You’re right, it’s a personal preference. Out in the middle of nowhere, I care about boil times. I have found the shorter-burn-time stoves (5 minutes for 2C H2O) perform much better <32F than the slow ‘efficient’ stoves. And I use my stove in the cold a lot. So in that scenario, there’s only about a 10% weight difference for me (not 33%) in carrying SLX vs HEET. Plus 1 fl oz of alcy per meal is not that much to carry.
And yes, it is the “Super Tech Gas Line Antifreeze”. But I didn’t know it was 100% methanol. I thought the side label stated the same ingredients as HEET.
May your stove always bloom,
Hi, Barry,
Walmart has a really cool (in my opinion) feature on their site:
http://msds.walmartstores.com That link has all of the MSDS's for the products that Walmart sells. Is that cool or what? When I looked it up the other day, “Super Tech Gas Line Antifreeze” said 100% methanol. I tried to look it up again just now, but it's the day before Christmas, and their site seems like it's really sloooooow right now.
I hear you about the cold weather thing. A stove that's efficient and effective above freezing isn't necessarily the best stove for cold weather. Heat loss to the environment is much more pronounced in cold weather. Plus you need to have more total heat output because you're heating water with a much colder starting temperature.
OK, so opinion question (no wrong answers in other words), why do you take alcohol stoves on cold weather trips? I can think of some reasons (simplicity, fuel availability, etc.), but I'm curious as to what other reasons there may be. I've always looked at alcohol stoves as good for clement weather, but when the mercury starts dropping, I reach for gas or white gas/kero.
HJ
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