Need Denatured Alcohol in Mexico

[Rearsteer]

Hello all. We pushed off from SF Bay Nov 2nd with four gal of stove fuel. We bought more in La Paz, it was called Alcohol Industrial. Now we are in La Crux, Mexico and can't find it. If any one knows where to get some please let me know. I have tried the morning VHF net, Home Depot , and Walmart. Thanks

[Bergovoy]

paint stores? not sure about what is and isnt down there, but they use denatured alcohol for prep and some paint / coating solvents.


gl

[GordMay]

In Mexico, look for alcohol puro (ask for 96%), or alcohol de quemar.

[callmecrazy]

pharmacia

[Benz]

Add to Gord's arsenal: "Etanol". If your stove has the wick-type burners, mineral spirits (paint thinner) will burn there, just smellier.

[Rearsteer]

Thanks for the names to try. Our stove/oven is a pressure tank system so it may be more particular as to the type of fuel I use. I will set out in the AM to try out the names as now when I ask for Industrial Alcohol I get looks as to make me think they feel as though I want something to drink stronger than Tequilia.

[callmecrazy]

moonshine will work just as well

wikipedia says its called "Alcohol Desnaturalizado" in Mexico.

For the record, I was suggesting the pharmacy as a place to buy it. Not a name to try

[delmarrey]

Everclear?

[Bergovoy]

denatured alcohol is pure alcholh or damn near close... the 'de-naturing' is a process that makes it taste nasty NASTY, so that it is impossible to think it is 'drinkable'

not sure of the process as i was told this a long, long, long ago

[Bergovoy]

also, trivia of the day...

if you have 20 ml of water, and 20 ml of ethanol, (maybe methanol will work too, but not sure), and combine the water and ethanol, how much volume of liquid will you have?

for those that say 40 ml, you are wrong.. try it out... youwill have less...

another old experiment

[callmecrazy]

Everclear will work just fine. anything above 90% (or so).

Denatured alcohol is basically 95% ethyl (everyclear) with 5%addatives (methyl, acetone, etc..) to make it undrinkable.

I was trying to find a list of substitutes, but Its lost in the bazillions of bookmarks I've yet to sort out...


Let us know what you find and how much it costs I'm very curious since I'm planning to cruise central america with an alcohol stove, and the reports are few and far between...

[Adax]

Are we talking about the same alcohol as used for desinfection in medicine? If so Walmart carries it in their pharmacy section.
It is not a cooking fuel here so peopel will look at you aghast if you ask for 10 litres.

There is a big problem with fake adulterated drinks in the informal exconomy so that is why the looks . I even smash empty bottles so noone can fish them out of the trash, refill and pass them off as the real deal. That is the reason why people ask for bottles instead of open drinks in some cantinas as they can check the seal not being broken.

[Adax]

Just looked - medicinal use alcohol is 25 pesos for a litre so a bit more than 2 bucks or 7 bucks for a gallon.

It is not cheap.

#Just checked the above is the 70 % version, 96% is $12 for a bit more than a gallon#

[callmecrazy]

(edit) erf, lost half my post...

I found the list
http://zenstoves.net/Stoves.htm#Fuels

I've personally used drug store isopropyl (91% or better) and "Heet", as well as grain alcohol in my non-pressurized camp stove. but they are not great. Heet is the best substitute.

the OP isn't going to want these things, They don't burn as well and may or may not work in a pressurized stove... and they don't come in large enough quantities...you need to find the real stuff. Or find a cheap camp stove to use until you get to panama

I wonder how customs would feel about having it mailed to you down there? You can get 5gal containers on amazon

is it difficult to find the 1lb propane bottles for camp stoves and grills?

[Nicholson58]

De-natured Alcohol is ethanol (the good stuff) with some pollutants to make it un-drinkable and in fact toxic. The mix of Ethanol is usually about 95% and the cats&dogs used to be "wood alcohol" which will make you feel like crap while getting drunk. I don't know what the other 5% might be today but you don't care as long as it doesn't stink. To use as fuel it must be any mix with almost no water. Go figure, water doesn't burn and is used to put out alcohol fire. Isopropyl (medical rubbing alcohol) is uaually about 70% "wood-alcohol" and 30 % water - NO GOOD! Everclear is drinkable hooch used to make fruit juice palletable and is usually 90 to 95 % pure and should work in your stove just fine. Lick up the spills. Note; 200 proof is 100%. De-natured alcohol is a US phenominom as a result of our ATF laws. These allow the sale of the ethanol if it is rendered undrinkable without federal or state booze tax. There may be no reason for such rules in some foreign places. You can probably buy any alcohol based "cooking fuel" but may want to avoid oil/kerosine fuels also commonly caled 'parifin' in some countries. Smell it! Run it over your fingers or better yet, a sheet of glass. Alcohol will evaporate quickly and Kerosine will lay like oil. FYI, I use just about anything in an old fashioned Coleman stove including gasoline (not recommended).