Alcohol Fuel Testing

Dan, I worry more about the amount I need to carry for minimal cleanup, no soot. On the trail, at camp, I don't worry about an extra minute or two. Mostly, this is just recovery time from hiking.

I really didn't like the way he gave the numbers so I flipped them. This is the amount carried per burn ignoring the bottle weight.
For each pot boiled, Firebox needed:
Fuel Amount Comment
Iso 91% .7oz Iso always burns sooty, black pan
Iso 99% .6oz Iso always burns sooty, black pan
Red HEAT 1.4oz Iso always burns sooty, black pan
Yellow HEAT 1.1oz Methanol, burns hot, fast, clean
Everclear .6 Ethanol percent not stated, 2 grades available??
Denatured .7 Ethanol percent not stated, "Stove Fuel", clean

It is not clear from his test because of the incomplete data on the everclear and denatured alcohol. Yellow heat is a good clean alternative, but burns pretty fast, nearly double the rate of Everclear. SLX is roughly similar to his "denatured," I think, based on consumption.

James, thank you for flipping them around….that's cool.

How did you like the three sets of identical test instruments? ;)

I didn't think to look at the Everclear bottle to see what proof it was (I'll bet it was 190, or why not use cheaper high-proof vodka?), but here are the specs for Crown denatured alcohol:

65-75% methanol
20-30% ethanol
< 10% isopropanol
< 10% methyl isobutyl ketone

(Pretty nebulous; maybe they have a quality control thing going on…)

Isn't SLX pretty much a 50-50 mix of ethanol and methanol? I tested some Crown once before deciding on SLX for my preferred denatured alcohol. I'm not sure why REI only stocks Crown, as I think it's a relatively poor performing fuel.

The test was fairly reasonable, although there are always slight differences in the Trangia style burners. Identical stoves, identical pots, it all looked good. But he did not give the percentages of the fuels for Everclear and Denatured Alky. Also, from the flame, there was a pretty clear breeze from somewhere, something Steve mentioned. The radiant heat *could* be a problem in a more stringent test due to proximity. It Looked like the distances above the burners were not adjusted optimally for each fuel leaving some excess sooting/flame quenching, or, possibly not enough oxygen for complete combustion (maybe more vent holes?) Also, he was just eyeballing the boil times. This could result in some pretty bad errors. It *looks* good, but not really definitive. Iso always soots up, so you loose a lot of heat that way. Methanol is an easy molecule to react. Ethanol should have burned cleaner. Denatured was slow, but consumption was good, almost like there was water in both.

stop testing, it's Everclear. I've done the same test three times and that's by far the best and by far the longest burning of all of them.

I'm with Gary–Everclear (190 proof) always comes out ahead in my stove/kettle setup.

Everclear: 11 grams to boil

SLX: 12-13 grams to boil

473 grams water (2 cups) @ 39F, 600' elevation

Yep, Everclear is great. However, the only fuel more expensive would be dilithium crystals, or perhaps the illusive unoBTUnium dust.

What about thermite?

Now you're onto something, James. How about an aluminum/titanium thermite, using a magnesium strip as a fuse/igniter? Get to work on that, and you'll be the BPL MYOG Man-of-the-Year!

Edit-I bet you could carry the components on a plane, too.

Ha, ha, no…you need the iron oxide to burn the aluminum.

I bet white gas/butane/kerosene would have more BTUs per ounce

But then you need a generator to vaporize the fuel…

Ok, Gary Dunckle likes thread drift. LOL It didn't take long and away it went LOL

With thermite, there is good news and bad news.

The good news is that once you get it ignited, it generates a lot of heat. The bad news is that the heat is virtually unmanageable. Depending on the mixture, it can produce 2000 to 4000 degrees C. So, it wouldn't just boil your cooking water, it would melt the cook pot, drop onto the ground, and then melt some of the rocks there.

–B.G.–

I'm kinda innocent here, Dan. Things went OK until we got stalled on Everclear, and then that instigating imp James brought up thermite. Then others chimed in, and once -B.G.- entered the ring, it officially became thread drift.

But, yeah, I rather like thread drift. It keeps us moving along, even if it gets off-topic.

I did enjoy watching that video, Dan. Thanks for posting the link to it.

everclear + lemon juice + sugar + water = "lemon drop"

Innocent!!!!! You are the one that brought up unBTUnium. At least thermite is real stuff unlike dilithium crystals (it is usually a gas used for atomic clocks, not fuel.)

