How hard is it to find denatured alcohol for cooking?

[Darwin]

How hard it is to find denatured alcohol for resupplies in the U.S. and overseas (especially Taiwan)?
Darwin
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[adventurousmtnlvr]

How hard it is to find denatured alcohol for resupplies in the U.S. and overseas (especially Taiwan)?
Darwin
[email protected]

can't speak for overseas but in the us I got my Denatured Alcohol at Walmart (paint section). You can also go to auto supply stores and get the yellow can of HEET.

[SunnyWalker]

I was just viewing You Tube on Alcohol stoves and Mini Bull Design said that denatured aocohol is inefficient to use. That Heet or some other fluid (sorry I focused on "heet") was much more efficient. I remember Marta (Four Leaf Clover) commenting on the type of fuel to use once, here on WB. At the time I think I had commented on my Stratus stove and the little alcohol stove that came with it. I was so clueless I did not realize it was a Trangia. Anyway, thru her comment I realized that I was proabably using the wrong fuel? I think I will go to the archives. Surely there is something thee on this. Or the articles on Al stoves.

[traildust]

Denatured alcohol is just fine. Stove cost are minimal. Hiked many miles with this stove. Save a lot of weight. Fuel is available along the trail.

[Mags]

US = Easy
Overseas= it depends

http://members.iinet.net.au/%7Embuck...bleoffuelnames

A well stocked pharmacy in any country probably has high grade Iso alcohol (~90% IIRC).

[snaplok]

I know any hardware store, especially the big chains will carry denatured alcohol in the US and UK. HEET, I read somewhere and am trying to find the article, gives off fumes that may pose health risks over time.

[ZEKE #2]

Many of the hostels have denatured alcohol available for you to purchase by the ounce, or very often included in the price to stay. I hiked from April to June using only an alcohol stove.

[highway]

When in doubt, just ask for 100% alcohol (usually denatured with something to make it undrinkable) and 200 proof (if it is the laboratory grade "pure alcohol"). I suspect it is available most anywhere. It is the fuel of choice for cooking on boats so you are likely to find it at most harbors, too.

[Downunda]

You shouldn't have trouble finding fuel for your alcohol stove anywhere along the AT. Coleman fuel is available by the ounce in most hostels and gear stores. The last resort is the heet or gas anti-freeze type products that are available in nearly all gas stations (it does burn hotter though).

[russb]

You shouldn't have trouble finding fuel for your alcohol stove anywhere along the AT. Coleman fuel is available by the ounce in most hostels and gear stores. The last resort is the heet or gas anti-freeze type products that are available in nearly all gas stations (it does burn hotter though).

IIRC ethanol contains more carbon and thus is "hotter" than methanol.

[sclittlefield]

And if all else fails, even the lower grade rubbing alcohol from any pharmacy type store will work, albeit less efficiently. Fuel for alcohol stoves is definitely far easier to come by than any canister fuel, white gas, etc. I suppose a burner that runs on gasoline would be the only thing with easier to find fuel (but awfully volatile and unsafe). But even most any gas station will have rubbing alcohol inside.

[Freeze]

... Coleman fuel is available by the ounce in most hostels and gear stores. ...

You don't want to use Coleman fuel in an alcohol stove.

Here is a video from minibulldesigns on what fuels you can use.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0nZYr3hiI4

[Freeze]

Sorry, this is the video I wanted to put up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5W7aqdhFbk

[take-a-knee]

Sorry, this is the video I wanted to put up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5W7aqdhFbk

Thanks Freeze, that's good info.

[Panzer1]

Sorry, this is the video I wanted to put up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5W7aqdhFbk

That is a good video. I didn't know that denatured alcohol in the blue and orange container, can vary so much from batch to batch.

Panzer

[Downunda]

Apologies for my incorrect statement about the use of Coleman fuel in an alcohol stove.

[Grinder]

about the rubbing alcohol. The 90 % stuff works good, 80% less good, The 70 % is very marginal.
Each step down burns with a yellower flame and is sootier.

Grinder

[Spirit Walker]

Even here in the US, alcohol is not always available. We hiked part of the GET last year (2007) and none of the southern Arizona towns carried HEET. Makes sense - ice is not much of a problem for gaslines in the southwest. If you can find an auto parts store - they'll have it, but the towns we were traveling in were too small for either autoparts or hardware stores.

Same story on the GDT in Canada. We found the Canadian equivalent at a hardware store in Coleman, and at the outdoor stores in Jasper and Lake Louise, but we couldn't find it at our other "town" stops (Field, Saskatchewan Crossing or Nordegg). We used white gas instead.

IOW, you might do better to carry a Whisperlight International so you can use regular gasoline - if you are planning to backpack outside the US. Of course, then you have the problem of carrying the stove on the airplane - but that's a different thread.

[Mags]

Here's what I wrote in another thread. (update link for international fuel as well). The friends from the GDT are Spritwalker, Bald Eagle and Suge...all here on WB.

from http://www.pmags.com/joomla/index.ph...omparison.html

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

International travel has its own set of variables. With the Post 9/11 airport security, getting a stove and fuel canister on a plane can be...interesting. Availability of fuel such as canisters is hard outside of a few well stocked areas. And while alcohol may be available in certain areas, it is not always easy to get (a well stocked pharmacy may have it for example).

In general....

• Multifuel stoves (white gas, autofuel, kerosene, etc.) will be the easiest to find fuel for BUT may be hard to get on a plane
• Alcohol stoves are easy to get on a plane, but are somewhat hard to get fuel for. I do have a friend who bike toured in France and found denatured alcohol fairly easily. On the other hand, friends who hiked Canada's Great Divide Trail had trouble finding denatured alcohol. The gasoline already had anti-freezing agents in it apparently..so no need for HEET or its equivalent!
• Canister stoves are hard to get on a plane and are usually hard to find resupplies for except in areas blessed with a good outfitter

Whichever stove you go with, this link may help you find the fuel in the area by name: http://fuel.papo-art.com/