hand sanitizer as fuel for alcohol stoves

Haven't tried with alcohol stoves, but a few drops on an Esbit fuel cube makes the hard to light solid fuel all of a sudden easy. You can then simply use a Spark-Lite to light. No more messing with lighters that don't want to work…especially at altitude and wind.

john, you are brillant! i never thought to use a drop on my fuel tabs. they frustrate the heck out of me when they won't light right away..thanks for the tip. i find the fuel tabs are alot lighter in weight than starting out with a bottle of alcohol.

thats a good idea. Also, compared with 62% ethanol esbit will be much more efficient.

Alcohol hand sanitizer does burn fairly well. I doesn't burn completely and it sputters a little, perhaps because of the moisturizers and what not. It does work great for starting solid fuel tablets. It's my understanding that hand sanitizer is very similar to Sterno and the gelled alcohol use to warm chaffing dishes.

I think brands vary. I tried it and it didn't light well.

Victoria, I would love to take credit for the idea, but I actually learned the trick on one of the great posts on this website. One of those "duh, why didn't I think of that?" type of things.
Here's a question…can you use the denatured alcohol from your stove for hand sanitizer? Probably not much worse than using regular hand sanitizer.

john, i would think the denatured alcohol would be extremely drying on the hands, plus on the can it states that it cannot have prolonged contact with skin, so probally not a good idea..it is concidered a poison..