Yellow Heet on plane?

[Sven Klingemann]

Hi all –
does anyone know if you can take heet in your checked luggage?
Thanks!
Sven

[John S.]

I would not try it.

[Sven Klingemann]

I guess it falls under "any flammable liquid fuel" …
sigh.

[EndoftheTrail]

Unfortunately, you guessed right. Fuel like HEET is NOT allowed onboard airplanes — be it checked or carried on. When it comes to fuel, your option is pretty much limited to local sourcing.

[Steofan M]

They won't even let you take bear spray on a plane.

[Marc Kokosky]

I would think they would get a little leery about seeing HEET in your luggage since its technically supposed to be used in cars.

However, if you packed a bottle or two of isopropyl alcohol from your local drugstore I would be willing to bet that they wouldn't even flinch, especially if it's packed in a checked bag. At the end of the day it will depend on the baggage screener and at least with isorpopyl alcohol they would just remove/confiscate it and leave a note in your bag rather than pulling you out of line and giving you the third degree and missing your flight if you were to bring a couple bottles of HEET. YMMV.

[Bob Gross]

Isopropyl alcohol isn't much good as a stove fuel, though.

It is allowed to pack one bottle of drinking alcohol up to 140 Proof, but it has to be in the store-sealed bottle.

–B.G.–

[Marc Kokosky]

VERY true. I completely forgot about drinking alcohol!

I know that the isopropyl isn't as good as HEET, but was thinking if it had to do…

That said, you are typically allowed 2 750ml bottles of drinking alcohol so you could buy 2 bottles of Everclear 190 proof which is probably as efficient as HEET.

[drowning in spam]

It depends for isopropyl alcohol. The kind that Roger and Tony used for their BPL articles gave noxious fumes and caused headaches. Maybe that 0.1% of impurity was what caused their problems because I don't have the same problem with the 70% and 99% isopropyl alcohol I get at the drug store. Like them, I did find it to be sooty when I burned the 99% stuff, however it was much cleaner when burning the 70%. The problem with the 70% is that it's much harder to light. One other potential problem for long distance hikers is that lots of trail town stores don't carry good grades of isopropyl alcohol….sometimes I could only find 50%, which is worthless as a fuel. The benefit to isopropyl alcohol is that it has a higher energy content per gram and that it dilutes well.

[Bob Gross]

"That said, you are typically allowed 2 750ml bottles of drinking alcohol so you could buy 2 bottles of Everclear 190 proof which is probably as efficient as HEET."

However, 190 Proof Everclear is prohibited on the airliner, at least for flights controlled by TSA. 140 is the limit for drinking alcohol.

–B.G.–

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Well then what about ESBIT ("Flamable Fuel".eh?)

[Bob Gross]

Esbit is prohibited also.

Anything that has fuel in its name or its nickname is a no-no.

–B.G.–

[Bob Gross]

I went through this dialog with TSA some months ago when I was preparing for a trip. No liquid fuels, no gaseous fuels, and no solid fuels.

So, I asked about solids that were burnable, like wood or wax. They said no solid fuels. Then I pointed out that wooden cargo pallets go into the aircraft all the time. How about a wax dinner candle?

At that stage of the discussion, I think they got mad at my argument. They pointed out that despite everything that was shown in black and white about prohibited stuff, the final inspector has the discretionary power to yank something out. They started to refer me to MSDS sheets, and all that. Then TSA referred me to DOT, and there is one person at DOT that can look at the MSDS sheet and say "yes" or "no" about special substances. Still, TSA has the right to yank it. I concluded that it is a no-win situation.

–B.G.–

[John S.]

I know people have taken esbit on board. You may or may not have it confiscated though.

[Marc Kokosky]

I had no idea Everclear was banned on planes.

