cleanest burning alcohol?

[Kyle Purcell]

I've been messing with a few things I have built today, but as i was testing them, i realized that there was alot of blackening going on at the base of my pot and creeping up the side. So, to stop that i was wondering what is the very cleanest burning alcohol. Wether it is a mixture, single type, or whatever. Let me konw. Also, does distance from the stove matter (talking about a couple if inches)?

[george carr]

Kyle,
If it is in fact a fuel problem you'll usually get sooting from rubbing alcohol. My #1 choice by far is HEET in the YELLOW bottle. Second choice would be denatured alcohol, or brake line antifreeze. If you're getting orange flames as opposed to a nice blue flame color, it could be a jetting problem. If you check out the zen stove website you'll find a chart explaining flame colors and the reasons why, as well as a boatload of useful info regarding everything alcohol stove related.

George

[joseph daluz]

For multipurpose use, everclear is nice:
Clean hands
Clean around wounds
Stove fuel
Wont give you cancer
clean sap off you stuff

[Mark Hurd]

Kyle,
If you're using Isopropyl alcohol (sometimes called rubbing alcohol) you'll get a yellow sooty flame in most alcohol stoves. Methanol (George's Yellow Heet) or Ethanol (Joseph's Everclear) will burn clean with a blue flame if your stove is tuned properly. Both methanol and enthanol are a little harder to find (check hardware/ auto or liqour stores.) I have found a 50/50 mix of Isopropyl and methanol to burn hotter than methanol alone and without the soot of Isopropyl alone.
-Mark

[Michael Skwarczek]

Follow up on Mark's advice for fuel mixes and their ratios; he's been chasing the Holy Grail: to boil 16oz of 65F water with 1/2oz of fuel, and may have struck gold. As soon as I can get a bottle of HEET I'm going to test it with my MYOG Gram Weenie.

[ian wright]

I remember years ago the idea of adding about 5% water to the metho/alcohol to stop the soot. I used to think it worked but seems strange.

[Jim Colten]

An added bonus, Yellow HEET costs less per oz than denatured alcohol sold in hardware/paint stores … at least it does where I live.

But I gotta wonder if it is readily available in locales with a warm climate.

[Mark Hurd]

Jim,
We can get Yellow Heet down here in southern Texas. Why, tonight it's supposed to get all the way down to 46 F. I'll have to break out the blankets. :-)

[P. P.]

I mentioned on a thread sometime in the last couple of weeks that I would check on the availability of everclear in Idaho as it isn't available here in Washington state. Well, it isn't, at least not legally. They suggested I try Montana so I'll do that when I'm there in December.

[Sam .]

Wikipedia states:

It is illegal to purchase the 190 proof version in certain states in the US, including Ohio, California, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, Hawaii, and Florida.

[Kyle Purcell]

what are the pros and cons of denatured alcohol? from what i can tell it burns clean but was about $5.50 a quart to buy. guess that is not to bad but there are cheaper things that will burn. Is it worth the little extra money, and has any one tried mixing it with HEET or isopropal?

[Michael Mangold]

For what it's worth, I tried this little experiment at home. I used 1 oz. (2 TB) of Everclear in a Vargo Triad dual fuel stove to boil 500ml of cold water. Everclear is sold in Wisconsin. Bubbles started forming at 6 minutes and I got a full rolling boil at 10 minutes. Sorry, I can't find my thermometer.
BTW: does anyone have any suggestions on how to get the fire going more easily on that little bugger (the Triad)? I primed around the middle cannister with some Everclear but had to "swish" it around in order to catch the flame. Even though very little fuel was left after 10 minutes, the priming dose should be included in my calculations.

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