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bbaker2001's avatar
bbaker2001
Explorer
Jan 03, 2016

cast iron burner

have found this on Amazon. any ideas
I have a standard camp chef high output camp stove, but when I need to boil water, it turns everything bright red. worried it might melt. we boil crab when in Oregon, takes quite a while on 2 burner stove. each side is 14000 btu. this show as 150000, but really more like 50000.
some units show a 20 psi regulator, others at 5 or 10. what does this mean.
which do I really need.

also I see some have stainless cable. I pulled out my rubber for New Years, and it was so hard. is stainless better

  • bbaker, I have both of the units that you have posted pictures of. Both will produce much higher output than a standard, green Coleman camp stove. Get a variable regulator. Flame control on the cast iron single burner is pretty limited with the stock knob. The variable regulator will help you control flame from high to low much better. The burners in those 2 units are virtually the same.
  • bbaker2001 wrote:
    steaming
    do you put a grate or something on top???


    No, we use 3 tier steamer pots like this. Water in the bottom pan and crabs in the two upper pans. Depending on the size, we usually can fit 8-10 good sized Dungeness in it.


    Here is a link to steamer pots on Amazon. Clicky We have a local Asian market that carries them.
  • As others have said, you are looking at a turkey fryer. At least that was the original use. Now they are used for lots of activities which require lots of heat quickly. I use mine to deep fry turkeys, cook in my wok (actually a little too much heat for it and hard to control), steaming a big batches of tamales for a crowd, and cooking crabs. The stainless steel flex lines stay that way down to low temps.

    P.S. try steaming your crabs and you won't go back to boiling!!!
  • I have the dual version of the one pictured just above, and it only puts out a bit more than a Coleman stove. The Turkey fryer version at the top has a much higher regulator and sounds like a blast furnace when it runs. Use them lots to heat water, not just fry turkeys. They get glowing red too but I've never had a problem with it. I hate the new ones with the timers and the safety valves but I'm not sure the old basic ones are made anymore.
    Actually looking at the top one pictured I don't see all of that safety stuff. Probably a good one.

    Most stainless hoses are actually the stainless covering over a rubber hose for protection. They will still be stiff.
  • I use something similar when I brew beer. I've made 10 gallon batches with a propane burner and it worked just fine. I have to bring it to a boil for 60 mins.
  • it is the burner for a deep fat fryer used mainly for turkey but will do anything that you wish to deep fry. LOL saw one used the other day on the tv show moonshiners, they were heating up a still. Using it to heat anything you choose would be fine they do a wonderful job.
  • We hunt so we use something like this to heat water for our outdoor shower....but, I think it's a "turkey fryer". Instead of oil we use water....