Call me naive but after just getting into alcohol stoves I was suprised to find out that a quart of denatured alcohol at home depot is $6 a quart or $24 a gallon. I thought that $4 a gallon for the Colman fuel that I had previosuly used was outragous!

I use my stove 24/7 365 days a year so the 600% difference in the price of fuel will add up.

However I am in luck at the moment to be close to a free country like Mexcio where in San Luis Rio Colorado Sonora I can get a quart of ethel alcohol in the Del Sol grocery store for $1.20

Guess when I get back away from the border and have to pay that $6 a quart that I won't be heating my tent or bath water with an alcohol stove....

Edited by tittiger on 05/09/2007 17:03:27 MDT.

I think Lowes has a gallon for $12 or $14.

For me the benefits outweigh the costs, although I tend to choose between pressurized canister stoves and alcohol stoves(I think the alcohol is cheaper than isobutane canisters.) I like alcohol fuel and stoves because:
~the stove can be so lightweight
~the fuel can spill without major injury to health, gear or environment
~alcohol stoves are nearly silent
~alcohol fuel fumes and combustive gases have relatively low toxicity

Not if you read the recent literature on Carbon Monoxide, Alcohol stoves core the worst.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/stoves_tents_carbon_monoxide_pt_4.html

IF you are using the stove in a small hermetically sealed room. I think a tight tent might count, but not a tarp...

Edited by acrosome on 03/22/2010 11:47:19 MDT.

Dean,
It's good to see you talking about carbon monoxide rather than carbon dioxide.

Roger Caffin's tests on the carbon monoxide output of alcohol stoves showed me that there is little to worry about. When you consider the amount of time you will be cooking, and the amount of fuel used, the chances of doing any harm to yourself are negligible. Carbon monoxide is easily processed by the human body, as I'm sure Dean will agree. Unless concentrations reach really high levels for a sustained period, there is no risk of harm.

Ah, yes. Relative Risk versus Absolute Risk.

'A' can be 10x higher than 'B', and still be way below a critical threshold.

As you prove again and again, Rog, you are always good for a laugh. Any time I want a chuckle I just have to think of something you said... :o)

Edited by acrosome on 03/22/2010 17:27:48 MDT.

"Carbon monoxide is easily processed by the human body"

That's not true. Carbon monoxide actually binds to hemoglobin more strongly than both oxygen AND carbon dioxide, so it's considerably harder for the body to process and eliminate than carbon dioxide.

Did he say "heating my tent or bathwater"? :p

"Carbon monoxide actually binds to hemoglobin more strongly than both oxygen AND carbon dioxide, so it's considerably harder for the body to process and eliminate than carbon dioxide."

True, but still unimportant at the levels we're discussing.