New Stove, LPG Gas Sensor, Gas Solenoid – June 2020

New MaXtek 2 Burner & Grill Installation – June 2020

I finally decided to replace the rusty thirty-five year old Mariner cooker. The burners were clogging up plus the flame had a dangerous feature of blowing out with a gust of wind!

After lots of shopping around I decided on the MaXtek 2 Burner & Grill purchased from Barton Marine. It’s made in UK by Leisure Products (Bolton) Ltd (known there as the Neptune Hob). The burners are protected by flame failure safety cut-out devices. It came with the optional Gimbal & Pot Holder.

Gimbal Challenge – The main problem was getting the gimbal to work properly. The centre of gravity was too high. It tended to tip over when loaded with a kettle full of water!

After trying various possible solutions including attaching heavy weights under the stove, I eventually came to the conclusion that the gimbal would never work properly with this stove.

The distributor, to his credit, offered a full refund. As all other aspects of the stove are great however, I decided to keep it and to secure it to the base so it wouldn’t swing. We don’t anticipate doing much cooking while heeling over. Also the pot holder keeps the pots well secured on the hob.

I then contracted a local gas-fitter, Ross Alcock, to install the gas fittings as well as replace the LPG hose and to provide the Gas Safety & Compliance Certificate.

The only disappointment is that the cooker doesn’t have auto ignition but apart from that it works very well and overall I’m happy with the purchase.

I had a new stainless steel surround fabricated to my specs by Kia Ora Sheetmetal to protect the woodwork from burning.

New Gas Detector and LPG Solenoid Installation – April 2020

Prior to replacing the stove I installed the BEP Gas Detector and the LPG Solenoid Shut Off purchased from Barton Marine.

I contracted Cam at Southern Plumbing & Gasfitting to install the Solenoid and replace the LPG Regulator. They supplied a vented LPG regulator – not the standard BBQ regulator.

I then removed the old LPG switch panel and replaced with the new BEP Gas Detector together with a Remote Gas Sensor which I fitted just below the stove in the galley.