Originally Posted by
Rowan
This depends on the Heet product. The yellow bottle contains methanol. The red bottle contains isoproponal plus additives. That's from the Gold Eagle website.
Contrary to recent advice in another thread, it seems that the red Heet is in fact the most suitable for use in alcohol stoves.
Although I didn't know that there were two HEET products, "Heet" is the methanol product and isoHEET is the 2-propanol product. I try not to use the class name for materials in the interest of clarity and will differentiate between them in the future.
Originally Posted by
bwgride
I've tried both and the yellow Heet bottle is best. The red Heet creates lots of soot and tends to clog Trangia stoves.
There is a reason for this. Isopropanol, aka 2-propanol, has a lower vapor pressure than methanol and ethanol. Since the open burn stoves like the Trangia work by burning the evaporating fuel that mixes with air, they need a high vapor pressure fuel. Isopropanol would work better in a system that atomizes the fuel and mixes it with air like a pressurized fuel stove. I would suggest, however, that no one not do that. It could be very dangerous as the fuel/air mixture would not be optimal with current jets.
Originally Posted by
Rowan
You still don't get it do you?
Many of us aren't interested in heating things twice as fast as with another fuel source. Do you cook at home with your stove's hotplates/burners turned up to the maximum, all the time?
The fact that we might carry around another half pound of fuel for a given period doesn't make a jot of difference, when we are happy with the fuel source, its performance, its smell, its availability, its safety, and a number of other factors... like you're happy with whatever fuel source you choose to do your camp cooking.
The OP has made a choice. Why don't you just leave it at that?
What do you not get? Do you cook with your stove at home turned down to minimum all the time? All you guys seem to be trying to convince me that the fuel you use is the best fuel on the planet and performs just as well as my fuel choice. I fully acknowledge the short comings of my fuel choice. Availability of butane mixture canisters is limited but they aren't as limited in the US (where I do most of my touring so that's where I'm most concerned about fuel availability) because a major retailer has decided to carry them. Considering that this major retailer is far too prevalent throughout the US...another topic
...I've had no issues in the last 3 or 4 years finding my fuel choice.
I acknowledge that my stove of choice comes with some
possible safety issues, but I have never heard of anyone having problems with these fuels when used according to manufacturers instruction.
I acknowledge that the canister or pressurized liquid fuel stoves are heavier.
Now, are you willing to acknowledge alcohol fuel's shortcomings? That pound for pound it has half the energy density of hydrocarbon fuels? That you have to use more of it to do the same thing? That the heat output from it is less than the heat output from hydrocarbon fuels? That you have to refuel more often because you use so much more of it? That you are limited to a very specific range of fuels...ethanol and methanol...to avoid soot and stove clogging? That an open burning liquid fuel has more chance of getting away from the user then a contained, metered fuel?