[at-l] Bad batch of Alcohol Fuel

[tinman at antigravitygear.com (tinman@antigravitygear.com)]

Re: Alcohol Stoves and bad fuel.  FYI
A customer emailed me yesterday about one of my stoves that would only
burn for about 3 minutes on an ounce of denatured alcohol.  The flame was
wild and yellow and shot up the sides of the 1 liter pot and left the pot
sooty.  He had a brand new quart of denatured alcohol he had just bought
at Home Depot and was leaving for the AT this next Friday.  He is a very
novice hiker and was doing a great job of not panicing with the last
minute gear malfunction.

After checking all the things and making all the suggestions that could be
checked and suggested, the fuel was the only suspect left.  He bought
another quart of fuel from Lowe's and it works perfectly.  This was the
second time in 3 years that I had worked a problem about bad fuel.  The
first time was a lady from Colorado who used denatured alcohol that had
been sitting in a can with a busted cap for quite a while.    The can from
Home Depot was brand new.  It seems the best guess is that the denaturing
agent was not completely mixed with the alcohol and his can was probably
mostly Acetone or whatever they use to make the fuel undrinkable.
Just offered for general info.
Tin Man