Making meths smell nice.

[rik_uk3]

"Ooh,nice.

Lovely old bits of kit;they were the days"

They still are, and used restored and even made. A big following amongst us sad old stove collectors

www.spiritburner.com

The top picture shows a pre 1925 Primus model 96, nice. I have a 1916 model, works perfect and its output is on a par with a Nova stove

The wife thinks I've got too much time on my hands

 

[Bushwacker]

I recently got my authorisation for customs to by denatured alcohol, burns clean. And if you`re out camping in france, you can walk into any supermarket and buy proper alcohol for your stove over the counter, burns clean, although it takes a good spark or flame to light. But the best bit was the price, 1.85 euro per litre! Needless to say, I brought a few litres back in ln my motorcycle panniers.

 

[Culicoidis]

to take away some of the odour and some the colour, filter it through activated charcoal.
That not being readily available crush some lump wood charcoal, put it in the meths bottle cap it and give a good shake. Let it stand for a few days giving it a shake every now and again and the charcoal will absorb the impurities.

 

[havingagiraffe]

Thanks for the excellent kit chatter chaps. :You_Rock_

I haven't got the patience to mess about with charcoal, so I'll have to seek purer industrial meths.

 

[Shambling Shaman]

Jetboil stoves, baaa humbug, ok if you live on coffee and noodles, plus they use gas

Yep gas which is why im trying out green gell. But for a quick fresh brew and boil in the bag food in a hurry (MR call out etc) its great, imo.

On my DofE we were shown a vid on tent fires the gas explosion always stiks in my head. Any thing under pressure is going to be a bit dodgy.

 

[Zodiak]

On my DofE we were shown a vid on tent fires the gas explosion always stiks in my head. Any thing under pressure is going to be a bit dodgy.

I could do with showing that to my lot, do you remeber any details such as the title, who made it etc, or even who showed it to you please?

 

[Shambling Shaman]

I could do with showing that to my lot, do you remeber any details such as the title, who made it etc, or even who showed it to you please?

Age check
Back in 1983/84 ish my DofE teacher was Lesly Old. I have no idea what it was call , possibly tent safty it was very 70's public awerness type. might do a google/ebay serch.

 

[Jon Mawer]

I have way too many stoves, but I always seem to be able to make home for "just one more"!

 

[clcuckow]

I recently got my authorisation for customs to by denatured alcohol, burns clean. And if you`re out camping in france, you can walk into any supermarket and buy proper alcohol for your stove over the counter, burns clean, although it takes a good spark or flame to light. But the best bit was the price, 1.85 euro per litre! Needless to say, I brought a few litres back in ln my motorcycle panniers.

I must admin I got some strange looks at the auchan in Amiens when added a 5L 'Alcool A Bruler' to the booze I was bringing home but at about 6 euro for 5L I though it was worth the space of another 5 or 6 bottle of the vin rouge.

I had no problems lighting it with my firesteel either.

 

[lukeuk2]

"Ooh,nice.

Lovely old bits of kit;they were the days"

They still are, and used restored and even made. A big following amongst us sad old stove collectors

www.spiritburner.com

The top picture shows a pre 1925 Primus model 96, nice. I have a 1916 model, works perfect and its output is on a par with a Nova stove

The wife thinks I've got too much time on my hands

And the son thinks you got to much time on your hands too, and too many stoves ha ha ha.

 

[jamesraykenney]

Not a silly question at all.
I've recently applied for a licence to buy industrial methylated spirits (also known as denatured alcohol) - I've heard that this is less smelly / sooty when using. I don't think that there's much you can do to change the smell of standard meths though.

Matt

Why do you have to have a licence to buy denatured alcohol? It still has poison put into it to prevent people from drinking it(I think that is what denatured MEANS)...

One thing you can use(and I do) is Everclear...
It is expensive but has no poison in it(I do not like the idea of breathing benzine fumes while cooking...
I think I may have read somewhere that it is illegal in the UK though... How do you make mixed drinks in the UK without it??? It is a standard here in the US... I have heard that some people actually drink it, though I do not think it is meant to be drank pure. I would think that 98%(196 proof) alcohol would burst the cell walls in your throat! I know when drying tissue samples for mounting on slides, you have to go through a whole range of %s to keep from destroying the sample... I do not drink so I do not really know about drinking it, but I do not think it would be a good idea at all...

 

[havingagiraffe]

Why do you have to have a licence to buy denatured alcohol? It still has poison put into it to prevent people from drinking it(I think that is what denatured MEANS)...

One thing you can use(and I do) is Everclear...
It is expensive but has no poison in it(I do not like the idea of breathing benzine fumes while cooking...
I think I may have read somewhere that it is illegal in the UK though... How do you make mixed drinks in the UK without it??? It is a standard here in the US... I have heard that some people actually drink it, though I do not think it is meant to be drank pure. I would think that 98%(196 proof) alcohol would burst the cell walls in your throat! I know when drying tissue samples for mounting on slides, you have to go through a whole range of %s to keep from destroying the sample... I do not drink so I do not really know about drinking it, but I do not think it would be a good idea at all...

Interesting...

 

[Danceswithhelicopters]

I found these in Tisos in Scotland and took one to the Tour de France in my Trangia 27K.
No smell, no soot, appeared a wee bit slower-but there was no wind to boost the flame like there would be in Scotland.
They won't fit in the kettle of the Trangia but the unit is a combined burner and fuel source so no bottle to carry additionally. You can hold the open can upside down and it wont drip and it lit no problem with a firesteel.
One can lasted me 5 days worth of coffee twice a day for 2 people and it brought water to a proper rolling boil. I haven't been that impressed with Greenheat gel in the past ( In a Crusader cooker) but this combo seems to boost its efficiency through good screening of the flame, efficient transfer of heat and the Trangia wind assisted chimney effect. The noticeable boon was the lack of cleaning sooty pans and lack of smell-but like others the first waft of damp meths takes me back to outdoors!
Recommended pending a test in the Highlands-and in colder weather.