Anyone have any leads on a cheaper source for denatured alcohol? I've found it for about $12.00/Gal. in the paint section as compared to White Gas for about $4.00/Gal. Kinda negates the economy of making your own stove, if you know what I mean.
Anyone have any leads on a cheaper source for denatured alcohol? I've found it for about $12.00/Gal. in the paint section as compared to White Gas for about $4.00/Gal. Kinda negates the economy of making your own stove, if you know what I mean.
Wal-Mart has Heet in the yellow bottle a lot cheaper than the alcohol and burns better for me anyway.
Yeah, but it is what, about $0.80 for a 12 oz bottle at Walmart and maybe as much as $1.49 at some convience stores... I think its 128 oz to a gallon. A stove that uses regular gas or white gas is going to be the cheapest to use, you can usually just buy your $0.25 worth from the gas pump or buy white gas by the ounce at some locations. However, the reality is that when you are buying in small quantities you don't worry too much about whether a weeks worth of fuel costs $0.25 or $1.25, for most of us it is still cheap enough to not put a real damper on our budgets and not play a significant role in our choice of stoves.Originally Posted by RU98A
Youngblood
Klean Strip S-L-X denatured alcohol is available at many hardware stores for about $4 a quart - that's 32 oz - or for me about 40 meals. I would probably do an entire thru-hike with a gallon and a half, certainly less than $20 worth.
Since the stove is free, the economics are not too bad.
Gas Stove: $60 Gas container: $10 Gas: $4 stove weight: 16 oz
Alcohol Stove: $0 Alcohol container: $0 Alcohol: $20 stove weight: 0.5 oz
But if economics are the driving factor, a twig stove works fine:
Twig Stove: $0 No container; Twigs: $0 Stove weight 3 oz.
http://www.imrisk.com/woodgas/coffeestove.htm
Walk Well,
Risk
Author of "A Wildly Successful 200-Mile Hike"
http://www.wayahpress.com
Personal hiking page: http://www.imrisk.com
There are trade-offs with any type of stove. Cost of fuel may be the trade-off with the alcohol variety. I think you've got to look at the big picture and take into account the overall advantages/diadvantages of each and make your choice accordingly.
For distance hikes I chose the alcohol stove, fully knowing that white gas on a per ounce basis was cheaper. I just prefer to use a stove that is simple, reliable and requires no maintenance.
'Slogger
AT 2003
The more I learn ...the more I realize I don't know.
Originally Posted by Footslogger
In other words, a cannister stove.
"If you don't know where you're going...any road will get you there."
"He who's not busy living is busy dying"
===================================Originally Posted by bulldog49
Not quite ...but I do own a PocketRocket and use it on shorter hikes and in the winter.
'Slogger
The more I learn ...the more I realize I don't know.
I'm trying to plan out my stops somewhat and need to know where there is some places in Hiawassee for denatured alcohol. I know there is the Blueberry Patch if your a guest, but I'm wondering if I head into town, get resupplied and head back out.. Also, anyone have a good list for place along the trail where they have been able to buy either Heet, or some form of denatured alcohol. I really don't want to have to bring my white gas stove instead as I didn't have any problem finding gas for it last year, but it weights 5 times as much...
Thanks for any help.
It is far better to say this 'One Thing' I do, then these 40 things I dabble in"
Washington Gladden
The outfitter in Hiawassee closed as best I know but there's a hardware store in the center of town and I'm pretty certain they carry denatured alcohol by the quart.
Here's a contact info for the Hardware Store if you want to be certain
51 N Main St , PO Box 366
Hiawassee, GA 30546
Main Phone: 706-896-3201
Fax: 706-896-3202
'Slogger
AT 2003
The more I learn ...the more I realize I don't know.
You should be able to buy a bottle of yellow HEET at any gas station.
For me, it's not about cost, it's about weight. White gas stoves are generally much heavier than alcohol stoves, and the fuel bottles necessary to carry the white gas are heavier as well.
I built my first wood stove and am off of the alcohol. Recall that someone walked 4400 miles from florida to canada with a wood stove. No fuel costs. You can ALWAYS find burnable wood even after a weeks worth of rain.
