Marine Stove Power

[Gallivanters]

This "new trick" has been working well for two years and I reckon it's finally worth sharing...

When fitting-out a boat for living aboard - I'm convinced that one of the best ways to keep a wife happy is to purchase and install the best stove / oven available. She enjoys cooking... and I eat better. Makes us both happy, right?

So I spared no expense to get my hands on the best one (in my opinion) and have it shipped half way around the world from Australia to the Virgin Islands. And it's a real beauty with four burners, broiler & thremostatically controlled oven. It's all stainless steel with electric ignition, thermo-couplers, tempered glass door, etc, etc, etc... I also did the prudent thing and added an electric solenoid valve in the gas locker and gas sniffer / circut breaker / alarm near the stove for the ultimate in safety.

I followed the instructions which required me to run a two conductor wire from the breaker panel under the cabin sole, through the engine compartment, past the fridge and up the opposite side of the hull to reach the stove & solenoid breaker plus another from there, snaked through the guts of the boat aft to the gas locker in the stern... a bit of a hassle and a lot more wire than one would expect.

All went well until we got underway to leave the Caribbean, three years ago... when we discovered that whenever the stove was being used... and I keyed the microphone to speak on the SSB radio - the breaker that controlled the gas solenoid would trip and thus shut down breakfast, lunch or dinner! It became quite annoying... especially for my dear wife.

So - here's the simple and cheap solution to that issue: First, I disconnected the power supply from the main breaker panel and back of the stove & solenoid controller. Next, I connected a 9 volt transister radio battery to supply power to both the stove igniters and gas solenoid breaker... and the stove / SSB problem has been cured!

I made the switch in Panama and recently installed a new battery, even though the original battery still "tasted" like it still had lots of life remaining.

Transister batteries are cheap & available everywhere and a bag of 5 snap-on battery connectors cost about two dollars at Radio Shack stores... a fraction of the cost of the wires and way easier to install. I only wish I'd thought of this sooner.

To Life!

Kirk

PS - I believe this simple battery will work with any stove equiped with electric igniters... but it's polarity sensitive with my particular stove.

[Lighthouse]

Thanks for sharing Kirk.

[delatbabel]

It sounds like you have an earth leak in your SSB circuit somewhere.

I'd be interested to know the stove details. I'm in Australia and the best one I could find was imported from Italy!

[Gallivanters]

Our stove is a BROADWATER MARINE STOVE - Schooner model. Made in Australia and distributed by MaxCo Industries.

It was originally made in NZ under the name MARINER OVEN. This is my third such stove and as good as they get... in my opinion. I considered swapping my last one from our last boat when we moved onto this boat but ordered a new one with free delivery to the Caribbean after it was used as a display model at the Miami Boat Show.

I've looked around and find it odd that none of the manufacturers of marine stoves with elecrtic igniters suggest to use a 9 volt transister radio battery as a power source. They all say to hard wire it from the ship's battery.

To Life!

Kirk