Yeah, I rely on Everclear, now that it is legal here in NY, when I go out for a couple days.

James has it… time to boil is no big deal.

Overall… no soot, efficient burn, cheap = denatured alcohol.

(As a side note, using a IR thermometer to measure water temperature? Just asking because I've never seen this done.)

Better than some side-by-side tests I've seen, but the effect of the breeze in the garage and the close proximity of the stoves is problematic.

But there are much lighter stoves and pot supports around than the Trangia/Firebox. Just sayin' :^D

Maybe it was just me, but I noticed that Everclear left a small amount of deposit on the bottom of my pot. I figured that was due to the 5% water in it. I found that only SLX burned completely clean. Well, I think yellow Heet did too, but I wanted more ethanol in my fuel.

(Does this somewhat relieve me of the guilt of thread drift, Dan?)

.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrzN5_h4oTo

Heet vs S-L-X Denatured Alcohol – Boil Test

Uploaded on Sep 23, 2011 by Hiram Cook

There's been a lot of interest in the comparison of Heet to S-L-X Denatured Alcohol.

In this video I explain why I mostly use S-L-X Denatured Alcohol and I do a two part boil test on Heet vs S-L-X Denatured Alcohol.

Please let me know if this helps.
Thanks,
Hiram

Lab0193 Part 1 – S-L-X Denatured Alcohol
Title: Heet vs S-L-X Denatured Alcohol Boil Test
Room temp: 78°
Humidity: 80%
Weather condition: Cloudy – raining cats & dogs
Burner: Little Soda Can Stove (LSCS) V2.1 – 7.5 fluid ounce size can
Stove/Pot stand: Little Soda Can Stove (LSCS) V2.1 – 7.5 fluid ounce size can
Pot: Boy Scout Pot #1
Fuel: alcohol, denatured
Amount of fuel: 30 ml (1 fluid ounce)
Amount of water: 2 cup(s)
Water temp at start: 59°
Time to boil: 5 minute(s) 8 second(s)
Time to run-out: 9 minute(s) 15 second(s)
Water temp at run-out: NA
Note:
NA = Not Applicable / Not Available

Lab0193 Part 2 – Heet
Title: Heet vs S-L-X Denatured Alcohol Boil Test
Room temp: 78°
Humidity: 80%
Weather condition: Cloudy – raining cats & dogs
Burner: Little Soda Can Stove (LSCS) V2.1 – 7.5 fluid ounce size can
Stove/Pot stand: Little Soda Can Stove (LSCS) V2.1 – 7.5 fluid ounce size can
Pot: Boy Scout Pot #1
Fuel: Heet
Amount of fuel: 30 ml (1 fluid ounce)
Amount of water: 2 cup(s)
Water temp at start: 59°
Time to boil: 5 minute(s) 35 second(s)
Time to run-out: 9 minute(s) 5 second(s)

Gary, is your Everclear the 190-proof stuff or the 150-proof stuff? Here in California, it is only 150-proof.

–B.G.–

Generally, you likely need slightly smaller jets (or maybe not so many of them, I never tried that, though) to get everclear (95% ethanol/190proof) to burn clean. Nor does it burn really clean from a wick style burner like the Starlite. Just not enough air to burn properly.

The Trangia style stoves are generally optimized for methanol or denatured alcohol (SLX, or others labeled for stove fuel.) Usually these are 50% methanol at a minimum.

In making denatured alcohol, some outfits add octane, benzine and other toxic aliphatics removed from common gasoline making it a poor choice for burning. It is better used as a shellac solvent. These will almost always produce yellow flames/soot and toxic fumes. Sometimes a small amount of water is added (up to 10%)since one end of the molecule is water soluble and it is cheaper.

Interesting to note, adding up to 10% ethanol to WG makes the WG burn a bit hotter and cleaner. It will clean out a stove that has been used with auto fuel, for instance. Sometimes, it will clean the old generators out of coleman lanterns. There is no noticable loss of efficiency since the alky and WG mutually dissolve in each other. This is the same as unleaded regular, except it has no additives.

just use cooking thermometer to measure water temperature

IR sensors are a bit weird, may give incorrect results

^^^

Instant-read Thermometers

And use it!
Don’t just look at the moving water and say “good enough”.
Sheesh.