Customer Reviews

Alpha Electric Igniter Portable Propane Gas Stove Range Camping

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I read some of the reviews about this burner and I was somewhat nervous about purchasing. I hunted for something similar, but all searches lead me back to this model. The burner is well made, quite heavy metal, and worked fabulously. The starter kicked in the flame each time, although I did have a long lighter handy in case. I used this burner to prepare paella on my new 15" paella pan. I loved it. Heavy duty, worked well for me, was easy to light and control the flame... I am glad I took a chance on this one!

I purchased this burner to melt lead in a large cast iron pot. I was frustrated with the smaller burner I had as it would take over 2 hours to melt 30lbs of lead. This burner is very stable and had a 30 pound pot of lead melted to 600 degrees in just 40 minutes, and with the flame control, I could easily set the heat down to keep the temperature constant. Wish I had bought this a year ago. It attached easily to a standard propane tank for the grill. Electric start does not always fire it up on the first try, but I have never known an electric start to work 100% anyway.

I have been searching for an affordable portable cook top/burner WITH electric start for a while, until I saw this one. After I see the positive review, I ordered it right away.

But I was so disappointed after using it. I don't know if I get a defective item or not(the seller refuses to admit it is a defective if it is.) The fact is, I have been using it for 2 months now, and during these time frame, the electric start works a handful times at most. (But everyday I tried several times to start it. So you do the calculation.) Will never purchase from this seller or this company any more.

I purchased the Big Bertha stove to fire up a large (7 quart jar capacity) pressure cooker for canning. Upon arrival, the stove was banged around during shipping and did not sit level upon a flat surface. I was able to file down the offending leg slightly and now it sits rock solid level. In operation, this stove gets hellishly hot, it can boil a full pot of water in minutes. The 6 ft gas hose is rather sticky and smells of plastic resins and chemicals. This stove works well, has a full range of adjustment and puts out sufficent heat for pressure canning purposes. You can set a large pot on this unit with the controls being accessable.

Nice solid product, not to happy with the hose and regulator, it just has regular hose clamps on it and the tank connection don't fit on the new 25lb tanks.

It needs the little (tit or male pin )to push the gas valve in when you tighten it so if you buy the stove you have to buy a new hose and regulator.

The stove is fine. But the fire is a lot weaker than the previous one I owned. For Chinese cookings a larger fire is needed. Since BTU number was not mentioned, I could not find out until I received the item.

The Stove works pretty, however..... there is an issue with the regulator/tank connector. The tank connector does screw into the tank BUT the fitting is too short to activate the gas flow on an "OPD" / "ACME" style tank. If you have a POL socket on the propane tank, (Not legal here in Florida)then you probably won't have any issues.

I keep backups for propane parts and was lucky enough to have a old POL/regulator from and old grill.
Luckily the Wok burner uses screw-on hose clamps instead of the crimp on type. I replaced the unit with my old one and the stove fired right up.

The stove itself is a good deal.

The "click light" is flaky but it does work. Be prepared for a 6" jet of fire coming out of the control unit where it attaches to the burner. I thought it was a giant leak at first. They really wanted to make sure that the stove lights.

The instructions will give you a good laugh...phrases like "If you find the fire is strange, proper place". They are trying to tell you to adjust the air mixer under the control unit if the flame is yellow and not blue. (I'm pretty sure). The instructions are full of these typos and phrases.

The control of the flame is pretty straight forward. you can turn the flame down very low by adjusting the dial to the 10-11 o'clock position, but they seem to want you to keep the control at 9 o'clock to 6 o'clock. It does work well if you use 9-6 setting.

One look at the regulator and I would have wanted to replace it anyway. The quality of the rest of the stove is fine, except for a slightly flacky "ignition" switch. The hose looks cheap but I noticed it has a liner in it to prevent leaks.

The burner does not have any screen or grill to support a pot or wok smaller than outer ring. No problem, I can get a grill grate to work so I can also take it camping.

All in all I got a decent deal. Even if you consider having to buy a new regulator.

Product works as advertised.
The only concern is the packaging. On receipt, noted main input connection for gas burners was not protected/capped.
After preparation as per written instructions, noted only inside burner lite. On further examination, physically took unit apart, found pieces of packing material lodged in the inlet to the outside burner. Removed obstruction and unit operates as advertised.

The Product I recieved was "NOT NEW". When I recieved the box it had been opened and re-taped closed. When I opened the box, the unit was shoved in and the unit had rust on the cover as well as being pitted.
I am currently waiting for a response from amazon on how and where to return for a full refund!!!

Great burner - low is low for keeping warm and high is high enough for wok cooking. It is hard to find a burner that can do both. This is the one. The hose is maybe 4 feet which is a good length. Fitting on the regulator is correct for a USA propane tank.
However it has a few quirks:
* It is for a table so the table needs to be metal or a heatproof material. It gets hot underneath.
* The other item to watch out for is the flared fitting connection. This unit came with a rubber gasket. Check with your plumber or gas technician to see if a gasket is EVER needed on a brass flare fitting. I have many propane stoves with the same flared fitting and NONE of them have a gasket. I did try using the gasket and seals well and does not leak but the fitting sure feels funny and not rock solid like my other stove fittings.