to check there is kero and pressure
in the tank. Ensure the burner control is in the off position. If there is
any kero in the burner cup, to soak it up first with a rag. Pour some
metho in the cup at the base of the burner. Light it by say dropping a lit
match into the metho. Then it is important to wait for the metho to burn
out, as trying to rush this procedure will result in a flare up. After the
metho has burnt out, then turn on the control knob and light it with a match.
If it works then it burns with a blue flame and it hisses.
If something goes wrong with lighting the burner then the result is a flare
up. The yellow flames may hit the headliner if they are not covered with
the frypan or saucepan that you need to have at hand to keep them under
control. After the flames eventually go out, and the burner cools off
enough to be able to pour some more metho into the cup, then the procedure
is retried.
Flare ups may be scary. I think pressure kero is a lot safer than LPG,
since kero does not explode. With the correct procedure the flare ups
do not occur. I guess I was a slow learner since you can probably tell
I'm speaking from experience :-)
Even though it has a higher heat content, pressure kero just seems too complicated.
Thanks Cisco, I was leaning towards Maxi as they are easier to refill and I think they burn a little hotter than the Origo.
I have seen this one before. It took them two or three goes to get it to do that.
Welcome to the forum "someday". Your description on kero stoves is on the mark. I personally believe they are the best thing for a live aboard yacht. There is a maintenance factor as there is with everything else on a yacht.
There is no reason why a metho or gas stove cannot be converted to kero. It is just a mechanical thing. I do believe, due to the high cost of certification of gas stoves and the bloody mindedness of insurance companies, there will be a resurgence in the popularity of kero stoves on yachts.
I have never had a microwave on a boat but I can see how it could be useful.
Now as power = IV, 70Whr = 70/12 = 5.9 Amp Hours.
You would not want to have too many cups of coffee, but even my house battery/solar panels could manage quite a few cups a day. Might be worth considering....
I love my Dometic Origo metho stove. Its easy to use, super safe virtually spill proof because the cartridges are filled ed with an absorbent material which soaks up all the metho. To operate it you basically just open the valve and ignite the fumes coming off the absorbent material in the cartridge, no priming.
Thats a picture of the cartridge above, you just poor a litre or so of metho in the hole at the top and its good for a lot of cups of tea
Hi MB with gimbals and pot holders it costs about $550 from memory
www.seabreeze-industries.com.au/products/Dometic-ORIGO-3000-2-Burner-Stove-214.htm
Thanks Andy. Delivered down here it will be about $625. I'm tempted to just get one and throw the CNG away. I'll measure up my space and if it fits and I can't get a filling card this week for the gas I think my decision is made.