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An alcohol stove is a simple system for cooking on a boat, requiring no lines or complicated hook-ups. It is a good alternative to LPG when not pressurized.
Marine alcohol stoves have fuel cannisters filled with an absorbent material to prevent spillage, an important safety feature if cooking whilst sailing.
Fuel
There are four common types of stove alcohol: methanol, ethanol, denatured alcohol, and isopropanol. They're found in hardware stores (sometimes), marine, RV and camping stores.
For an alcohol stove to burn cleanly, you need the fuel to be at 90% purity(180 proof), or better. All the stove manufacturer means is that the water content of the fuel should be as low as conveniently possible (below 10%).
Methanol
Once produced by the destructive distillation of wood. Methanol is now mainly produced industrially by hydrogenation of carbon monoxide. It is often added to denatured alcohol to render it undrinkable.
Other names:
- Methyl hydrate
- Wood alcohol
- Carbinol
Properties:
- Burns cleanly
- Has coolest flame.
- Flame is colorless.
- Toxic if ingested.
Brands: Heet (yellow bottle), Pyroil, Recochem and TurboPower.
Ethanol
A high-proof alcohol fuel which can be distilled from a wide variety of biomass feedstock.
Other names:
- Ethyl alcohol
- Ethyl hydrate
- Grain alcohol
- Drinking alcohol
Properties:
- Burns cleanly.
- Flame is colorless.
- Non-toxic.
Brands: Everclear.
Positive Sustainable Development Goals:
- SDG 3 (health, well-being) clean-burning.
- SDG 7 (energy) renewable.
- SDG 13 (climate change) renewable, no smoke, emissions or soot.
- SDG 5 (gender) if used instead of woodfuel.
- SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth) if produced domestically and sustainably.
- SDG 1 (poverty) development of alternative feedstocks has potential to improve yields and farmer income.
- SDG 2 (hunger) development of alternative feedstocks has potential to improve food security.
Negative Sustainable Development Goals:
- SD5 15 (life on land) large scale mono-agricultural production can be environmentally damaging.
Denatured alcohol
Ethanol with additives (10-50% isopropyl alcohol, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, or methyl isobutyl ketone), made to taste bad to discourage people from drinking it.
Other names:
- Methylated spirits
- Meths
- Denatured rectified spirit
- Bio-ethanol
Properties:
- Ethanol with additives (such as methanol or isopropanol).
- Burns cleanly.
- Toxic if ingested.
Brands: 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
Sold with different levels of purity (70%, 95%, 99% etc), with water added.
Other names:
- Isopropyl alcohol
- Propan-2-ol
- 2-propanol
- IPA
- Rubbing alcohol
Properties:
- Toxic if consumed.
- Burns with hot flame.
- Leaves dirty residue.
- Flame is colorless.
Brands: Chemtools, Diggers, Kleen-Flo, Heet (red bottle), Pyroil, Recochem, TurboPower and Uline.
Origo 2-burner alcohol stove
Our stove has two cannisters, that each accomodate 1.2L of fuel. Each cannister lasts 1 week of regular usage, this includes 3 meals a day, plus coffee and tea in evenings.
Fully filled but never used, the canister will dry from evaporation in two or three months.
Alcohol Stove instructions
- Do not fill when hot.
- Do not fill while operating.
- Do not overfill.
- Re-fill away from stove.
- Use a small bottle, with a narrow spout to re-fill fuel. Or one with a safety nozzle.
- Store in closed containers, mainly due to the combustible nature of the ethanol vapour-air mix at certain concentrations, but also due to the possibility of evaporation.
Resources
Tetkoba's Alcohol Stove Addict
Sustainable Development Goals United Nations
Source