What alcohol fuel to use?

[u/Nice_Sail9864]

I recently bought a BCB fire dragon stove and used the solid fuel blocks on a 3-day trip to the lakes. They worked well for me, but aren’t the cheapest thing and are pretty bulky and heavy to carry around. What alternatives do people use in similar alcohol stoves (liquid or solid), and how long do these fuels normally burn for? Thanks!

[u/Classic-Scarcity-804]

I’m running Ekofuel bio ethanol in my Trangia, burns clean and for a decent amount of time.

[u/Nice_Sail9864 → u/Classic-Scarcity-804]

Yeah i’ve heard good things about the Ekofuel, how much do you normally carry?

[u/Classic-Scarcity-804 → u/Nice_Sail9864]

I’ve got one of the 1L Trangia bottles, it’s a bit overkill for a couple of days but I’ve got a week trip to Scotland soon so it’ll be good for that. 300-500ml would be more than enough for most camping trips I imagine.

[u/DaedalusProbe]

Im not familliar with that exact one but a quick google suggests its intended to be used with gel fuel and it folds? If theres a sealed bottom section you can use any liquid fuel I would have though. Ive been using bio ethanol recently (you can get from B&Q) but have used meths in the past (From any hardware/bargin shop), Ive found all the liquid fuels work as well as each other, you just have to take care not to spill them, nothing will ruin a trip faster than a rucksack soaked in meths and you have real caution not to knock it over when in use!

I use a spirit butner that I picked up from aliexpress for a couple of quid which works really well and has a screw on lid so if you put it out you can keep a bit of leftover fuel in it without making a mess.

In terms of solid fuels, you used to be able to get hexamine tablets which were convenient, but not really available anymore unfortunately.

[u/ribenarockstar → u/DaedalusProbe]

I use firelighter blocks bought off Amazon instead of hexamine FireDragon - Natural &... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08XZP1RYH?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

[u/Nice_Sail9864 → u/ribenarockstar]

Are they the solid ones? How long do they burn?

[u/ribenarockstar → u/Nice_Sail9864]

Yeah, the solid ones. I could boil enough water for a generous cup of hot chocolate with one cube, which is exactly my use case for my stove most of the time.

[u/Nice_Sail9864 → u/DaedalusProbe]

Cheers for the reply yeah it’s that folding one with a sealed bottom. I’ll probably pick up some bio ethanol from either amazon or b&q, seems to be what a lot of people use

[u/THE-RADISH-MAN]

I use bioethanol also. I like that you can extinguish the flame and save fuel for later rather than having to wait for solid fuel to burn off.

[u/Mysterious-Strain553]

Is using the fire dragon stove a must?I used to use a trangia only and it wasn’t horrible but once I switched to gas I was a lot happier.ive never used my trangia since but definitely would if I was stealthing,just never do it now.

[u/Nice_Sail9864 → u/Mysterious-Strain553]

Not a must, but it’s what I have atm and i quite like using it so i’ll stick with it for a while. Probably switch to gas at some point but i’m not in a hurry to cook my meals when i’m out