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 21
  1. #1

    Default What color HEET bottle?

    What color HEET bottle do I get if denatured alcohol isn't available? Also, if HEET brand isn't available, what do I need to look for when buying a generic brand? For example, 7 Eleven has their own brand but I wasn't sure which bottle to get. Thx!

    "I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
    From where shall my help come?
    My help comes from the LORD,
    Who made heaven and earth."
    -Psalm 121:1-2

  2. #2
    Registered User
    Join Date
    07-30-2009
    Location
    Woodbridge, Virginia
    Age
    64
    Posts
    2,343

    Default

    Get the Yellow HEET, which is methanol. The red HEET is isopropanol and doesn't work nearly as well.

  3. #3
    Registered User
    Join Date
    07-21-2012
    Location
    Cleveland OH
    Age
    39
    Posts
    56

    Default

    Yellow bottle of Heet. It's Gas line cleaner/water remover I believe so just look for that on a generic. It's should contain Methanol or "Meths"

  4. #4
    Registered User Theosus's Avatar
    Join Date
    09-22-2011
    Location
    Florence, South Carolina, United States
    Age
    51
    Posts
    711
    Images
    1

    Default

    Definitely yellow. Denatured alcohol is even purer, and burns hotter/faster. Its almost too hot for my cat stove. Look for anything generic called "methylated spirits". In a pinch get a pint of everclear...
    Please don't read my blog at theosus1.Wordpress.com
    "I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. Thank God for Search and Rescue" - Robert Frost (first edit).

  5. #5
    Registered User Lyle's Avatar
    Join Date
    01-25-2006
    Location
    Croswell, MI
    Age
    70
    Posts
    3,934
    Images
    68

    Default

    From what I've seen, and in my experience, the generics have used the same color of bottles. Red and Yellow. Yellow is what you want. But check the labels too. :-)

  6. #6
    Registered User
    Join Date
    11-07-2007
    Location
    Hamilton, NJ
    Age
    36
    Posts
    1,551

    Default

    Yellowwwwwww
    Smile, Smile, Smile.... Mile after Mile

  7. #7
    Registered User cabbagehead's Avatar
    Join Date
    11-01-2011
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Age
    35
    Posts
    331
    Journal Entries
    1
    Images
    14

    Default

    They both have advantages.

    yellow = methanol
    • the least visible flame
    • not as hot
    • the cleanest


    red = 2-propanol
    • highly visible flame
    • hot
    • sooty


    With any new brand: It should contain only alcohol/water. Less water is better.
    David Smolinski

  8. #8
    Registered User
    Join Date
    12-31-2009
    Location
    San Diego, CA
    Age
    45
    Posts
    4,276
    Images
    17

    Default

    Good post cabbagehead. I've found that isopropanol is more efficient than ethanol with a side burner stove and a narrow pot, but ethanol is still more desirable because it burns clean. Ethanol can be made a little more efficient by adding a little water.

  9. #9
    Registered User Mr Breeze's Avatar
    Join Date
    05-15-2010
    Location
    Westford Ma
    Posts
    67
    Images
    14

    Default

    I used the yellow heet for my alcohol stove on my thru hike this year, and it worked great. I did have to but a red bottle once because nobody had the yellow ones. It did burn hotter, but i had to use twice as much than the yellow, and it did make a mess of both my stove and pot because of the soot it leaves when burning. So i would agree that the yellow is what you would want to use if you choose to go that route.
    " Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today"-James Dean

  10. #10
    Registered User
    Join Date
    12-31-2009
    Location
    San Diego, CA
    Age
    45
    Posts
    4,276
    Images
    17

    Default

    Isopropanol (red bottle) is easier to cut with water. If you do it right, you can simmer with an alcohol stove.

