I recently learned that Sterno comes in 2 forms: regular and chafing, like you had. The chafing is designed more for keeping things warm, for caterers. The other is designed to perform at a higher temperature.
Denatured alcohol is basically just everclear with crap added to it (usually methanol) to keep people from drinking it. I chose everclear for my alcohol stoves for camping specifically because it's clean burning, can be used as a disinfectant, and could potentially be consumed. The downside is cost but i use so little that it's not a big deal. Makes you wonder why denatured is so much cheaper when it's basically the same stuff only has MORE ingredients... I can only assume government regulations make it cost a lot more. Still, for me I try to go as multipurpose as possibe for most of my camping gear.
I think it depends too, on what type of stove you use. I have an alcohol burner stove it burns nice on denatured alcohol and isopropyl. Another alcohol stove I have burns nice on isopropyl but not denatured. I think it has to do with the fuel / air ratio.
I used to work at a mortgage bank and we loved our geeky engineers! They asked a million question in the beginning but there were no surprises at the closing🤣😂🤣 They had it all figured out!💰👍🏻
If you choose to use the safe heat, you can always sip the Everclear while you wait. Might try and find methyl alcohol and see how it works. I have found that while the bioethanol fuels work they are quite a bit messier not burning clean at all. Kinda like the rubbing alcohol did but worse.
Thanks for this thorough examination of these fuels; the most useful that i have seen! My problem with all of these RU-vid presentations is that they always boil water, which Is fine for standardising comparisons. In reality, cooking, mine anyway, usually involves frying so the hottest quickest flames are not what I want. I have a thin, light weight stainless steel fry pan and it will just burn everything unless there is water involved. So, a slow or lower temperature, clean burning fuel is far better to me. So the Safe Heat is interesting. I'm in Australia, so I don't know what the generic term for Safe Heat is.
Just watched a video for the top 5 Grid down cooking methods. Great choices of device to cook in and outside. The cooking device I’m going to get has a dual purpose, as one stove called the Vesta has a fan on top of part of its stove and makes for a heater. Ran by 3 Safe heat canisters. Have you ever heard of a Sun Oven, before today me either! So off I go to research it! This was a interesting video!
😁😂🤣omg!!! 25 sec into video & you had me on the floor with a big ol' belly laugh to tears 🙂 My dad was an engineer, corrosion control, and he had us laughing as kids with that remark... "... I'm an engineer - I have no personality..." You engineers are like ice bergs...top is cold & calculating, but there is usually an fantastic sense of humor lying below the waterline... Thank you for what you're doing! I'm a new van dweller nomad seeking a cheaper way to heat. With the supply blockage, there were NO butane cans (Kovea, gasone, etc) in Clackamas County, K-Falls, Lakeview, No Calif, etc til I got to Quartzite... Big Market had 2 pallets full of camp stove heater butane. So I am researching alcohol heat sources. On the hunt for the bottom of the ice bergs, I'm looking forward to this & others you put out... Happy Trails, Ms CharLee 👵 Angel🚐 Nikki the Adventure Dog🐕
Thanks for your comments...sometimes all I can do is laugh at myself! Crazy how strange our world has become. I hope you can find just the right tools. Take good care...thanks for being part of the solution!!
Nice experiment. It would be interesting to see the different fuels burnt in a copper loop alchohol stove. That one supposedly burns very efficiently and clean.
I was watching out for a boring moment, couldn't find a single one! :) lol! I was only sad that Isopropyl was last on your list but learned from your excellent comparison show not to use it to cook. It works better used as a method of heating a room. I have some going in a little tuna can and have a stack boot a few inches above... and it is a great little emergency heating system. Oh, and no soot. Thank you!!
Your measurement of the Carbon Monoxide from all the stoves was done incorrectly. You used a UL listed CO detector. Please read the user manual. NO UL Listed CO detector will detect low levels of CO. UL requires that if the detector does not have a display it cannot go into alarm until there has been 70 parts per million for a minimum of 2 to 4 HOURS. If the detector has a display, the display is REQUIRED to read ZERO until there has been a minimum of 30 parts per million for a minimum of 30 Days continuously. To measure low levels of CO you must use a NON-UL Listed, low level detector that updates every 10 seconds. The detectors sold by CO EXPERTS in Canada is one such detector. They begin to display at 5 ppm and go up to 50 ppm with a + or - 1 ppm accuracy. I also wonder about any toxic fumes from the fuels when used indoors. To answer that question we would need a Chemist to weigh in. This video is helpful but incomplete. Please consider a Do-Over with a low level CO detector and a Chemist commentary. Thank you for your efforts.
