WhiteBlaze Pages 2024
A Complete Appalachian Trail Guidebook.
AVAILABLE NOW. $4 for interactive PDF(smartphone version)
Read more here WhiteBlaze Pages Store

Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 30
  1. #1
    Registered User
    Join Date
    12-08-2006
    Location
    Easton, PA
    Age
    55
    Posts
    96

    Default Fuel Gel, Diethylene Glycol - Your thoughts?

    My brother in-law found this product, "Fuel Gel, Diethylene Glycol, Military". It is supposed to be used as a replacement for the old Trioxane bars. has anyone tried these? It appears to be sterno in a gel. What are your thoughts?



    Fuel Gel, Diethylene Glycol, Military
    Here is the real Military deal!
    The military is now using this Diethylene Glycol fuel gel as the replacement for the old Trioxane Fuel Bars. This gel has a higher heat of combustion per unit mass and its only combustion by-products are carbon dioxide and water. When compared to Trioxane, it weighs less, burns hotter, and doesn't give off toxic gases.
    Simply tear open the pouch, squeeze the contents onto the ground or onto your Esbit or Tri-Wing stove, shield from the wind and light with a match.
    Place your canteen cup over the flame and in less than 8 minutes you will get boiling water!

    The gel burns with a steady, blue flame of low luminosity and gives off no smoke. In fact, the clear blue flame is all but invisible in daylight.
    On average you should expect to get 12-15 minutes of useable flame from a single pouch.
    Three (3) pouches per box.
    Fuel Gel, Diethylene Glycol (box of 3). Price $1.25, Ten (10) or more boxes for $0.99 each
    "Not all who wander are lost." -J. R. R. Tolkien

  2. #2
    Registered User Skidsteer's Avatar
    Join Date
    10-25-2005
    Location
    Skitt's Mountain, GA
    Posts
    7,945
    Images
    361

    Default

    Antifreeze?

    I dunno. I'm leery of the "doesn't give off toxic gases" part.

    I wouldn't have guessed it was all that flammable, to be honest.
    Skids

    Insanity: Asking about inseams over and over again and expecting different results.
    Albert Einstein, (attributed)

  3. #3
    Registered User Egads's Avatar
    Join Date
    07-09-2006
    Location
    Atlanta
    Posts
    2,620
    Images
    79
    The trail was here before we arrived, and it will still be here when we are gone...enjoy it now, and preserve it for others that come after us

  4. #4
    Registered User
    Join Date
    01-28-2008
    Location
    Spokane, WA
    Age
    71
    Posts
    4,907

    Default

    Ethylene glycol (antifreeze) is one alcohol. Diethylen glycol is a different alcohol, apparently a gel. Not the same thing. Neither, I'm sure, is fit to drink. Any alcohol should burn without toxic fumes. This has no bearing on their suitability as fuel.
    "It's fun to have fun, but you have to know how." ---Dr. Seuss

  5. #5
    Registered User
    Join Date
    04-28-2004
    Location
    New Brunswick
    Age
    61
    Posts
    11,116

    Default

    The toxicity of this stuff is if you digest it you will likely die of kidney failure. I am not sure how much would need to get into you food or onto your toothbrush or whatever.

  6. #6
    Registered User
    Join Date
    09-06-2008
    Location
    Andrews, NC
    Age
    65
    Posts
    3,672

    Default

    Cool stuff..I'm an Esbit man for short hikes. Todd Heyn, how about a short report if you get a chance to use this stuff. Thanks.

  7. #7
    Registered User
    Join Date
    04-28-2004
    Location
    New Brunswick
    Age
    61
    Posts
    11,116

    Default

    I'm kind curious if there is a cool way to tear it open and light it, so that the wrapper acts as a container of some kind and all the fuel eventually gets burned even what might be left inside. Maybe squeeze it all out onto an old wrapper and then open the wrapper up and coil it around the fuel like a reflector. Is it foil on the inside?

  8. #8

    Default

    Whats that stuff that chinese restaurants use in the Pu Pu Platters. It's like a pink/ purple stuff. Always wondered if that would work, and it has to be non toxic, cause people have been cooking food with it for years.... straight on the flame too. I bet it might be cheap from some type of food distribution company.

  9. #9
    Registered User
    Join Date
    12-08-2006
    Location
    Easton, PA
    Age
    55
    Posts
    96

    Default

    He said that he was going to be send me a few packets. As soon as I get some, I will pass along a report.
    "Not all who wander are lost." -J. R. R. Tolkien

  10. #10
    Registered User
    Join Date
    06-12-2006
    Location
    northern illinois
    Posts
    4,532
    Images
    2

    Default

    Same stuff they use for warming food trays at banquets and such. I've made some big wick stoves with cans of the stuff they sell at food supply houses. Somewhere here in the archives is a thread showing a stove made with the stuff.