  11. #11
    Registered User
    Join Date
    11-07-2007
    Location
    Hamilton, NJ
    Age
    36
    Posts
    1,551

    Default

    .... or you could use a simmer ring.
    Smile, Smile, Smile.... Mile after Mile

  12. #12

    Default

    Yellow - camp fuel

    Red - light duty bike chain solvent (for when you don't want your apt. smelling like strong chemicals)

  13. #13
    Registered User cabbagehead's Avatar
    Join Date
    11-01-2011
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Age
    35
    Posts
    331
    Journal Entries
    1
    Images
    14

    Default

    I thought that pure 2-propanol was the most efficient. I should test it some time. I would prefer methanol for the cleanliness. If I was going to the middle of nowhere (at least 1 week without a resupply) I would want the most efficient fuel (regardless of the cleanup time).
    David Smolinski

  14. #14
    Registered User
    Join Date
    12-31-2009
    Location
    San Diego, CA
    Age
    45
    Posts
    4,276
    Images
    17

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by cabbagehead View Post
    I thought that pure 2-propanol was the most efficient. I should test it some time. I would prefer methanol for the cleanliness. If I was going to the middle of nowhere (at least 1 week without a resupply) I would want the most efficient fuel (regardless of the cleanup time).
    It should be the most efficient, but with any type of alcohol, you have to make sure the flames actually hit your pot instead of shooting out the side. I find with 75% 2-propanol and identical amounts of straight ethanol, I can boil two pots of water instead of one. I would dilute ethanol too, but it hasn't diluted as well for me. I wish it did, or that isopropanol burned without covering my pot with soot all the way up to the rim. It doesn't clean up easily either. You should try boiling a few pots of water with it at home. You might find that you'd rather never use it again unless it was the only type of alcohol available.

  15. #15

    Default

    I always use Yellow.

    Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

  16. #16
    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

    Quote Originally Posted by leaftye View Post
    Good post cabbagehead. I've found that isopropanol is more efficient than ethanol with a side burner stove and a narrow pot, but ethanol is still more desirable because it burns clean. Ethanol can be made a little more efficient by adding a little water.
    to be honest when I used the over the counter Iso which had a little water - it was very disappointing.... I only use Yellow Heat now.... I have several simmilar stoves and a side by side test would possibly kill any idea of myself using Iso.
    Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.

    Woo

  17. #17
    Registered User
    Join Date
    12-31-2009
    Location
    San Diego, CA
    Age
    45
    Posts
    4,276
    Images
    17

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Wise Old Owl View Post
    to be honest when I used the over the counter Iso which had a little water - it was very disappointing.... I only use Yellow Heat now.... I have several simmilar stoves and a side by side test would possibly kill any idea of myself using Iso.
    I need you to be a little more specific.

    When I use 75% isopropanol, it burns with an ideal flame pattern and lasts a long time. It can be difficult to light in the field when it's cold though. 99% isopropanol can burn quite vigorously, although it has better flame control than ethanol, and I haven't had a problem with lighting this.

    Still, any isopropanol...aka, rubbing alcohol...aka, 2-propanol...makes a lot of soot that makes it worth avoiding. Ethanol burns clean and is inexpensive when bought by the gallon. Burning clean is enough reason to use it. I would conduct some comparison tests, but I really hate cleaning up isopropanol soot.

  18. #18
    Registered User SunnyWalker's Avatar
    Join Date
    02-16-2007
    Location
    Pampa, TX
    Age
    71
    Posts
    2,027
    Journal Entries
    1
    Images
    44

    Default

    Heet-yellow. D. Alcohol (SLX), and last but not least, brake fluid. Go see a video on Youtube on the subject. Mini Bull Design did a video on it.
    "Something hidden. Go and find it. Go, and look behind the Ranges. Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you . . . Go!" (Rudyard Kipling)
    From SunnyWalker, SOBO CDT hiker starting June 2014.
    Please visit: SunnyWalker.Net

  19. #19

    Default

    Definitely yellow so, I would prefer methanol for the cleanliness.

  20. #20

    Default

    In case anyone hasn't provided you with the correct information (but I see that most have), YELLOW....YELLOW and only YELLOW. Anything else in the "generic" version of denatured alcohol will cause soot and smoke to the high heavens.

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
  •