Thanks for your comment...it prompted me to do more research. Here are the specifications for the model that we have: "Architectural and Engineering Specifications The carbon monoxide alarm shall be Kidde Model KN-COPP-B-LPM (part number 900-0146-LP) or approved equal. It shall be powered by three (3) AA batteries (included). The unit shall have a slide open battery door that allows immediate access to batteries. The temperature operating range shall be between 40˚F and 100˚F (4˚C and 38˚C) and the humidity operating range shall be 5% - 95% relative humidity. The CO sensor shall be of a fuel cell design and shall meet the sensitivity requirements of Underwriters Laboratories UL2034 Single and Multiple Station Carbon Monoxide Alarms. The alarm can be installed on the surface of any wall or ceiling following the UL/NFPA/Manufacturer’s recommended placement guidelines. The alarm shall include a battery lockout system that deters closure of battery door without using three batteries. The unit shall incorporate a digital display that meets the sensitivity requirements of UL 2034. The display will identify the levels of CO in parts per million (ppm) once that level reaches 30ppm (i.e.: “abnormal” levels). The alarm shall include a test button that will electronically simulate the presence of CO and cause the unit to go into alarm. This sequence tests the unit’s electronics to ensure proper operation. Per UL 2034 requirements, the CO sensor will not alarm to levels of CO below 30 ppm and will alarm in the following time range when exposed to the corresponding levels of CO. 70 ppm CO Concentration 60 - 240 minutes 150 ppm CO Concentration 10 - 50 minutes 400 ppm CO Concentration 4 - 15 minutes The unit shall incorporate 2 LED’s. A green LED will flash once every 30 seconds to indicate the alarm is operating properly when power is present. A red LED will pulse to to indicate carbon monoxide has been detected until the device is reset or CO is eliminated. The alarm shall include a piezoelectric horn that is rated at 85 decibels at 10 feet. When the unit detects carbon monoxide, the alarm pattern will be four (4) short beeps - followed by five (5) seconds of silence - followed by four (4) short beeps with a corresponding red LED flash. It shall also include a 10-year manufacturer’s limited warranty." My discussions with Kidde confirmed that this detector will show CO levels on the display as soon as those levels reach 30 ppm, which matches our experience. For example when using this outside near burning charcoal, it will immediately register elevated levels...sometimes at "999" indicating levels beyond the 1000 ppm when right next to the coals. I also checked the Consumer Product Safety Commission and found the following: "Most people will not experience any symptoms from prolonged exposure to CO levels of approximately 1 to 70 ppm but some heart patients might experience an increase in chest pain. As CO levels increase and remain above 70 ppm, symptoms become more noticeable and can include headache, fatigue and nausea. At sustained CO concentrations above 150 to 200 ppm, disorientation, unconsciousness, and death are possible." This indicates to me that the standards for the detector are mostly reasonable. I do find it concerning that at 150 ppm, the detector will not alarm for 10 - 50 minutes, and at 400 ppm, it can take up to 15 minutes to alarm...I would have hoped that it would alarm much more quickly. Thanks for the reference to CO EXPERTS...I will check them out. Thanks again for your comments...and thanks for being part of the solution!
I have always used a lid for denatured alcohol or rubbing alcohol and it seemed to get to boiling point much quicker. It took about 3 and a half minutes or so.
The numbers don't lie. I've tried all of them except the everclear, and your experiment just confirms my own conclusions. Using iso alcohol indoors is completely out of the question because of the soot it produces. For several years, we've been prepared to evacuate - we live close to a dam that almost overflowed a couple of years ago. It wasn't until last February during the big energy crisis with rolling blackouts throughout the midwest that I realized none of my camp stoves were suitable for indoor use - fine time to think of that, huh! It never occurred to us we might have to "camp out" in our own house. So after some Google searches, I found out denatured alcohol burns a lot cleaner than iso alcohol (not to mention hotter!), and switched to using that in my alcohol burners.
70% works best the heat is close to what 96% gives u but it last longer , also ventilation is key , if the cold dont kill u the fumes will , also do not use the unused paint cans coated in Teflon !
Did you test 70% isopropyl alcohol? In my experience it works better and burns cleaner than 91% in stoves, paradoxically. Not that you can find rubbing alcohol any more.
"Born without a personality" Wow, that sums it up, engineers have lives like Sgt Friday, " just the facts ma'am, just the facts. " I like to tell people. "we don't create problems, we solve them. " In the Philippines, we have basically one choice of alcohol fuel. Fortunately, denatured alcohol is widely available in most hardware , home center and paint stores. I have only seen 91% isopropyl on the shelf in one pharmacy. It is good to make the kids aware that it will work if that was all they could find in a bad situation but we pack enough fuel in their school emergency bags for more than 72 hours. Our hope is that we will have retrieved them long before the 72 hours are up. An over looked source of fuel is the familiar "dry-gas" gas line anti-freeze. We will NOT ever see that product here in the Phils but it is good to know that you have that option for folks in a cold climate
What kind do you burn? I use it quite often and it reeks terrible. It also takes a long time to boil water. I have to stand so far away from it and be upwind. I would never use it to cook inside. I do like using it though (if I have the time and can keep a distance from it) because it is generally safer than propane or butane, but I am now looking for an alcohol that is faster burning and does not smell as awful.
