Adding water to a trangia Alcohol stove burner, this is impossible!!! how is it still lighting??? 

Sooting is caused by the additives to the meths - dye and some hydrocarbons. Water in the fuel is turned to steam and reduces the impact of this. Adding excessive water will have limited additional impact other than extending heating times - it will usually boil off but may be left in the burner. It will not improve burner efficiency. It is the meths vapour that burns - which is why adding lots of water can appear to have an little effect on burning - it will affect burn times. For lightweight use, store fuel in the burner, take a small bottle to resupply, clean soot off if you like.

Soot on my pans has never harmed or hindered me in 57 years of camping and fishing I simply can not be bothered but what ever float's your boat you guys just carry on

Amazing how few people actually read the directions for the stove that are right there on the yellow bag it comes with. They actually recommend diluting the alcohol to about 90%. They say it will help with soot.

I keep my fuel, meths or bio, in a trangia safety bottle. I add the 10% water when I fill the bottle then give the mix a shake before filling the burner.

Adding H20 actually makes the flame a little cooler . That helps you prevent burning your food. In a thin camping pot I carry two trangia fuel bottles one green with 10 percent water one red with straight fuel if I'm in a hurry I use the red one .both will boil water. The green just takes a little longer. If you doy believe it just try putting some butter in the pan with straight fuel then try with the 10 percent water fuel. And you will understand

Adding up to 10% water stops sooting of your pots, it’s on the Trangia packaging

60 to 70% Isopropyl and the rest water also burns well with little soot. If you keep your cooking pot an inch above the burner to maintain a blue flame only then you wont get virtually any soot at all... The real reason for sooting is the number of carbon molecules in the chemical chain. Ethanol has 1 (cleanest - and blue flame with next to no yellow), Methanol has 2 (slight sooting - blue and yellow flame), Isopropyl has 3 (dirtiest - bright yellow flame due to carbon)

(I heard, and I believe) The reason for adding water, is to reduce the alcohol % so that the alcohol does not "evaporate" as unburnt fuel. (Poor combustion) but thereby burns more slowly and produces cleaner combustion. Here in Denmark, Scandinavia, the recommendation is to use; Rubbing/Household ALCOHOL (93%) And to avoid soot; add water 7-10%. In the "summertime" I use 10% h2o. In the "winter time" maybe only 7% of water?

Just love the exclamation! "Ehh! ?????" Your reaction was amazing! Take care Graham

Can be harder to light when cold if too much water is added. I use a full teaspoon to a full tank of Metho. Cooks good. Reason for adding water is it stops a lot of the soot on everything. Still browns a bit but no soot on pots to hands to food. Cheers Steve.

It's the vapour from the meths that ignites, not the fluid itself.

Methylated spirit is not an oil, it does mix with water because of the Methanol(alcohol) in it. When water is added to the spirit in your burner it dilutes it, that is why there is a reduction in the amount of soot that gets deposited on whatever container you use to boil water or cook in above the stove. Even though you add water to reduce sooting... which does make for a slower burn time....it still ignites because of the Methanol(alcohol) Great video, Keep doing what your doing and I'm looking forward to your next collaboration with OSCAR OUTDOORS. All the best lad👍

stops your pans sooting up as much

Meths is a great thing, but be aware on bright days, the flame can be difficult to see. Keep an eye on it if you're using it with kids around.

Thats a great tip as you now know adding 10% water slows sooting up pans , i didn't know that , so thanks for sharing Best regards Shaun

Meths is a spirit and not oil based so will mix with water, just like vodka or whisky.

Adding water ends the black sootings on the bottom of your pans 😁👍

Reduces sooting. Personally I don't think it burns as hot but that may just be my own experience.

Nice looks like a great idea for fuel consumption

Hi Dan as others have said it stops your pots and pans from getting covered in soot. Meths is quite bad for getting pots all sooty. Bio ethanol (can get in Go Outdoors) is a lot better than meths. If you add watter to meths it cuts back the sooting problem.