    Material Safety Data Sheet

  11. #11
    Registered User Wise Old Owl's Avatar
    Join Date
    01-29-2007
    Location
    High up in an old tree
    Posts
    14,444
    Journal Entries
    19
    Images
    17

    Default

    Yes I picked them up at a mil surplus store... I tried a few packets. I didn't have enough to try cooking and two cups came to a boil fairly quickly.

    Here is the thing, instead of carrying tinder and a bunch of stuff for firemaking, candles, etc. 1 pack will make a good fire in wet conditions. Throw it in the survival bag.
    Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.

    Woo

  12. #12

    Default

    I experimented with various gels while playing around with alcohol stoves (before I tried Esbit - the lightest way to go in warmer weather).
    None of the gelled fuels that I tried burned as hot as regular denatured alcohol, and they all left gunk on the bottom of my pots. Convient? Possibly, but I wouldn't trust it to boil water in any weather except warm, windless days.
    As I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn back from his way and live. Ezekiel 33:11

  13. #13
    Registered User
    Join Date
    04-16-2004
    Location
    Purgatory, Maine
    Age
    84
    Posts
    944
    Images
    18

    Default Sterno

    Quote Originally Posted by Homer&Marje View Post
    Whats that stuff that chinese restaurants use in the Pu Pu Platters. It's like a pink/ purple stuff. Always wondered if that would work, and it has to be non toxic, cause people have been cooking food with it for years.... straight on the flame too. I bet it might be cheap from some type of food distribution company.
    Sterno maybe?
    Everyone has a photographic memory. Not everyone has film.

  14. #14

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Hillwalker View Post
    Sterno maybe?
    Maybe, It sort of looks the same, but I always thought that sterno was kind of toxic... we use it on steam trays and such...they have about 5 hours of burn to them and I know people use those directly on the trail. But I was thinking of getting some of that gel and trying it in one of my alky stoves. I know a lady who owns a chinese restaurant though, I'm gonna ask her if they just dig that stuff out of sterno cans.

  15. #15
    Registered User
    Join Date
    06-12-2006
    Location
    northern illinois
    Posts
    4,532
    Images
    2

    Default

    The name of the stove was the Zengia (think trangia)

    I removed the original wick and filled the entire opening with wick.

    This product is liquid, not gelled like the miltary. Same stuff though.

    The Zengia Stove thread

    .

  16. #16
    Registered User Skidsteer's Avatar
    Join Date
    10-25-2005
    Location
    Skitt's Mountain, GA
    Posts
    7,945
    Images
    361

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by zelph View Post
    The name of the stove was the Zengia (think trangia)

    I removed the original wick and filled the entire opening with wick.

    This product is liquid, not gelled like the miltary. Same stuff though.

    The Zengia Stove thread

    .
    Does it soot the bottom of the pot?
    Skids

    Insanity: Asking about inseams over and over again and expecting different results.
    Albert Einstein, (attributed)

  17. #17
    Registered User
    Join Date
    06-12-2006
    Location
    northern illinois
    Posts
    4,532
    Images
    2

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Skidsteer View Post
    Does it soot the bottom of the pot?
    It burns clean. The liguid needs a wick of some sort in order for it to catch fire. I wonder what the military packets have in them to make it catch.

  18. #18
    Registered User
    Join Date
    06-12-2006
    Location
    northern illinois
    Posts
    4,532
    Images
    2

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Wise Old Owl View Post
    Yes I picked them up at a mil surplus store... I tried a few packets. I didn't have enough to try cooking and two cups came to a boil fairly quickly.

    Here is the thing, instead of carrying tinder and a bunch of stuff for firemaking, candles, etc. 1 pack will make a good fire in wet conditions. Throw it in the survival bag.
    How do you light them? Do you squeeze the gel out into a tray/dish, the foil of the package? Is there a wick of any kind? Is the stuff saturated onto a pad? Any photos available?

    Thanks for your input.

  19. #19
    Registered User
    Join Date
    07-12-2008
    Location
    Charleston SC
    Age
    58
    Posts
    189

    Default

    Diethelene glycol can be used a lot more than just boiling water.
    The military is also very multi purpose
    It has been said that a journey begins with a single step. I say hogwash! It starts with a dream.

  20. #20
    Registered User
    Join Date
    07-12-2008
    Location
    Charleston SC
    Age
    58
    Posts
    189

    Default

    diethylene, had to fix my spelling
    It has been said that a journey begins with a single step. I say hogwash! It starts with a dream.

Page 1 of 2 1 2 LastLast
++ New Posts ++

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •