What are the different names for and sources of alcohol for my stove?

Question

What are the different names for camping stove alcohol and where can I get such a fuel?

^{Note, this is not about white gas (aka "Coleman" fuel).}

Answer 1

There are four common types of stove alcohol: methanol, ethanol, denatured alcohol, and isopropanol. You can usually find them in hardware stores and (but not always) in camping stores. You can also get it as gas line antifreeze in automotive stores but be careful to read the label because antifreeze also comes in several other forms.

Methanol

Methanol is also commonly known as methyl alcohol, methyl hydrate, wood alcohol, or carbinol. It is toxic if consumed. It burns cleanly in an alcohol stove but has the coolest flame (least heat output). It is colorless. Some brands of methanol are Heet (yellow bottle), Pyroil, Recochem and TurboPower.

Ethanol

Ethanol is also commonly known as ethyl alcohol, ethyl hydrate, bio-ethanol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol. It is in alcoholic beverages. It burns cleanly in an alcohol stove. It is colorless. While many products are sold as ethanol, they usually have additives (see next). Except maybe in Brazil, it is difficult to buy cheap forms of pure, liquid ethanol. One brand is Everclear.

Denatured alcohol

Denatured alcohol is also commonly known as methylated spirits ("meths"), or denatured rectified spirit. It is actually just ethanol with additives (such as methanol or isopropanol) to make it taste bad and toxic if consumed. It is often dyed purple. If the additive is methanol, it burns cleanly in an alcohol stove. If the additive is isopropanol or there is much dye added, it burns much less cleanly. Some brands of denatured alcohol are Barrettine, Bio-Flame, Bird, Crown, Diggers, Eco-Feu, Econol, EkoFuel, Flying Tiger, Klean-Strip, La Hacienda, Mangers, Moko, Mylands, Nu-Flame, Parks, Polylab, Rain-X, Recochem, Rosak, S-L-X, Startex, Sunnyside, SupaDec, Vango and Vivek.

Isopropanol

Isopropanol is also commonly known as isopropyl alcohol, propan-2-ol, 2-propanol, IPA, or rubbing alcohol. It is somewhat toxic if consumed. It burns with a hot flame but leaves a dirty residue. It is colorless. Note that it is sold with differing percentages of purity (70%, 95%, etc), having water added. Some brands of isopropanol are Chemtools, Diggers, Kleen-Flo, Heet (red bottle), Pyroil, Recochem, TurboPower and Uline.

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Some wiki pages: Methanol, Ethanol, Denatured_alcohol, Isopropyl_alcohol, Ethanol_fuel, Beverage-can_stove.

Answer 2

Martin's answer is good. Adding a few tidbits:

Most alcohol stoves will burn other alcohols. Denatured alcohol usually refers to ethanol with an agent added that makes it undrinkable. The 3 carbon alcohols (propanols) also burn well. Iso-propanol is often marketed as rubbing alcohol. Read the label: Often comes as 70%, 90% and 99% alcohol. Higher alcohols may have problems at low temperatures.

Additional sources: Lacquer thinner is frequently a methanol blend. Try paint supply stores. Should be available in 5 gallon pails or 45 gallon drums.

Race cars run on pure methanol, and they use it in quantity. If you have a local track you would be able to get reasonable prices on it.

Alcohol used to be used as anti-freeze, before the glycols were in common use. May still be available.