Bio ethanol from B and Q works better and doesn't soot up the pan

Wow , thats tidy, Top Job Sir !!!

Woodsman, isopropyl alcohol and methylated spirits have an affinity for water, which is why many fuel-line cleaners have it: to bind the water in the petrol to it so it can be turned to steam during combustion in motor vehicle engines. Otherwise the water stays in the fuel tank and just builds up, as it doesn't mix with petrol.

My first though was what a load of rubbish but you’re right, it’s even on the instructions from Trangia 👍👍😊😊

Looks like after adding the water it’s a slightly cleaner flame hence less sooting up. Think that’s the idea behind it

Nice show thanks

Thanks Dan, that was very informative.

Thanks for a good video, for info I am pretty sure that alcohol FLOATS on top of water...as it is lighter, sorta like oil?..

In all my years ( 40 plus ) of using alcohol stoves here in the States , I have NEVER had a soot problem with them. The bottom of my pots are always as clean as when they were before using them. I only use DENATURED ( Clear, no coloring ) Alcohol or in a pinch 190 proof grain ( food quality ) alcohol. The higher the alcohol content the cleaner the burn. Water , especially to much of it is reported to eventually ruin the cotton wicking in the stoves. What has to be causing the soot problem folks are having is the impurities ( Purple dye ) and dilutes in the alcohol they are using. A good example is Rubbing alcohol , it works but at 70% alcohol it will dirty the bottom of a pot.

The meths.will always stay on the surface of the water .So will light up as usual when a light is put to it .The water will rest at the bottom of the burner , not mixing with or diluting the meths.

Adding watwr to your spirit burner is susposed to stop it smoking. However i believe its more to do with white spirit, kerosene, or parafin rater than metholated spirits that you are using hope it helps P s. Meths is lighter than water and sits on the top of the water, if you remember your school physic s lessons

It's because it's the vapour that burns. It reduces soot but doesn't affect the boiling time by much. 10% is about as muchas it can take. The higher the alcohol content the better. Really anything higher than 95% is good. Also works with Ethanol.

If you mix, say, 30ml of meths with water you still have 30ml of meths. Volume will obviously be greater but (in theory) it should still boil the same amount of water as if it was undiluted (but longer). It's like a cordial drink, put too much water in and it will last longer and you will have more volume but the taste (equivalent to the burn temp) won't be as good. Also, in winter you may struggle to light it anyway. I always use it neat because, no doubt, these manufacturers will have added water anyway to make more money. Sooting is more akin to the height from the flame of the pot. Try putting the pot lower and you will get less soot BUT your boil times will be longer. The advantage of this though is that it's a good way of simmering without using the simmer ring. If you want to boil faster with your alcohol burner then use bio ethanol.........or there's always gas 🙂

I see you after you added to water it does look like the flame is a little calmer so maybe there is something there

It’s the go. It calms the heat. Without it I find its to hot a flame. It continues to light cost water is heavier and goes to the bottom. I feel like the Cadbury scientist. Prof Sub....cheers

TRAN...GEE. A.. hope that helps... I've not tried adding water perhaps I might have a go myself. but I have seen comments arguing aginst it.. I suppose an experiment might be done.. get two trangia's a ft apart and put water in one and see what the results might be comparred to the other.. in fact, I'll do it tonight on my trangia's and report back later....

The people who are saying it will save fuel are misguided Im afraid.... Adding water is lowering the calorific value of the fuel, so it will give less energy to the kettle... and take longer to make yer coffee..

I guess the water heats up and evaporates with the alcohol I guess and a slower burn is the result ?

100 proof booze means it will light 100% of the time which is at 50% alcohol. Bottles alcohol at 70% alcohol works fine in these stoves.

I think it's worth mentioning, although everyone probably already knows this except for me until just the other day but, be careful adding more methylated spirit to a "hot" burner, apparently it can have explosive results. Something to do with cold hitting hot, I don't know?

