I had a Kenyon two burner alcohol stove in my live-aboard sailboat. It did a
good job, but cooking was slow. By merely changing the burners, I converted
the stove to kerosene. Pre heating with alcohol was still required, and the
fuel tank had to be pressurized. BTU output seemed to double with the
conversion. I could even make pressure cooker bread!
The "danger" of the kerosene conversion was that if there was a leak of
kerosene that ignited, water would spread the flames because the fuel floats
on water whereas alcohol is soluble in water and does not float on top and
continue to burn. This is a possible drawback to using kerosene burners on
our loco's -- a spill, if ignited, would be spread by water, not
extinguished. Also, thehe increased BTU output could also be a problem for
some boilers, and could mean that water would be used up before the fuel was
depleted.
May you have a fresh breeze in your sails and steam in your cylinders......
Mr. Lunkenheimer's associate, Walt
