Back in October there were some threads about using Methanol / Methyl Alcohol as an additive to reduce the odor of burning Kerosene. Suggestions included purchasing it from the local drug store. When I made my inquiry, they directed me to the paint department, telling me I was looking for "Denatured Alcohol". In looking at the ingredients for Denatured Alcohol, it says that it consists of Ethanol denatured with Methanol. The can indicates it can be used as a fuel for "marine stoves".

Anybody know how Denatured Alcohol would compare to the "Kero-Clean" or "Wick Cleaner" additives? The previous post mentioned that these were just Methanol, but I'm now wondering if maybe they just contained Methanol, along with something else (i.e. ethanol?).

Do I need to keep looking for pure Methanol or will Denature Alcohol do the trick?

e.m.

-- Eyell Makedo (make_do@hotmail.com), November 24, 1999

Answers

I wish now I'd had a course or two in practical chemistry!

Eyell, ethanol or ethyl alcohol is the stuff that will warm you when you pour it from a bottle of Vin d'Epice or Peppermint Schnappes. In my opinion, it is best used for the purpose which Noah and the Father of Lights intended it: to make light the heart of man. Drink it. Ethanol is "denatured" with methyl alcohol, which is wood alcohol (which is poisonous, I do believe) so that it can be sold as a non- consumable for whatever other purposes the limitless ingenuity of mankind might conceive. Beats me what those are ......

All I know is this: the commercial products you mentioned conatin only methyl alcohol -- or wood alochol. Wick Cleaner and Kero-Clean, if not available, could be duplicated with straight methyl alcohol. Methyl and ethyl alcohol do not have the same chemical structure, and so I am presuming that it is because of a real chemical interaction between kero and methanol (which is catalyzed by combustion) that methyl is exclusively used for this clean-burning product.

Therfore, do try to stick with methanol. Ask your pharmacist to order you a gallon, and print out the threads to demonsstrate that ou aren't planning on making a bomb.

If that fails, or before that fails, get your denature ehtanol and try it in a spare lamp. My guess is it may work fine ... but it is definetly not the alcohol of choice for this purpose.

Good Luck.

-- Roch Steinbach (rochsteinbach@excite.com), November 24, 1999.

I wonder if plain ol' gas line antifreeze would work?

It's relatively cheap, and widely available.

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), November 24, 1999.

In a pinch you can just waltz down to Wally World and pick up a four-pack of original formula (NOT Isopropyl) Cristy's Dry Gas.

JJ

-- Jeremiah Jetson (laterthan@uthink.y2k), November 24, 1999.

OK, I've asked this question before but don't think I got an anwser. Is Isopropyl Alcohol OK for mixing with kerosine or K-1.

Thank you

-- S. David Bays (SDBAYS@prodigy.net), November 26, 1999.