Interesting Indian Kerosene Burner "Premier Alfa"

I am not posting this in the SRG, because the stove is incomplete and I cannot find a picture of a complete one. I got this from a fellow that bought a case or so of them, and cannibalized this one for parts. The company, Premier, still makes stoves, but not this model.

I did see a complete one. Build quality was pretty poor. The pot rest was bent tin with lots of welding spatter and gubbed welds. The burner was a decent Siemens roarer, however. The pump is effective, large volume, and uses an O-ring rather than a cup leather. It actually works quite well after cleaning all the paint from the threads. The tank is the most interesting bit. It's a plumber's LPG cylinder adapted with a couple of additional parts. Thankfully, the cylinder appears to have been made by a competent firm. Painting was obviously not a priority, as was peeling since new.

This gave me the idea that a hobbyist in need of a large-capacity stove could probably whip one up from either a propane cylinder (properly purged, of course) or even a disposable refrigerant tank.

Capacity on this one is 3 liters, or about a ten-hour burn time on high with the large roarer burner, according to the manufacturer, who is still using the same tank for current production.

I will probably use it as the basis of a hot water heater I have been thinking of building. It's not an application I would sacrifice a pretty stove for, and this one sure isn't.

 

Thanks for posting. Looks like a good purely functional piece.

In the part of the world that stoves like this are built for, the alternative may be a dung fire. Poor quality though it is by first world standards, something like this is the answer to prayers for a lot of people.

 

Don't get me wrong - this stove is a testament to rugged, if somewhat brutal engineering. Once I got it cleaned up, (cleaned paint from pump, had to use a dab of high-temp pipe dope on the burner threads, as they were sloppy) it's functionally as good as my jewel-like Manaslu. With a large roarer, it really kicks out the heat. Perfect stove for canning, boiling the wash, or cooking breakfast for 100 in the woods.The pump is very high-volume and effective, and repair parts cost pennies at the auto parts store. The pump is greased with common tractor grease. They built it as good as it needs to be. They used a good burner on the original, and it's reliable. I bought one of those Butterfly wick stoves just to try it, and I can tell you there is no comparison. This is a Cadillac compared to the wick stove.

The fellow I bought it from was charging $25 for complete stoves in the US. From my research, these are about half that in Rupees in India. I paid $5 for the tank, and less than $10 for the burner. For a knock-about stove that will take a licking, that's short money. If I could find one of those old steel milk crates, I would use that as a pot support and be done.

Happy New Year all.

 

I subscribe to a charity that supplies stoves to refugees. A stove can literally make the difference between life and death. Women tend to gather cooking fuel, and a lot are attacked while doing so. Fortunately, a lot of brainy types have gone into working on cookers rather than iPhones, There have been some very strong engineering achievements in the stove line in the past ten years.

 

@Canuman That is FANTASTIC. Well done, sir.

 

I knew there as a good reason to like you Oregonians. Sensible folk, and very cordial. It's a shame that you share a border with some of the most irrational people I have ever stumbled across.

 

Thank you, appreciate the kind words.

Without getting too deep, there is unfortunately a large population of Oregonians who are doing their best to go that way as well, and drag everyone else along with them.

 

Yes, there is something wrong with place you can get 47 types of olives (and I love olives) but a roll of paper towels costs three bucks and a dozen eggs five and you can't take a walk in the woods without getting shot because you stumbled across a "grow op."

 

"Without getting too deep" is putting it mildly.

 

Not sure where you went shopping, but it's predictable that the kind of boutique market that would have 47 kinds of olives might be a bit pricey on staples. The dope growing ops in your state are probably all indoors, due to cold winters. I think things will be more pleasant for everyone if you refrain from painting all of us ("irrational") with the same broad brush.

Regards,
....Arch

 

Sorry, Arch. I was talking of Mendocino, which I couldn't figure out, even after a year. The store in question was Harvest Market, about the only place to buy food in Fort Bragg.

They no longer grow dope in Vermont. Since Maine has legalized, it's become a whole lot cheaper to run a van up there than plug in the grow lights. Or so I hear. I do not partake.