I can also second that it deepnds on the screener for Esbit. I've brought Esbit tabs with me for work trips to Africa where I knew I'd be in the middle of nowhere for several days. I've never had my Esbits confiscated. If you don't mind the little bit of pot soot, I'd say that's the way to go… or the 140 proof liquor to be safe.

Where are you going? You may very well just be able to find what you're looking for whenever you get to where you're going.

[Erik Graf]

I haven't gone through this whole thread so forgive me if you said where you were going but I do not think there is a single place I have ever hiked that I couldn't drive past a car parts store or a Wal-Mart and could run in real quick and get a bottle of that stuff. Or at least something else I could burn as fuel.

[Erik Graf]

Forgot to mention – you could call the ranger's office of the locale you are visiting (if there is one) and ask them 1) if they have any donated or 2) where can you pick some up.

I've hiked in the desert SW before and I have "donated" my unused portion of what I had purchased while there for someone else to use b/c I couldn't fly it back with me. Some places would rather take it off your hands as a donation to other hikers than dump that stuff somewhere it shouldn't be (trash/landfill/drain). At the same time – b/c it is flamable some will not store it.

Can't hurt to ask them though….

[Joe Kuster]

Depending on the location, denatured alcohol is nearly universally available in most cities that will have an airport – after all, they have to paint the numbers on the planes don't they? :)

I've switched from yellow heet to denatured and it seems to have a slight advantage for my particular use. Plus, it's cheap, really cheap.

Worst case scenario, call stores around your destination. Paint or auto stores usually will have some sort of denatured alcohol or similar burnable thinner.

With a bit of haggling, I've arranged to buy a can over the phone and have the owner leave it behind the store since I was landing after business hours. He thought it was odd as hell, but he came around I started complaining about TSA polices.

[Bob Gross]

The original poster never stated his destination.

Joe's suggestion works for lots of places. Where I was in Alaska during July, it would not have worked. There are some places so far off the beaten track that there is no airport and no store, and the float planes have to dodge mountains to get there (with the exception of the one carrying ex-Senator Stevens recently).

–B.G.–

[EndoftheTrail]

So how did you get your fuel supply, Bob?

[Bob Gross]

I prepared with a twig-burning stove. But then, the twigs were all very wet from rain. Where I stayed, somebody had cut up some good firewood, so that worked once it was cut into small enough pieces. There were some other sources of fuel as well, but I found that out only in the last few days before I flew up there. Also, where I was the weather never got really cold. Therefore, I really didn't need to cook much.

–B.G.–

[Joe Kuster]

Boy flying has changed, and I'm not even that old. I took a emergency matches and a pint of denatured alcohol through customs into Mexico and back in 2001. No one even asked about it when I had to dump my backpack from a random check.

Sometimes you've just got to bite the bullet and go local. When a friend of mine was in Nepal, he ended up using a bulky multi-fuel stove to use gasoline. Here's where a bit of research ahead of time works. Worse case, you end up carrying an extra pound or two, but still have a great trip without stressing over it.

Then again, if you're taking a puddle jumper in, you might be able to talk to your pilot ahead of time to arrange a supply of your prefered fuel, those guys are usually some of the greatest people out there.

[EndoftheTrail]

Thanks, Bob. As I suspected, some places, there's just no legal way around using local fuel supply (whatever that might be).

I agree with Joe. For "puddle jumpers" — talk to them and see what flexibility they might have.

[Bob Gross]

When I was in Nepal some years ago, I saw butane canisters being sold in the high Sherpa villages on the way to Everest. An unsuspecting hiker would lift one up, purchase it, and get five miles down the trail before he camped. Then he would discover that it had no butane in it. The crooked shopkeeper had taken an empty, then drilled a hole in through the top and filled it with a tiny amount of water or other liquid, and then sealed it with wax.

I'm not saying that all shopkeepers are crooked. I'm just saying that you better know your sources for fuel.

An unpressurized liquid fuel is easier, because you can sniff it to see if it is approximately the right stuff.

–B.G.–

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