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ADVICE
Tested: Dometic Origo 3000
Forget LPG; this metho cooker is a safer but more costly alternativeLiquid petroleum gas (LPG) is a ubiquitous fuel source in camping and RV applications, but for all its convenience it does come with some decent drawbacks.
It's highly flammable – explosive, even – and, when a cylinder is empty, it needs to be refilled from a suitable filling station.
Those are two issues Dometic's Origo 3000 cooker needn't worry about. This two-burner cooktop is fuelled by methylated spirits, which won't blow your campervan or motorhome to Kingdom Come in the event of an errant spark, and which is readily available from just about any supermarket.
The safety factor alone has made the Origo 3000 a popular choice in the marine world, where LPG explosions have claimed many lives over the years.
The Origo 3000 is affordable to run too, the unit requiring 2.4 litres (worth around $12) to fill up for what Dometic estimates is four-and-a-half hours of cooking on high heat, or 10 hours of cooking on a normal setting.
I crossed paths with this cooker for the first time recently in an
Achtung Camper Hyundai iLoad campervan. It comes as standard in the Geelong-based firm's 'Social Butterfly' conversion package, and it served my wife and I well over the course of a weekend spent in Victoria's Mount Franklin State Park.
Achtung Camper doesn't recommend using the Origo 3000 for cooking inside its iLoad – the mounting rack provided near the van's kitchen sink is more for using it to make a cuppa – so after removing it from its storage compartment I moved it to an outdoor table to commence my assault on dinner.
It's a bit of a hefty thing to lug when fully fuelled and sizeable too, measuring 137mm deep by 464mm wide by 262mm deep, so I was thankful that table wasn't far away.
Fuelling the Origo 3000 is simple. The cooktop simply hinges up to reveal two cylinders – simply pour the methylated spirits in through the neck of each (up to 1.2 litres each), until the absorbent material within is soaked to capacity.
Then flip the cooktop down, turn the burners on via the dials on the front and ignite with a gas torch or long safety match. Easy.
It burns with a slightly odd smell – you probably wouldn't want to use it in a small campervan – but it does a perfectly good job of cooking a meal. My bush masterpiece was prawns and calamari on a bed of salad with sweet chilli dressing (no need to rough it in the great outdoors, is there?), and delicious it was.
The flame emitted by the Origo 3000 isn't quite as intense as that of a gas cooker, and so I suspect it takes a little longer to cook things. I say that because it took 20 minutes for our (full) kettle to boil, while it normally takes 15 minutes on our camper trailer's gas cooker.
Dometic, however, says the Origo can bring one litre of water to the boil in 10 minutes, with a flame that delivers 7000BTU/hr (2000 watts) on its highest setting.
Maybe our unit was a little affected by the mild breeze present on the night in question, although we did use the supplied folding wind shield.
I can't find fault with the workmanship, however. The Origo 3000 is one very sturdy bit of gear that should easily stand the test of time. The vast majority of it is built from stainless steel and so it won't rust, while cleaning is also an easy affair.
That solid construction is reflected in the Origo 3000's price. With
an RRP of $425 it's certainly not cheap, but it is a very fuss-free way of cooking and a whole safer than cooking with LPG.
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Written byRod Chapman
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Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
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