meths alternative

[sartacus]

Hi Guys,

I would like to bring to your attention a cheap alternative to 'good ol' standard Methylated Spirits'.

In my local DIY store they sell 500ml of Meths for £5.00 (ish), I discovered that the same store sold 'BIO ETHANOL'. This was on sale for £5.00 for 2 LITRES...... WOW !

It does the same job in my Triangia.

Do some research on the web and check this stuff out...

May the force be with you...

Sartacus

[Richie]

Store?

[sartacus]

B&Q

[jus_young]

Yep, and a company called Fuel4 http://www.fuel4.co.uk/ have developed a bio ethanol gel fuel for their stoves. They have also just released a meths alternative that does not appear on their website yet but the range can be found here http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/product-search/fuel4. Price comparison wise, the fuels are typically the same as your DIY store prices for meths, but quite a few of us can get meths for significantly less.

I bought my son the Fuel4 X2 stove for Christmas and we have been playing with our different setups to see what they are like. The Gel fuel does not seem to last as long at the moment but its early days and a bit of a different learning curve with this stuff. We will be trying some different methods over the coming weeks to see how good this stuff is. I like the prospect of being able to carry the Gel as an alternative to meths as it opens up a few possibilities with regards to fires, It also has the benefit of releasing significantly less toxic fumes which could well be a bonus.

Oh, and as a P.S, having been tweeting Fuel4, they are developing a Trangia insert to work with the Gels.

[FishyFolk]

5£ for 0,5 litres of meths?
Ring the bell, I have found something that is cheaper here in Norway than overseas!

I paid 10£ for a 4 litres of our denatured alcohol, which I guess is the same stuff. At least thats what we use in our alcohol stoves.
I also get parafine in the form of parafine based charcoal barbecue lighter fluid for the same price, 2£ a litre in any super market for the
pressurized stoves I preffer using in winter. Have never worked out the consumption of the two. But I think my Optimus consumes less
than my trangia as the boil time is a lot quicker. The punishment is weight though.

[jus_young]

For those of us that can get to Trago, we pay about £3.80 for 2 litres.

[KieranBroadfield]

Interesting read this one! Cheers guys! Always looking to find cheaper meths.

[Bob W]

Go outdoors seem to have bio ethanol on the shelves instead of meths at the moment. Priced the same though I think!!

[jus_young]

Go outdoors seem to have bio ethanol on the shelves instead of meths at the moment. Priced the same though I think!!

Thats the stuff from Fuel4. I'm quite liking using it as it doesn't seem to soot up but rther expensive.

[Tigger004]

Been using it for a while, but I don't find it quite as good as meths, Just my opinion, give it a try and reply to this thread it works and it's only a fiver (usually found in B & Q near the fires and heaters are displayed)
It has an advantage - it burns with a yellow flame you can see
but it seems worse at lower temperatures and can get excited if it has heat reflected back at it,
Take a look at my photo of my Nimblewill stove thread an white box running inside it

[jus_young]

Been using it for a while, but I don't find it quite as good as meths, Just my opinion, give it a try and reply to this thread it works and it's only a fiver (usually found in B & Q near the fires and heaters are displayed)
It has an advantage - it burns with a yellow flame you can see
but it seems worse at lower temperatures and can get excited if it has heat reflected back at it,
Take a look at my photo of my Nimblewill stove thread an white box running inside it

I think that can be an issue with the whitebox stove in a confined space. I was watching some vids on YT on Tinny from the States that makes stoves, and a similar issue was had with one of his in the same kind of scenario.