I think most people add water to help prevent soot I've never used methalated spirits I use vangos bio fuels for my trangia leaves hardly Any soot but never used anything else

Looks to be slower to bloom with the addition of water..is that what people find..?

Don't quote me on this but I'm pretty sure it helps cut down soot but iam not sure if it's true

Just the alcohol burning, when it stops burning you will find most of the water at the bottom

Trangia say you cab add up to 15% water to the methylated spirit. 5cl of fuel should boil 1L of water in 10-15 min?

Adding a small drop of water helps to lower soot build up on the bottom of pots and pans

The only reason Iv seen with people adding water to meth’s is it has less of the meth’y smell and it soot’s the bottom of the cookware less if you add it so more or less act’s more like bio ethanol it shouldn’t make it go further as it “the meths” being the fuel will only burn as long as it would by volume “25ml of meths with 10% water will only burn as long as 25ml of pure meths” but being honest unless you are just cooking out for a night or 2 do you want to pre water down your meths and have less fuel by volume of bottle or carry more bottles or loose more of your drinking water to cook with wile out ? Or have a little more of a meth’y smell wile cooking and have a bit more soot on your cookware to clean off ? If that bothers you it would be a better swap to bio ethanol than adding water in my opinion? I might be wrong on this I’m not a expert but after the investigations Iv made that’s the take away and trade outs I got from it 👍🏻

Tried this @10% and tbh didn't see any real difference in the shooting, but have been told to have the trangia burner about 1- 11/2" below pot to reduce shooting. Also tried La Hacienda bio ethanol from B&Q after watching a vid but that sooted as well

I have heard adding water reduces soot on pot. I tried it and it seems to to be so

Water makes it burn cleaner

I can tell You that ,I know oil can break down rubber.... Once My rubber O ring goes in the Cap ( which probably won't in My Lifetime) Ill put a cork gasket in as a replacement...or Cut one out of a piece of Cereal Box.. Mine is going on 2 years old now and used Maybe 30 times or so. Rite now I have it running in 80 percent alcohol that was made by a distillery for use as a hand sanitizer...it burns longer than iso, meth, etc. Probably use a lil bit of water for soot. Only problem is adding water to keep soot off of pots tells Me the soot or residue will end up staying in the stove...hmmmm

Hi I realise this an old post & an even older question... But it's a stupid idea a no brainer.. for me it's "BLACK POTS MATTETR" First off water is a non combustable liquid in its natural state, ie when the fuel is lit it has to burn/boil off (evaporate the added water) think about it! people? seriously!? its just common sense! Yes it's a given that diluting fuel will indeed limit the build up of "soot" / carbon but at what cost? & yes carbon is a poor conductor of heat but not of heat transfer, it stands to reason diluted with water fuel is going burn at a lower temp & ergo take longer to boil water... the reason behind people adding water in the first place is NOT to make fuel last longer but to limit the build up of soot on your kit... adding water to your fuel will infact reduce shooting yes... but as I have already stated at a cost... I have used undiluted meth/& later on undiluted bioethanol for almost 40 years on the same aluminum kettle/pots which I bought in the seventies they now has a very fine build up of carbon which does not rub off on kit... infact it would probably take considerable effort to remove it at this late stage. Alcohol burners are slow enough to cook on with out adding water to the fuel which slows them down further, also in comparison thermodinamicaly a black pot is better than a shiny pot... some "soot" still appears on pots pans kettles but a wipe on the grass removes some of this leaving behind a non transferable carbon build up which is clean to the touch.. Further more in a head to head strait boil test my undiluted fuel & old blackened kettle will be more fuel efficient & out perform any similar but shiney kettle being boiled using even mildly diluted fuel... by a strong margin... so my advice to everybody is DO NOT DILUTE FUEL IN FAVOUR OF CLEAN POTS... instead wipe on grass shortly after use & before packing away, let the carbon build up on your kit... it will improve boil times & ultimately save fuel to boot.. if shiney pots are your goal & are more important to you? then by all means dilute your fuel in favour of shiney pots, I've not tried it but have heard many people say that smearing washing up liquid on the outside of your pots immediately before use then washing immediately after also prevents sooty arsed pots. It's up to you but for my money I'm a "BLACK PACKER"... & "DON'T DILUTE FUEL"

I can't see the point myself, you wouldn't stick 10% water in the fuel tank of your car! I've personally never had any issues with soot anyway.

