Ok...

The alcohol you find in drugstores is Isopropyl Alcohol, and from what I have read/heard Denatured burns longer and hotter. You then mentioned it was only $1, this is true but for a very small amount you can get Denatured by the gallon (apparently) and thus cheaper than $1/bottle Isopropyl.

I also asked if what I had read/heard was correct in respect to the Denatured burning hotter, longer, and cleaner(no black residue?) compared to Isopropyl.

I hope that's clear.

Denatured alcohol (aka shellac thinner) is all burnable.

Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol is usually 70% alcohol + 30% water, but sometimes you can get a higher percentage of alcohol. It's very difficult to get 100% alcohol.

Since water doesn't burn, I'm sure it must cut down on the efficiency (& therefore heat) of the other 70%.

If you need heat, you need heat. For the small amount you would usually need, the savings for buying water to burn has got to be fairly negligible.

Sue

Thanks Susan.

On the bottles I have Rubbing is 70% you are correct. I however remembring seeing soething that said 90% at wal-mart i`ll have to go back and check that out it may be worth investigating.

Denatured alcohol is basically 100% alcohol with some poisons added so people won't drink it. It is superior to the 70% to 90% mixtures for the reason Susan mentioned..no water. If you were to burn the 70% in a pop can stove..it would smoke more, be less efficient and leave black soot on your pot...but then in a survival situation I could give a crap about some soot on my pot. Don't take our word for it though...build you a stove and then experiment with it. You may also want to check out this website..pretty good resource. Alcohol Stove basics

True on all counts... I turned it around in the first post, denatured is better than isopropyl. Sorry about that

Troy

I usually use Everclear in my Alc. stoves...

It is expensive, but is is clean burning and does not smell, at all, as bad as the other stuff...

By the way... I do not drink......

I may just have to use some for the same purpose! I`ve had some for a little over a year and other than TRYING to make some punch with it it's never been used!

Seems like we've ordered denatured alcohol for people...I'll check the price Monday, I don't think a pint was too expensive if I recall....

A quick look at shopping.com lists it for $3.39 per quart for denatured alcohol. WalMart probably sells a quart of 70% isopropyl alcohol for less than $1.50.

OTOH, you can probably buy a quart of isopropyl alcohol and a cheap knife at the Dollar Store for a grand total of $2 + local taxes! <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

But the denatured stuff really cleans goop off nearly everything.

Sue

Sue, every Walgreens has 91% iso, and it burns real good, if you will pardon my grammer.