aluminium water bottles for carrying fuel?!

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the same jerk who screwed me over with the knife last year (see my thread in the knife section...) also turned up with TWO aluminium water bottles in 2022 when i asked him to bring me a Nalgene "oasis" (despite extremely clear instructions); this morning he left for next half year to go back to Amsterdam (yay!) and i left him the two bottles as a 'gift' on the path(as i'll NEVER drink from them!) before heading out without farewell... well... the bottles are still there--- before i just turn them into landfill: would they work as fuel bottles for petrol stoves?
 

Pattree

Full Member
Jul 19, 2023
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I wouldn’t. I doubt that the seals are designed for solvents but others here might know better.
Correct sized Vacron “O” rings are almost certainly available but what is the screw cap made of?
 

Toddy

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Jan 21, 2005
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Those bottles are usually lined with something that makes them safe to drink from.
It does not always do well with stuff like meths.
Fine for a short trip, but not for storing fuel for any length of time.

What they are good for is as hot water bottles :)

Seriously fill with hot water and then wrap up by putting them inside a pair of socks. That insulates them and keeps them snug and slowly releasing heat....good for drying off wet socks or boots that way too if you don't want to warm your sleeping bag.
 

grainweevil

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Feb 18, 2023
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Just curious; why wouldn't you drink from them? The whole aluminium/dementia thing has been dismissed, iirc, if that's what's bothering you.

Aside from that aluminium is one of the easiest materials to recycle, so at least do that rather than landfill.
 
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Toddy

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I think the issue is not just that it's "Aluminium!!".....and I agree that that health concern has mostly been debunked......but that people use such bottles for more than just water. Fruit juice for instance is acidic, and it does affect metal and some leaches into the liquid.
Tiny, tiny quantities, but still.

So, manufacturers seem to routinely line such bottles with a varnish of some kind....and that doesn't do well with fuel for long.
 
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Just curious; why wouldn't you drink from them? The whole aluminium/dementia thing has been dismissed, iirc, if that's what's bothering you.

Aside from that aluminium is one of the easiest materials to recycle, so at least do that rather than landfill.
it's not just the material, they also don't have the right shape to fit with the rest of my set-up (one is a oval military-style bottle saying "made in Hungary" , the other one a flimsy-looking cylindrical one)...

i've a total aversion against aluminium cookware since my (involuntary) days in uniform: even a gourmet meal tastes like poop if eaten from a cheap military mess tin -- the sound of the spoon scraping against the vessel is enough to spoil my appetite...
 

Falstaff

Member
Feb 12, 2023
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I've used an aluminium Sigg for mebbe 20 years for petrol for my MSR, no problems. Now I use a varnished or one, no problems on that either. If necessary I can change the washer for a nylon or a fibre one.
Having the same aversion to aluminium, before using the plain one I did however, give it a good scrub with some dry rice. you put the top back on and get a good prolonged rotary shake going around inside, takes off oxides and other stuff, rice comes out shiny with ally & goes straight in the bin. Flush out with clean water and its good to go. S'pose some dry sand would do the same..
 

TLM

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Nov 16, 2019
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Having the same aversion to aluminium, before using the plain one I did however, give it a good scrub with some dry rice. you put the top back on and get a good prolonged rotary shake going around inside, takes off oxides and other stuff, rice comes out shiny with ally & goes straight in the bin. Flush out with clean water and its good to go. S'pose some dry sand would do the same..
Hmmm... one can scrub off the oxide layer but in air it forms back in about a millisecond. Also some anodized oxides are pretty hard not sure if CO2 ice can scrub it. Properly made oxide layer is fairly stable and anything free formed is softer. At least one of my SIGG bottles looks anodized and lacquered on the out side, haven't really looked on the inside, it has served as fuel bottle for 25 years.

I am not sure if scrubbing the inside of a high grade Al bottle is a good idea, chances are fairly high it'll be for the worse.
 

Jared

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Sep 8, 2005
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SIGG bottles before 2008 would leech BPA, think it was an epoxy coating. Since moved to something to a BPA free plastic, likely either PE or PP
 

TLM

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Nov 16, 2019
3,129
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Vantaa, Finland
SIGG bottles before 2008 would leech BPA, think it was an epoxy coating. Since moved to something to a BPA free plastic, likely either PE or PP
A lot of epoxies are BPA based but not all, especially some high temp baked coatings. But generally drinking bottles and epoxies is not a good combination, some vinyl esters are actually tested and approved for wine tanks in France and as all know that is an application of almost religious importance there ...
 

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