Brandy burns on the Christmas pud it's only 40% alcohol therefore 60% water

All depends on type fuel you use as well

it cuts down the sooting .10-15% water

lol. You can add a bathtub full of water, fuel generally floats.

could you use the water method in a multi fuel stove just wonderd

I use bio-ethanol, are you supposed to put water in that? Ta

Excellent now try it with your petrol powered car engine and see if it cuts down on emissions and carbon fouling of valve heads etc. Try taking it for a spin and see if it will do more than 30mph at 6000rpm. Go on I dare you !!

Fairly sure the fuel is just floating ontop of the water. Like when you mix oil and water. You need an emulsifier to actually mix them together (Atleast that's how mayo is made lol)

Meths is pretty much alcohol so. It would mix with water but I can garuntee the more water you add the less amount of flame and heat you're going to get. So. Its not realy making your meths go further. There is of. Course a cut off point where if you put too much water in it won't light. (probably a 70/30 alcohol to water mix. anything less and the likelyhood of it lighting becomes very slim. Added bonus with how. Difficult it is to access hand sanitizers at the moment meths will. Do the job as well as hand sanitizer will. According to big Clive despite the name meths it is. Actually mostly ethanol based. But to. Stop people from. Drinking it they add a realy disgusting tasting chemical.

I use pure bio-ethanol instead of meths. Very very little sooting if any. Burns hot. Smells like brandy! 😄👍 Why would anyone use meths?

The alcohol floats on the water. So you are not diluting it and not steaming.

It's just the meths floating on top of the water mate. Can't really see the point in doing it myself. Take care mate.

I found HP sauce in one of my grocery stores. Is this what brown sauce is? On the bottle it says the Original Brown sauce. In any case it is very tasty. I have not tried this in my alcohol burner. I wonder if it soots up cause of the kind of meth you all have. Yours has colors. I use denatured alcohol. My burner does not seem to soot up at all. Thanks for sharing

The idea s not to spead the fuel its original idea is to reduce soot be interesting comparing a pan with a couple of boil ups kp

Meths is a tasty drink too!

Does it light properly with that much water from a cold start😀

The fuel sits on top of the water

Oops first yeaaa

Nothing impressive about it.. 50% rubbing alcohol burns great It has 50% water 💦

oil and petrol float your not diluting it..... it still comes to the top

Didn't you ever go to school?

Nowhere in the directions on any Trangia packaging or on the website does it instruct people to add water to the methylated spirits or denatured alcohol... The only reason it will still ignite even at 50/50 is that the alcohol doesn't mix with the water, it simply floats on top, and once it's burned out, you've got a Trangia spirit burner half-filled with water that will now start causing a green patina to start building up on the brass. Additionally, it doesn't reduce soot in the slightest - this is a ridiculous wives tale repeated by inexperienced and scientifically clueless Trangia users who don't understand how different alcohols burn. The ONLY way to prevent soot on the bottom of your pots and pans is to use pure ethanol-based fuel which costs around 3x the amount of the cheap methylated spirits you'll find in the supermarket. This kind of clean-burning fuel is typically only available at solvent retailers rather than grocery or hardware stores, and the reason for this is simple, and that's because they don't want a litre (or larger) bottle of pure ethanol to be available at the supermarket, as it encourages dangerous practices from problem drinkers, hence why they began adding methyl alcohol to what you can buy easily at the supermarket, to make it poisonous to drink...