They do take more time to start and require a little more patience. But I can avoid taking 5 mile treks into a town and can avoid the weight of the fuel. Better still, I can cook/simmer for as long as I like. I don't have to worry about any harmfull fuels.
If you want to stick with a alcohol stove I would suggest you check out zenstoves.com for the most complete information available about all alternative stoves.
Also, if you want to use the least amount of fuel for cooking than you may want to check out the penny alcohol stove which was argued to be the most efficient with your fuel: http://www.csun.edu/~mjurey/penny.html# Sgt. Rock has done much alcohol stove testing (cat can vs. pepsi stove), I hope he tests the penny stove some day so I can know for sure if the claims are accurate.
Finally, while you are are at Mr Jurey's site click on his Penny Wood Stove that he made out of a fruit can. If you want to eliminate even more space you can check out the Nimblewill Nomad's Wood Burning Stove at http://zenstoves.net/Wood.htm. This thing is the one carried from florida to canada and it comes apart into a 5 oz. pancake. Templates are available so all you need is to print the templates, place them on top of sheet metal, and cut away.
I decided to make the penny stove, and it works great. I think it combines the best features of the open stoves and pressurized stoves with more safety and efficiency, but still light weight and easy to make. My impression is that the ion stove made by Sgt Rock is probably the best choice for a small pot, but since mine is larger, and I wanted some of the "quick heating" feel from my former use of a whisperlite, I decided to go with the penny stove. I hope Sgt Rock, in his rigorously scientific analysis of stoves, will consider doing a test of the penny stove so we can compare the data with the other stoves he has tested. I did modify my stove by using JB Weld to seal the seam between the burner and fuel cup (now noted on the penny stove website). It worked like a champ in 35 deg temp last week on an overnight.
Cutman
GA>ME 2000>2010..... Purist thruhiker in spirit, just with a lotta zeros during townstops;)
I could do a test, but the reason I never messed with it is a couple of very competent DIY stove makers I know experienced melt downs of this type stove after 500 or so miles. So I thought I would steer clear of it.
SGT Rock
http://hikinghq.net
My 2008 Trail Journal of the BMT/AT
BMT Thru-Hikers' Guide
-----------------------------------------
NO SNIVELING
When you say meltdown, do you mean the metal actually melted? or do you mean the stove just stopped functioning properly? Mark Jurey(the originator of the stove) did contact me to indicate that ihe tried to make one with the jets placed inside the burner ring and the jetholes made smaller, and his experience was that the penny in the center melted! If you are saying the metal of the stove actually melted, then I guess that is a pretty amazing temperature for something so lightweight and simple to develop. Guess I would bounce along a spare for when the first one melts!Originally Posted by SGT Rock
Cutman
GA>ME 2000>2010..... Purist thruhiker in spirit, just with a lotta zeros during townstops;)
The actual stove gave out. The heat and pressure apparently screws up aluminum (go figure).
SGT Rock
http://hikinghq.net
My 2008 Trail Journal of the BMT/AT
BMT Thru-Hikers' Guide
-----------------------------------------
NO SNIVELING
would i be able to use any "gas line antifreese" with my soda can stove?
Take advantage of the first amendment while we still have it .
Short answer is yes. The slightly longer answer is you may not want to use any Iso type products since that alcohol is very sooty burning.Originally Posted by petmac
SGT Rock
http://hikinghq.net
My 2008 Trail Journal of the BMT/AT
BMT Thru-Hikers' Guide
-----------------------------------------
NO SNIVELING
I have been experimenting with diluting full-strength denatured alcohol with plain old 50% Isopropyl rubbing alcohol, with great results. No noticable difference in burn time or heat output.Originally Posted by Dkeener
Rubbing alcohol is dirt cheap ( 2 bottles for a buck at the dollar store) , and available at most convenience stores, so perhaps cutting one's Den alc w/that would significant;y reduce fuel costs on a long hike.
I think the bigger issue is not the cost of 32 oz of alcohol fuel, but the problem I forsee is having to buy that much and discard 20 oz of it since my fuel bottle will hold 12 oz. Other than Walmart Heet, are there sources for denatured by the oz along the trail at reasonable intervals?
Cutman
GA>ME 2000>2010..... Purist thruhiker in spirit, just with a lotta zeros during townstops;)