There are 3 main types of alcohol
isopropyl - this is the medical rubbing alcohol. The 90+% stuff is supposed to work in stoves like this, though it can be sooty
ethanol - this is the drinkable stuff. The best for burning is high proof, for example, Everclear. But it is a relatively expensive choice.
methanol - 'wood alcohol'. This is poisonous, especially if ingested, though you don't want to bathe in it either. But it works well as stove fuel.
HEET, gas line antifreeze (red bottle) is mostly methanol. The yellow bottle HEET is isopropyl. There are stoves sold in Alaska that are designed to take whole bottle of HEET at a time. These are used to heat water for a sled dog team.
denatured alcohol - this is mostly ethanol, with enough methanol (or other stuff) added to make it undrinkable. It is easy to find in hardware stores. The is good stove fuel, and for most of us, the cheapest.
In Canada, the gas line antifreeze is available, but it is also easy to find 'methyl hydrate', which I believe is straight methanol. This is what I use when I need to resupply there.
For use inside I prefer a butane stove over alcohol, but it is better than white gas. I have occasionally used my stove (Swedish Trangia) inside, but do detect some unburned alcohol fumes.
In cold weather alcohol is harder to ignite. Preheating the fuel can help. Once lit, the burner warms its own fuel. The big problem with canister fuels in cold or at altitude is that vaporization of the fuel cools the fuel cansiter, and makes it hard to vaporize more fuel. It is hard to safely rig a windscreen around most canister stoves. On the other hand, a windscreen makes a big difference with alcohol stoves.
paulj
