Buying Methanol: Where?  
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All Forums >> Glow Engines, Gas Engines, Fuel & Mfg Support Forums >> RC Fuels >> Buying Methanol: Where?
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Buying Methanol: Where? - 10/31/2003 12:47:37 AM   
3d-aholic



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Where do you guys buy your MeOH to make you own fuel?

I'd like to thin some 15%/18% down to 5%/20%. I got the caster bean but I'm not sure where to get the Methanol...
Burdick and Jackson?
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RE: Buying Methanol: Where? - 10/31/2003 12:56:56 AM   
3d-aholic



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Ok, it gets worse...its a resticted product. I figured as much since it is the basic component of a lot of chemistry. You must be buying it in some form where its use is disguised. What purity are you folks using 95%?

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RE: Buying Methanol: Where? - 10/31/2003 2:51:55 AM   
w8ye



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Why not just buy some 5% to dilute your high nitro fuel?

Enjoy,

Jim

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RE: Buying Methanol: Where? - 10/31/2003 2:57:20 AM   
3d-aholic



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Well just buying some 5% is a possibility but I thought all these homebrew folks had some kind of secret Methanol connection...

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RE: Buying Methanol: Where? - 10/31/2003 3:21:34 AM   
Sport_Pilot



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Check out VP Racing Fuel. I don't know the web address but just doing a search with that name and I am sure it would come up. Cost should be about 2.50 to 3.00 per gallon.

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RE: Buying Methanol: Where? - 10/31/2003 9:10:37 PM   
wldcwbypilot


 

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Methanol is actually, CH3OH, ethanol is C2H5OH, sorry I did not use subscripts. If your talking about Nitromethane thats a different horse, thats racing fuel and its not cheap. Straight wood grain alcohol which is methanol is not expensive, should be able to get it at a good hardware store or an old fashioned drug store.

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RE: Buying Methanol: Where? - 10/31/2003 9:19:15 PM   
3d-aholic



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Methanol is actually, CH3OH,


Yes, Me is short for the Methyl group which is CH(3). I'm a chemist. I'm really relunctant on the quality of the Methyl Alcohol they sell as paint/lacquer thinner. That stuff has to be 10% water. I got a hold of VMR and spec'd out some anhydrous methanol (no water) but they wouldn't see it to me cause its a hazardous material. Bizarre, you can't buy a liter of methanol from the chemical distributor but you can buy as much as you want down at the hardware store (with less quality)

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RE: Buying Methanol: Where? - 10/31/2003 9:27:48 PM   
wldcwbypilot


 

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I am a bio_chemist, nice to meet ya!!!

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RE: Buying Methanol: Where? - 10/31/2003 9:29:08 PM   
JWN



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Call around to some shops that specialize in auto racing (aka Speed Shops). They should be able to sell you any amount you like. AFAIK, methanol is not a restricted product. I don't know what Kalifornika has done in the past couple of years, but a friend of mine used to buy 20 gallons of methanol at a time from a speed shop in Sacramento.

John

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RE: Buying Methanol: Where? - 11/1/2003 3:11:12 AM   
flipa10


 

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I buy my methanol from the local speed shop. They sell nitro too, although I use none.

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RE: Buying Methanol: Where? - 11/1/2003 3:39:19 AM   
3d-aholic



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Kalifornika


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RE: Buying Methanol: Where? - 11/1/2003 3:41:05 PM   
Jim Thomerson



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Does anyone know, or have an informed speculation about, the grade of methanol used in manufacturing glow fuel? Real question is what percent water do we have in fuel to start with. I would guess it's some grade that costs about 50 cents a gallon in tank car loads.

JIm

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RE: Buying Methanol: Where? - 11/1/2003 5:00:33 PM   
bentgear


 

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Jim, if you believe the manufacturers hype then they go to great lengths to only use methanol with 0 percent water and spend great amounts of money on facilities to keep any moisture from entering their systems. I know some of the shippers of methanol have tight requirements on the tank trailers before they will load them and will run analysis of the product after loading.
Ed M.

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RE: Buying Methanol: Where? - 11/1/2003 7:16:04 PM   
Jim Thomerson



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Just checked a racing fuel website. If you place a monthly order for their 99.95% pure methanol, it is $41.56 for a 5 gallon container. This includes $20 hazmat. This does not include shipping charges. You can order as many 5 gallon containers as you want.

A dealer friend got me some fuel, 10% nitro, 20% oil, half castor/half synthetic, for $10.95 a gallon. That suggests to me that the fuel manufacturer (a major one) is not paying anywhere near that much for methanol.

Jim

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RE: Buying Methanol: Where? - 11/3/2003 3:59:18 PM   
3d-aholic



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Yes, I saw that -- Sunoco. But 1 pt to 1 gallon... I'm going to have to go find a speed shop.

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RE: Buying Methanol: Where? - 11/3/2003 4:46:04 PM   
Sport_Pilot



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The VP site lists the distrubitors. Call the distrubitors and they can tell you who they sell to in your area.

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RE: Buying Methanol: Where? - 11/4/2003 1:14:54 AM   
murphyj



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We were playing around with some different blends for my Rossi. Methyl hydrate works quite well and it available at any auto parts store. It comes in large quantities as well. Its a very common material used by truckers operating in cold weather climates (used in the air lines). Castor oil mixes very will with the fuel and the rossi winds right out.
Murphy

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RE: Buying Methanol: Where? - 11/4/2003 1:23:49 AM   
3d-aholic



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quote:

ORIGINAL: