[at-l] "White Gas"

[nightwalker.at at gmail.com]

From: RockDancer <rockdancer97 at comcast.net>

Hi Frank,
You may have misinterpreted my statements, if not I apologize for this response:
----------------------------------
If I did, it was my fault.
----------------------------------
1. Filtering your fuel won't do any good for the type of contamination I mentioned. This is chemical contamination, meaning that unwanted components have been dissolved into your fuel. The burning process uses up the fuel portion and leaves the residue as gunk to clog up the orifice. 
----------------------------------
Imagine if all the crap that the filter caught had gotten through!

I'm talking things like plastic particles and petroleum distillates of some sorts that were quite a bit thicker and had a higher specific gravity than the naphtha. Age also seems to degrade stored fuel. I wonder if that is what happened to you in VA?
----------------------------------
4. I'm not worried about drinking BPA!
----------------------------------
I was talking about the typical terrified American that wouldn't be caught dead on the AT. You know, with all of the wolves and grizzly bears. :-)
----------------------------------
The point here was demonstrating that the plastic liner perhaps contributes chemical contamination to the fuel if stored long enough, and therefore the liner is the reason for old fuel becoming "bad fuel" of the sort I bought on that VA hike.
----------------------------------
I had not thought of that. You are probably right. Or at least certainly not wrong, if you know what I mean.
----------------------------------
I'm not sure what your last statement refers to, certainly not an aluminum fuel bottle?!
----------------------------------
Yup. Alcohol in an aluminum bottle. Was using it for home storage. I found out later that alcohol + aluminum is a commonly-known no-no. Not common enough, unfortunately. The alcohol made a pinhole in the MSR bottle, probably where a bit of the plastic liner wasn't covering the aluminum. But that's one of those things you only have to learn once.
----------------------------------
Soda-bottle-type plastic is fine for alcohol fuel on the trail, just mark the bottle carefully and think before you drink. Bob Peoples had a hiker drink down some alcohol fuel by mistake in front of him in recent years. It meant a trip to the hospital. 
----------------------------------
It also happened to Gutsy on a CDT section. The cure was for her to get absolutely plastered on ethanol! IIRC, the reasoning was that the ethanol displaced the methanol.

I use a paint marker and heavily label my bottle when I'm carrying alcohol fuel in a soda bottle. I also use a different type (shape) of bottle so that there is no chance of confusion in the dark.

Dangerous or not, it would probably have been quite interesting to see the non-drinking Gutsy smashed on grain alcohol. :-)
----------------------------------
White gas needs a different type of plastic in order to stay safe. I've never used anything other than aluminum if I'm taking white gas with me on a trip.
----------------------------------
I forget the specific name of the plastic, but the stuff they make milk jugs from is nearly non-reactive. Some acids will eat through glass and is stored in this type of plastic container. Certainly thicker than a milk container, of course!
----------------------------------
Arthur Gaudet (RockDancer)
Rockdancer97 at comcast.net
"The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon."
----------------------------------
You rotate two quotes on your signature line. Where do they come from?

Frank, who is not always a very effective communicator...