what type of Alcohol to use

Ok I’m a newb I don’t know much about alcohol stoves. I made couple of penny stoves using pop can bottom and was burning 151 Dominican rum about 70-75% alcohol in these for fun; they work great but I noticed at the end a burned substance was left behind. I assume this was the other 25% sugar? I just acquired a Turm-Sport stove made in Germany and this burns alcohol. I don’t want the burned substance all over the burner so I assume I need this de-natured alcohol to run this stove I’ve been reading about. Problem is in Canada I can’t find de-natured alcohol in stores, all the stuff I’ve found is gel and leaves a silicone substance behind. I went to the drug store and found 99% isopropyl alcohol. It says it’s 99% alcohol and 1% water. Can I use this in my stove as I assume this will just evaporate the 1% water content. If somebody knows a thread with this already discussed can they point me to that

Thanks everybody

 

Can you not find denatured alcohol in hardware stores which usually sell them? Am not sure if iso alcohol will burn properly but you can try it on your pop can first before using it in the Turm. Someone knowledgeable about alcohol stoves will come along shortly.

Ron

 

You can burn several types of alcohol in alky stoves. Most people have best performance with Isopropyl with about 10% water. The water helps cut down on sooting.

Almost all alkys have some water in them since alky is highly attracted to water. To get pure alky(anhydrous) you are talking laboratory grade and Beeg bucks. Just use Isopropyl, Methyl or even ethanol.

Most store type rubbing alcohol is isopropyl but has about 30% water. It will burn but not well and will leave a fair amount of water in the tank as the fuel burns off.

Methyl alcohol is usually available in hardware store paint sections. It appears to work fine. Last time I looked it was about $10 or so a few years back.

You can even burn ethanol which is sometimes drinking alky but most often is denatured and poisonous. I have burned SDA(Slightly Denatured Alcohol) in my Trangias with good results. SDA 40 is a common ingredient in aftershaves etc.

Ethyl and Isopropyl are often available in bulk at oil, solvent and lubricant distributors. In the US it is about $12 to $20 depending on type per gallon. Iso cheap, ethyl expensive. If you want 50 gallon drums it is much cheaper.

In a pinch, you can even burn gasoline additive called HEET, since it is I think methyl alky, but it is not cost effective.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

Hi Boston you are spot on that that the turm sport burns alchol(de natured) in the uk methalated spirit do not use rum on your turm as you are right the deposit left behind is sugar and would realy gunge up the wick in the turm stove and would not burn as hot. i must admit i have not heard of isopropyl alchol but if it is 99% then it should be fine the 1% water content should make no difference as de natured alchol /spirit is water soluble to be sure try it in your penny stoves first to se how it burns

 

Isopropyl alky is also known as Isopropanol or 2-Propanol. Most people in the US call it Isopropyl or rubbing alcohol.

I think Iso is from petroleum feed stocks. It is poisonous, so no imbibing.

Ethyl or Ethanol. Usually denatured. Usually grain or corn alky.

Methyl or Methanol. Poisonous. I think this is from wood pulp and other rough feed stocks.

All are OK to burn, just don't drink them.

Jim Henderson

 

Isopropyl alcohol doesnt make a great fuel. http://zenstoves.net/Fuels.htm#Alcohol

Alcohol stoves are designed for ethyl alcohol. It has to be sold denatured (poisoned) and sometimes coloured. It is available in camping shops as fuel and hardware shops as a solvent.

 

Look for a de-icing fluid for your gas tank called HEET, the one in the yellow bottle. It is mainly denatured alcohol.

 

Greetings, and welcome to CCS!

Personally, I only use Methylated spirits, unless forced to use HEET, and then only the stuff with less water. Meths works like a champ, burns completely cleanly, and is the best alcohol fuel, IMHO. Experiment and see what works best for you. Take care, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc

 

G,,day in fun
sacriledge to burn rum, its for drinking.
kerry

 

Hello Boston Terrier Man

How is Toronto?

Methyl Hydrate is what I burn. Link

You can find it at Home Depot or Canadian tire http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/3/HouseHome/PaintStains/PaintThinnersStrippers/PRD~0497127P/Methyl%252BHydrate.jsp?locale=en]Link[/url] in the paint aisle.


Cheers,

Jeff

 

Turms run on meths, Same as trangias, Just meths.
You use the fuel lever to let a little meths into the bottom of the turm then turn the fuel off, Light the meths in the bottom and let this burn down, open and close the fuel valve to let a little meths through, Once the fuel tube gets hot enough the meths inside will boil and turn to a gas then blue flames will come from the burner hole and your away cooking.