 

Clarification accepted, and I shouldn't have been so thin skinned. Sometimes small towns that get lots of tourism can support only a single market. Fort Bragg has about 7500 residents and many times that number of tourists. Locals in a lot of small towns make periodic pilgrimages to stock up in the nearest town with a supermarket. My town, of about 3500 people and maybe a dozen tourists on an average day, has a market selling expensive pickles, sourkraut, and salsas, a few varieties of some of the best dates I've ever eaten (also expensive), and a limited but decent selection of produce and other groceries at somewhat higher prices than in cities. We drive to a bigger town for groceries, though we sometimes pick up a few things when we stop in for dates.

California is currently in the process of legalizing cultivation (it's now legal in Mendocino, for example) so it should get a bit safer to walk in the woods.

....Arch

 

I couldn't get the fact that there were multi-million dollar vacation homes cheek to jowel with the meth addicts living under the Noyo bridge. As I recall, there is an IGA in Fort Bragg, but it's kind of grimy, and no cheaper on the basics.

The crunchies fought with the loggers, who weren't logging anymore, as the plywood mill shut down. In a town of 7500, there were 27 places to buy alcohol.

One salvation was the Grange, which was very active and put on a pancake breakfast a couple times a month. For five bucks, you could stuff yourself on cakers, eggs, bacon, ham, and sausage (not either/or, all three) and as much coffee as you could hold in one sitting. The people were old-school and welcoming. That was like home.

Also like home was the fact that they were trying to run an economy that once depended on resource extraction and manufacturing by selling bracelets at the local art gallery. You need to sell a lot of bracelets to replace one union job.

 

One good thing about legalization: a lot more of the actual jobs should be above ground. So I guess that's still resource extraction...

I remember sitting on the market porch in Belden, California (Plumas County) while hiking the PCT many years ago. There was a deal going down on the same porch, while a county sheriff drank coffee at the other end -- and it was a small porch. The dealer told me (the most obvious non-local there, and I just wanted coffee and gasoline) that he was supporting the local economy. He bought his PVC pipe from a bigger town nearby, and employed a lot of local folks in harvesting, grooming, etc.

....Arch

 

Anecdotally, legalization has been a good thing around here. Many legitimate jobs added to the area which previously either didn't exist, or were underground with essentially zero legal protections for vendor, client, or employee. No sense growing it clandestinely in one's children's closet when it can be purchased down the street. If/when such a business is robbed, they can actually call the police now. No more need to interact with the darker rougher members of society when again, it can be bought down the street.

It's prohibition all over again. I'm personally straight edge, teetotaller, whatever you want to call it, never had a puff or drop in my life, but am 100% in favor of legalization.

 

As for me, I was 100% against legalization. I've been listening to potheads for 50 years.

We have turned our towns here into Pottersvilles. Cannabis stores all over the place here now. All of this will be normal for the kids henceforward.

As for me, I can't figure how people can smoke so much of this crap. Warehouses, shiploads, like bales of hay.

Drugs have been the scourge of our time and generation. We live in a profoundly debased society, in so many ways.

The "economic" argument is a bad joke.

 

I don't understand it either. I've never been around an intoxicated person and gone "gee that looks like fun, I really want to do that to myself."

That said, anyone who wanted to indulge to whatever level was doing so already, legal or not. Most people who drink have no problem with a beer here and there while holding down a job, taking care of their families, and not hurting anyone. Pot is hugely similar, and I as a taxpaying citizen am disgusted at my tax money being spent on garbage like this.

Like almost everything the government gets involved in, hugely more issues were caused by the government involvement than the original concern.

 

That did get deep fast, didn't it.

 

Well, if people aren't growing it clandestinely in their children's closets, that part is a good thing, no doubt.

Pot is "hugely similar" to beer. Think I first heard that one or the equivalent in 1967. Which would be 50 years ago. Time flies.

Anyhow, I didn't bring it up. Chalk it up to old age.

 

I don't like the idea of cultivation (legal or otherwise), any more than I like Native American casinos. Both kinds of operations tend to debase the surrounding area. But when people have lived in intractable poverty for generations, I can't fault them for following up on an opportunity. I don't think occasional users cause any significant problems. (Disclosure: I do not use, myself.) I don't like interacting with frequent users, any more than I like dealing with alcoholics (both problems have directly impacted my extended family, so I know of what I speak). But, push comes to shove, I'd rather have pot legalized than to continue with the ridiculous situation of the past few decades.

....Arch

Edit: Yeah, that did get deep really fast. Happy New Year, everybody!