@@liberdecaritas1467 I burn Isopropyl alcohol in my alcohol stoves. 99.9% Iso, clean burning, no smell, fast boil time. I prefer to use my IKEA wood burning stoves though; cheap to obtain and free fuel.
"I was born without a personality" *Says it with a straight face* Straight away this got a like from me for such a weird sense of humour 😅😆😝 Nice test, cheers fella.
Ive tried the rubbing alcohol in my supposed indoor firepit and it set off the fire alarms every time within a couple of minutes. THE FLAMES GET MASSIVE! Very sooty. I have a portable butane stove and cans. Just concerned about using these things in an apt building with sensitive alarms and can't go outside safely in this city if the grid goes down. Doesn't gas stoves still keep lighting even for a little while after the grid goes down? Is that dangerous or a hard NO? I'm broke and have a 6 yr old. So how can we survive in a tower building in a big city of folks stealing everything and full of violence?
Why didn't you measure safe heat consumption, cost, and time after you knew covering the pan was necessary? Would have to repeat for the other fuels to get same conditions.
Should probably included a methanol fuel, like HEET (yellow bottle only) automotive gas line deicer. 5:15 Just noticed, that's the stoves you used? Trangia clones, or true Trangia burners? Whichever, they were *_VERY, VERY S-L-O-O-W._*
Sorry, but you should not have included Safe Heat in your comparison. You tested under different conditions which invalidates your conclusion ratings. Also, you stated you would weigh the Safe Heat before and after. You didn't show the weights!!!. You also showed the cost of 17 cents unit price based on one can. You used TWO cans. You should have weighed BOTH cans before and after. Finally, why didn't you try the 70% isopropyl along side the 91% isopropyl? Was the burner you used actually rated for isopropyl? (Refer to manufacturer's instruction manual). 🙁
What did you do to make the 91% alcohol flame to be so nasty...because I use it and have NEVER EVER had that kind of flame and never a problem boiling water quickly!!!!!
I just bought some de natured alcohol today at Wally World. It was in the paint section, under $7 for a Quart. It said Fuel and Clean Burning on the can.
You will find that there are different alcohol stove designs that are made to burn isopropyl alcohol cleanly. Such as the Flat Cat Gear Multi-Fuel (formerly ISO-Clean) stoves: www.flatcatgear.com/shop/iso-clean-11-stove/ or www.flatcatgear.com/shop/iso-25-stove/ The large holes near the bottom allow more air into the stove, which lets the iso alcohol to burn more cleanly. Here's a video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_QOD4Bg3Pf0.html
Doesn't an open flame heater deplete the oxygen from the air? How long does it take? Is it ok to use this to heat 300 sq. ft. for an extended period of time?
Hey tea42...yes, any combustion device has two hazards. First is the combustion by-products...things like deadly Carbon Monoxide (CO) and other hazards. We try to choose devices and fuels that do not produce these harmful substances. The second is oxygen depletion. Even with a clean burning device, you still need some replacement oxygen/air. Always make sure you have working CO detectors...we recommend the ones with a digital readout so you know when you are getting any CO (The ones that are usually installed in homes do not alarm until you reach a certain threshold). Not as common are meters showing oxygen levels. Bottom line is that you should allow for replacement oxygen by opening a window slightly, even though it seems counterproductive. Depending on how tight your home is, you may have some leakage around windows, doors, and in other places, but generally that is hard to quantify. You also have some exchange of air as people go in and out of doors. Although not typically as serious as the CO and other byproducts, oxygen depletion is an issue to be aware of. Hope this helps. If you have additional questions, connect with us on our contact page. Thanks for being part of the solution!
@@JonathanBJones Thank you so much. I think I will place the unit on the stovetop since it has an outside vent, plus crack a window. ...and buy a CO detector. Thanks again.
@@TheProvidentPrepper I saw another video where the 70% alcohol seemed to burn less vigorously usually flames that go bright yellow will produce more carbon. because its lower temperature. My thinking is that the 90% may be starved for O2.
I tried to use it in place of 91% and the flame kept going out over and over again. I had to keep coming back to relight it. I finally gave up on it. I think the water content is just too high.
How are safe heat in business when they can't even achieve the ONLY thing somebody would purchase them for. That's like me buying a car with no wheels that just sits there revving