Oh and dont add any water to the meths you use in a turm, it will splutter and not go very well.

 

Thanks everybody for all the help, the weather is starting to get nice here…. finally. We’ve had quite a rainy spring this year and the Mosquitoes chased me in last night. Being somebody that just can’t wait to play with a new toy I tried the 99% isopropyl in the Turm last night. I first followed the advice from our community and tested it in a Penny Stove and it burned completely clear at the bottom, after a couple of burns in the penny stove I saw the soot residue mentioned. This residue wiped away fairly easily so I figured I’d give it a shot in the Turm. I got a pretty good flame after the pre-heater base burned clear and the flame was around 6” at full open. I boiled a liter of water with my portable pot in around 6- 7min not exact I just looked the time on the BBQ. Not bad considering the Iso is probably not a great fuel to use and pretty dirty as the base of my pot had the black soot on it. I’m going to try Methyl Hydrate when I get out to Home Deport this weekend but allot of fun to run an alcohol stove for the first time.

Not scientific by any means but I noticed when I burned the Rum in the penny stove I got a really nice blue flame, with the Iso the flame was more yellow and red so I’m wondering if a better fuel source would produce more of the blue flame I’m trying to achieve in the Turm. Again I don’t have much knowledge with alcohol stoves to compare but looking in the reference gallery I see Member Robert H has the nice blue flame in his boil test.

 

Methyl hydrate, which is methanol, with a little water in it, should work fine as a fuel. It is interesting, though, that you are having trouble finding denatured alcohol (meths), which is ethanol poisoned with additives (often a bit of methanol), and which is ubiquitous in hardware and paint shops and is indeed the standard fuel for alcohol stoves.

As for the rum, what was burning was of course ethanol.

Methanol is extremely poisonous: 10ml will destroy the optic nerve permanently, 30ml will kill.

 

Thanks everybody for the advice and links. Now that i see what de-natured alcohol is i already have this in my garage. It's very easy here to find but i made the mistake asking the kid working at Candian tire if they carried it and he said he'd never heard of it.

 

Canadian tire carries de-natured alcohol?

Mine doesn't

Jeff

 

I will vouch for the difficulty in finding bona fide denatured alcohol. I usually just give up and us either 90% isopropyl alcohol or just pure methanol in the form of HEET. The methanol burns cleaner, but doesn't work as well to preheat as isopropyl alcohol. Not to mention that it is a magnitude more poisonous than rubbing alcohol.

So here's my suggestions:
At Walmart, Lowes, or Home Depot, there is a common product called SLX. It is a 49/49/1 mix of methanol, ethanol, and some ketone. It works okay. I have used it in penny stove before.

The other option is truly denatured alcohol. It is about 90-95% ethanol. It is Kleen Strip Green. Comes in a green tin can for about $7/quart. It burns quite well, is mostly ethanol so it burns hotter than methanol, and is not quite as bad for you. It is however more sooty and stinky than SLX alcohol or pure methanol.

I have found for priming stoves, 90% rubbing alcohol works the best for me. It's safe, cheap, and has a lot of other uses. In alcohol burning stoves though, it's not a good fuel.

 

Look for some sort of 'Dry Gas', it's added to the fuel tank in winter.
Should be on sale about now, too!!

 

If you ever get stuck for this sort of fuel (by whatever name) go to any chandlers and ask for 'marine stove fuel' (of course, disregard this advice if you are in the middle of a desert).

PS.. Why are there so many boat yards in Arizona??

 

Lake Meade comes to mind, 120 miles long...
Along with a bunch more lakes.

 

Hi Knight84

Sorry Canadian Tire does not sell anything labeled denatured alcohol at least not the one in Mississauga. I went by last night and spoke to somebody in the paint department and he suggested the same thing you posted Methyl Hydrate. He took me over to exactly this product so I knew he had some knowledge. I actually already had this form wood working so now I have almost two bottles. I’ll be doing a boiling test this weekend and comparing times for isopropyl 99% from drug store (very dirty and left quite allot of soot on the bottom) isopropyl diluted to 90% (I understand could be cleaner?) and the Methyl Hydrate (the bottle says 99.9 pure). I’m curious as to how the different fuels burn and if boil times are different. I will post results if anybody else is curious.

Also on a funny side note fired up my first Kerosene anything last night (Tilley Lamp) and learned a BBQ lighter for 30 seconds does not sufficiently heat up a generator and had quite a fire ball in the Back yard. Good thing I keep a garden hose next to me…. After the small inferno I used my torch and really heated the generator and it ran perfectly. Next time I’ll check with this community before I venture into unknown territory. 8)