Stuff that uses Ethanol

[badflash]

Anyone know of sources of equipment that works with ethanol? Lanterns, engines and the like that are off-the shelf? I found a marine oven, but it was pretty pricey.

[The Baker]

Germkilling household spray.

Geoff

[Stainless]

All marine gear iz $$$$$.

[badflash]

Looks like it is easy to convert most small engines to E85. Just use duct tape to close off 1/3 of the air filter to fix the fuel/air ratio.

[badflash]

Looks like an unmodified Coleman lantern will run just fine on 90% Ethanol.

[nateboussad]

A little light reading on the subject from the last 'consultation'.. looks like 'protection grade' will be available at least to end 2016 ..

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... r-fuel.pdf
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... -fuels.pdf

So watch out for E10 and EN228 ..

ho hum, time for a nap ..











Bluestacks Kodi Lucky Patcher

[Birrofilo]

Hiking stoves such as Trangia or Tatonka would burn very well with ethanol.
Ethanol is preferable to denaturated alcohol because the denaturant impests the surrounding area and even the food you are cooking (being there, done that. It really stinks).

[Bushman]

Windshield wiper spray.

[contrahead]

Until electricity became commonplace in the previous century, most people were left behind in darkness when the sun went down. Others might have had animal fat or tallow candles or whale oil lamps to use. But candles made soot and smoke while whale oil was expensive. In the 1840's and 50's camphene burning fluid lamps became very popular because the fuel was affordable and the flame it produced was clean and bright. (Coal oil and seperately kerosene, were not to be discovered for another generation). Camphene was made by mixing ¾ strong ethanol with ¼ distilled turpentine. Turpentine is normally made by distillation of tree sap/resin anyway, but for camphene this resin was distilled with calcium oxide (quicklime) added, which might have served to improve the smell.

https://aoghs.org/products/camphene-to-kerosene-lamps/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camphine

[contrahead]

Am back to add:

Ethanol will work similarly to isopropyl alcohol for many situations.
- Ethanol probably kills as many germs and would be just as useful for topical first aid.
- Both make useful solvents for certain waxes and resins.
- Both can be used to re-hydrate and rejuvenate certain types of felt tip pens.
- Some inks are alcohol based and some artist paint with them.

[NZChris]

- Both can be used to re-hydrate and rejuvenate certain types of felt tip pens

Except that foreshots don't dry as quickly as whatever was in the pens, so yesterday I ended up with black ink all over myself and the workbench after using a refilled pen to mark out a job.

[jog666]

Wasp spray when mixed with a bit of dawn dish soap.

[contrahead]

- Both can be used to re-hydrate and rejuvenate certain types of felt tip pens

Except that foreshots don't dry as quickly as whatever was in the pens, so yesterday I ended up with black ink all over myself and the workbench after using a refilled pen to mark out a job.

If I grin or giggle a little, it's only because I've been there and done that.

[contrahead]

I've been reading up on lime lately and I'm guessing there was a much better reason for distilling turpentine with quicklime added, than to change the product's odor. (From the Wikipedia link a few comments above, the modern day professor estimates that an astounding 200 million gallons of the “bright” & “sweet smelling” burning fluid were produced in 1845 alone.

But what the quicklime achieved or how much of the quicklime passed through the retort to become a part of the product, is another question. To what extend did lime make a camphine flame brighter? Possibly an unrelated phenomenon but curious nonetheless is limelight.

Invented in 1801 and popular throughout the 19th century, “limelight” illuminated most “Magic Lanterns”. Beginning in the 1820's, brilliant limelight from crude projection microscopes, outdoor signal lights and magic lamp type projectors would grab the attention of nighttime audiences. Narrow of beams of intense light could fan the night sky or a circle of bright light could be pointed to illuminate only an actor's face within a dark theater.

This light was created by applying a very hot flame to a source of lime like a stick of chalk, to excite the calcium oxide to a point where it would glow to a white hot incandescence. At first only pure oxygen gas was blown through a flame to hit the lime mineral. Later a fuel gas like hydrogen (derived by electrolysis) or eventually acetylene (acquired from mixing calcium carbide with water) was joined with oxygen to make a hotter flame and therefore a brighter limelight. It would not become economical to produce carbide until the 1890s, so oxyhydrogen lamps would provide most of the limelight until that time. The pluming developed to control these gasses would eventually evolve into the oxygen acetylene cutting torch apparatus that welders use today. Back then they did not have canisters of bottled, compressed gas – they only had bags in which to collect and hold these gases. Operating a limelight projector could potentially result in an explosive surprise.

* It is noteworthy that the oxygen itself was probably generated by heating potassium chlorate in an iron retort (still). The potassium chlorate itself was produced by passing chlorine gas (collected by electrolysis of saltwater) through hot slacked lime (calcium hydroxide) and then adding potassium chloride (sometimes used as a table salt substitute). Even today the same process that was invented in 1892 is still used to make acetylene. Calcium carbide must first be made from coke mixed with lime, inside an electric arc furnace.

From the 1890s forward newer, slightly safer electrical ark lamps would begin to replace the old lime light projectors in theaters, but the expression “being in the limelight” lives on today in contemporary vernacular.

[Yummyrum]

Thanks Contra . That was interesting .

[cayars]

+1
That was a great read.
I've always wondered where the saying "being in the limelight" or "living in the limelight" came from.
Sure make a lot more sense now!

"Living in the limelight" of course is from a great Rush song aptly name "limelight".

[hellbilly007]

+2 thanks

This gives me some ideas to play with

[Just 4 Fun]

Was at the flea market today and found an antique Alcohol fuelled “marine” cooking stove......figure if I burn 1pint per Gallon produced.

Good score.

Sorry no photos

[Bigvalveturbo]

Thanks for the interesting info

[metalsmith]

Today at work I saw a pallet of 100% Ethel alcohol. Some thing about anhydrous. The lab uses bunches of it. Maybe could make hand sanitizer? Would not be cheap.

[Just 4 Fun]

This is the stove I found at the flea market, course it didn’t look that nice till I polished it and what a gem Indeed.

Have used it twice now for boiling water to make sugar washes and it works beautifully.

[ShineonCrazyDiamond]

I like that. Good score.

[Plumberjohn]

I drive a 2010 Chevy with a flex fuel engine and im wondering if i can run home made ethanol in it.
Anyone experiment with this?

[Ben]

If you can get to azeotrope in distillation just add it 50/50 to gasoline and it will burn, don't use heads, the fuel system will not appreciate the methanol. Awfully expensive way to make fuel when E85 is inexpensive compared to the price of fermentables.

[The Baker]

It used to be thought that the first part of the distillation contained the methanol.
But it seems now that it is more throughout the distillation.

Geoff