Hi, All It's been a while since I've been around, and it's good to see so many familiar names still here! In another thread a couple of years ago, Doc Mark had talked of the State of California banning denatured alcohol. I had about a half gallon of the stuff left, and still have a little bit so I'm not on panic mode or anything. Yet... Anyway, several substitutes were suggested, including Heet (the automotive fuel line de-icer. The yellow container is the one the company suggests for use as a fuel), 90% isopropyl, EverClear and probably some others. I've tried some of them with varied results. Recently someone told me to go look on Amazon. They have products listed as 99.5 or 99.9% isopropyl, with some being sold as "medical grade." I'm guessing it can be sold in CA since some of it's made here. It's not cheap--around $10/pint--but for stove priming use that shouldn't break the bank. Does anyone have any experience with this stuff? By the way, for the "rumrunners" among the crowd, I checked a can of denatured alcohol in Arizona recently. It was in the paint department of a big box store, listed as "stove fuel" and carried the warning: "Not for sale or use in CA." Doesn't say a word about "possession." Nudge, nudge, wink, wink? Thanks, Rick C
Howdy, @sa3spd ! Rick, it's great to see you back here again, my friend! Regarding CA's supposed ban on fuels, REI still carry it, and the only thing that has changed, besides the now higher price, is that it's marked "Stove Fuel", with NO mention of using it for anything else. Odd, ain't it?!?!! I guess enough people and companies made a fuss about that "ban", so CA backed off a tad. I've seen it at Walmart, too, so I assume that other such places may be offering it again, too, as does REI. Hope to see you at a future CASG, Good Sir! Again, welcome back, and hopefully, you can drop in more often now. Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
I get it if needed across the border in Nevada. Wonder if marine stores along the coast will have fuel, guessing there has got to be a few boaters who use alcohol stoves. Duane
Haven't tried it myself but this website comparing various alcohols and says this: 99% isopropyl alcohol boiled water almost a minute faster on average than any other fuel we tested. Yet, it was such a sooty mess to burn that we don’t recommend it at all. Even after burning a single ounce our mug was so fully coated in soot that even picking it up proved to be a messy ordeal. Storing a sooty cook pot in your pack would be a nightmare unless you bagged it. What’s more, the soot made it all the way to the rim of the mug. If you were to take a sip from your backpacking mug after having cooked with isopropyl alcohol the soot would immediately rub off on your lips. This effectively prevents you from consuming any food or beverage that has to be drunk from your mug or backpacking cook pot. Soaking the mugs in water for hours removed hardly any soot. To get it off I had to use steel wool and plenty of water, dish soap, and elbow grease. Ben
Isopropyl alcohol burns yellow and will soot unless the stove is a pressurized design with a jet or you otherwise cut down on the combustion rate. The latter can be achieved through adding water to 70% and some stoves plain will not burn it or stay lit or with some stoves simmering with them like not using supports on the titanium Evernew and setting the pot on the stove to block off the upper set of jets. You can get away with mixing isopropyl of the 70 to 91% variety with denatured alcohol to "extend" what you have or reduce the cost of methanol. I've tried this previously with varying success. Don't burn hand sanitizer in anything but an open burner since the glycerin is the nasty leftover stuff that doesn't like to burn. A different story if you actually can separate it from the alcohol but that gets into variable legality territory fast. Also from my testing with the HA Trangia pots: Using one of those white "magic eraser" type sponges will take the bulk of the soot off with ease. Anything left behind I find automotive polishing compound (as in the abrasive kind) with even a tissue or paper towel will clean it right off.
CleanStrip in the 1 Gallon can runs about $17 at Tucson Home Depots. Funny, they sell 10 oz of Yellow Heet for $1.29. CleenStrip Green [for all you planet-savers] runs about $8 a quart. This is before AZ sales tax, or ,,mordida'' to the CHP. Old Indian Trick from Boy Scouts was to rub dish soap on the bottom of the pots, let it dry, then the smudging washes off. Not so great for inside pots of inter-nesting sets, though.
My vote goes to the Hi-Test version of EverClear, as it has more versatility. Can be used for stove priming AND medicinal purposes. For example I carry it as a snake bite remedy. I also carry a snake.
There is more than one version? I ask because I do not buy drinking liquor. (I punched all my alloted drinking tickets while young. I have no tickets left.)
Yes, there are 3 different versions. Many states have prohibited the sale of the 190 proof 95% alcohol by volume Everclear. The State of New Hampshire only sells the 151 proof, 75.5 % version. There is also a 60% 120 proof version. The manufacturer clearly warns to dilute them all before consuming.
Since we are talking alcohol stove fuels here, I thought I would chip in that the Canada-wide chain store 'Canadian Tire' stocks the excellent--smells ok when burning--'E-nrg' yuppie glass fireplace fuel in 4L jugs. I mention this for the international CCS audience as maybe there is alcohol 'glass fireplace fuel' in your locale?
I prefer my 151 in the form of Rum. But I use it in tropical drinks, not camp stoves. Strangely, Bacardi ceased selling their signature 151 -- due to litigations from parents of lemming-like coed springbreakers. Largo Bay, Hamilton and Lemon Hart have stepped up production to fill the gap. Hmmm. I wonder what you'd get if you added a couple of tablespoons of blackstrap molasses to this NH 151 Everclear? Aged Demerrara pirate-strength Rhum?
I don't think this is available any more. I called the manufacturer and was told due to govt regulations in cannot be legally sold now. Do you have a product name/manufacturer for the fuel you you mentioned? Canadian Tire no longer has the Biofuel (ethanol) fireplace fuel.
All: Hm. Still is listed on today's Canadian Tire website, maybe I ought to buy all 16 bottles at my local store? All jokes aside, previous similar products were marred by being shipped in low density polyethilene (?) containers which leaked. Current batch of bottles seem much stouter! https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/e-nrg-bioethanol-fireplace-fuel-3-785-l-0644001p.html
Well, you got me there. This is news to me. I will pick up some tomorrow, thanks for the heads up. But with our screwy environmental laws this product may be removed for another reason.
I was next door to Can. Tire today on my cargo bike on another errand, thought of CCS, and bought an extra almost 4L bottle of 'e-nrg'. Being at the end of a very long supply chain one never knows when stuff will be available or...not!
No, no problem getting it here. It even has a “Prop 65 warning”, which they wouldn’t bother with if it couldn’t be sold in the state where that applies. ….Arch
Wow - that’s dead nuts on what we pay for our “metho” over here. A unique example of a fuel that costs the same in both countries…
