Thanks for the clarification Tom. I wonder if dog mushers, not during the iditarod, carry their own fuel?
I agree that some fuels do contain more BTU per unit. I know that for my needs, alcohol is much easier to useand has plenty of oomph for the conditions I use it in.
ethanol has 80k BTU/gal and gasoline is 199k BTU/Gal. so I need 50% more ethanol to give me the equivalent heat content of gasoline. so instead of 6 oz of alcohol, I need 9oz to be equivalent to someone with 6 oz of gas. So for those extra 3 oz, I don't have to play with a fuel pump, a heavy fuel bottle, or a heavy stove. No parts to keep clean, no priming.
Registered: 07/11/10
Posts: 597
Loc: Fairbanks, AK
Mushers in general carry their own fuel. A lot of the places out here they have no choice because there is nothing nearby - no roads, no anything. But they choose to use the alcohol stove (aka dog food cooker), I'm not sure on the reasoning.
Thanks Jim. My error was a typo, not my math. It is 119k BTU/Gal for gasoline. Sorry about that. Of course those numbers do vary. I have also seen gasoline quoted as 114k btu/gal.
Registered: 10/30/03
Posts: 4963
Loc: Marina del Rey,CA
Originally Posted By Heather-ak
Mushers in general carry their own fuel. A lot of the places out here they have no choice because there is nothing nearby - no roads, no anything. But they choose to use the alcohol stove (aka dog food cooker), I'm not sure on the reasoning.
Heather, I suspect that they use it because it is safer than white gas-less volatile, so less likely to have a serious accident with it. I also saw something about it being less poisonous, but Heet is methanol, which is highly poisonous to humans, so not sure about that claim. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol#Toxicity The cooker I saw was basically a pie pan inside a bucket, so burning white gas in it would be a pretty iffy proposition.
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Registered: 02/23/03
Posts: 2124
Loc: Meadow Valley, CA
Powermax canisters. I had a good, cheaper source for these canisters on eBay, but they finally raised their prices. I was getting them with shipping for a little over $11 a canister, with a order of 3 at a time max due to Postal regs. I have 17 canisters, so I guess they better last me. I also have a line on some smaller ones cheap, just need the guy to package them and charge me for the shipping. Last weekend I finally took my Xtreme stove out, but it was only used a little, due to the food I took for a quick overnight bp trip. Duane