[Stoves] Burning low quality ethanol

[Crispin Pemberton-Pigott]

Dear Paul

I have only time for addressing the temperature of the fuel issues as it
informs a lot of what else is going to happen after that.

South Africa, unique in the position of having enforced laws regarding the
safety and performance if non-pressure paraffin stoves (with the pressure
regulations coming momentarily) is being watched by other countries as a
leader in the creation of a safer environment.  This looking for a market
for what are essentially unsafe stoves in other countries will be an
activity with diminishing returns.

The basis for the regulations are (some of them)

You can't have the fuel in the tank heated above its flash point within one
hour of lighting the stove (the can stove relies on exactly this happening).
You can't have any fuel leaks if it tips over, or upside down even if it
thumps to the floor from a counter.
It must self-extinguish within 1 minute if tipped over, and can't emit
flames from the stove during that minute (it can have a flame that is dying
inside a body/shell).
If it is pressurized, it must have some system to manually shut off the flow
of fuel to the burner, and to depressurize the tank within 6 seconds (these
can be separate controls).
It must tip back to vertical if tilted 20 degrees and released (with a pot
on or off is not clear).
It must generate at least 1 Kw of heat (a rule I happen not to favour
because there are some very small heat applications)
The CO/CO2 ratio must be less than 0.02 (in line with international
standards)
Nothing you have to touch to operate the stove can be hotter than 40 C at
any time.
It must not be able to be refilled when it is burning (unless the tank is
not part of the stove i.e. LPG or REDI or piped fuel)

Those are the important ones.

They are reasonable and create a far safer environment.  In my view a
partially sealed (leaky) can of fuel that evaporates from the main reservoir
in order to produce the flame would not be allowed because of the danger to
a child if they pulled it over onto their blanket. Gelling the fuel provides
some advantages regarding leaks and shutting off because at least the fuel
is not flowing around.  Some gels, however, are very watery and flow easily
so a regulation may come in specifying a minimum viscosity for ethanol gels.

I mentioned before the fraud committed by falsifying performance and heat
content reports comparing ethanol and paraffin.  The extraordinary claims to
be 'burning water' in the ethanol fall into the same category as you
correctly point out (the energy lost boiling it etc). Falsification of test
data, swapping pages from different reports and stapling them together
without page numbers, claiming heat content per liter of gel using HHV heat
per kilo figures.... I am seeing it all!

You might call Teri Kruger, Dr Lloyd and I 'hanging judges' but someone as
to clean up this town!

Something would not be allowed but which is difficult to prevent is the
practice in India of using a glass tumbler partially filled with paraffin +
a cloth wick as a simple paraffin lamp.  Tipping one over has predictable
and disastrous results.

Regards
Crispin