It would appear that Home & Bargain have stopped selling cheap Meths, hopefully this is only temporary whilst their shops are full of Christmas tatt was trying to stock up and found none, not listed on their website either. Does snyone know of an alternative cheap source?
Home Bargains was the cheapest I knew of but for me it didn't seem as flammable as I would have expected. It works OK with a wick device like Tilley or Willis & Bates pre-heaters but on its own (using Coleman style cups) it takes two or three attempts to get it to light properly.
Try Toolstation - last time I bought any it was around £7 for 2 litres. Possibly Screwfix might be a reasonable source of supply - I haven't checked their catalogue yet...
Tool station do stock it at £7 for 2 litres but that works out at £1.75 per 500ml, not the end of the world but about 50p more than the old Home & Bargain price
Get to know the staff at your local recycling center - people throw away anything - lamps, stoves, meths, paraffin
and But if you can no longer get it at "the old Home Bargain Price"? I suppose it all boils down to how much meths you're planning to use over the winter. You do the Meth... (Warning - joke alert.)
Have already done it, tool station not that bad but when I originally posted I had only found other sources at much higher prices.
Well, yes - that was my point. Toolstation is miles cheaper than the likes of B&Q, who must be making an immense profit. What about Wilko? - although their shelves are probably tat-laden, too, at this time of year. As an aside, the trick is to keep an eye on the shelves at the end of the summer (or during it if the weather's been crap, as usual!) for their BBQ lighting fluid which serves as lamp fuel. Anyway, at one time I got purple meths (whether I needed any or not) from my local chemist every month when I collected my prescription. It was the cheapest for miles around but I was always a bit concerned they thought I was drinking it - which was confirmed somewhat when a couple of the assistants asked me what I was doing with all this meths. Of course, they had no idea what a Primus stove or Tilley lamp was and me trying to explain only made them even more suspicious! In the end, I had quite a few bottles in store and put them in order of price for a photograph. It was annoying to see how the price had risen steadily over the course of a year or two...
Yes, the Toolstation variety burns well enough but it's very pale purple in colour and has a different smell, so what's actually in the bottle, I don't know. Of course, they're selling it as a solvent rather than a fuel so as long as it dissolves stuff, that's their main concern...
In the South West try Mole Valley Farmers: Barrettine Methylated Spirit - 5L Our local (and only two outlets) Cambers at Harley (Wenlock Edge): https://www.cambers.com/shop/Bartoline-Methylated-Spirits-M4976
Wow, they are a good price, particularly the Mole Valley Farmers site as that looks like it's 'proper' meths! Just wish I lived closer.
Yes, I found this interesting:- "Traditionally used for camping stoves, fondues, glass cleaning and other general household duties. Bartoline Methylated Spirits contains only virgin raw materials , and is not manufactured from inferior recovered or reclaimed materials." I wonder if Toolstation and/or Home Bargains 'meths' is made from recovered/reclaimed solvents. It might be worth seeking out the data sheets. Buying large quantities at a time brings an economy of scale, naturally. Buying 5 litres of Barrettine meths in 10 separate 500ml bottles would cost £25.20 as opposed to a 5 litre container costing a mere £11.87 including VAT...
Last one I bought was from the Range, it’s a Mangers 500ml says it’s for camping & spirit stoves & it does burn well. Unfortunately there’s no price on it, & I can’t remember.
"rest express" are cheap if buying in bulk and deliver larger orders for free. £42 for 20 liters They also have paraffin at a reasonable price. I have no connection with them. Methylated Spirits - 4 x 5 litre
Well folks ... Went Friday shopping to our local market this afternoon in Newton le Willows with SWIMBO ..( She who indoors must be obeyed ).....at the town local market. It takes place every Friday... at the side of which is a fairly newly constructed Home and Bargains store ... a ramble along its fully laden aisles revealed... 12 bottles of Barrettine Meths for sale at £1.29 per unit ... last week they had none ...< coz I had em > ... now in profusion I see a plenty.... who says they are time expired at HB... yay
Check Ebay for any local sellers of Methanol, or check out bio-diesel websites and forums. Virgin goes for about £1.00 a litre and reclaimed Methanol 35-50p a litre. The last lot I bought was from a guy in Hastings at 35p a litre. Beware though that it's a poison so handle with care. Works a treat as a priming fuel.
Thanks for all that ...methanol ... well aeromodellists used Methanol in mixing engine fuel for glow plug engines in model aircraft... with other savoury ingredients I dont know now if these glow plug engines are still used ... maybe they are / not.... someone wiser than me will know. Is the stuff used in the making of bio diesel then ?
Yes. From a bio-diesel website: "In the process of making biodiesel fuel, methanol is used as a key component in a process called transesterification – to put it simply, methanol is used to convert the triglycerides in different types of oils into usable biodiesel fuel. The transesterification process reacts methanol with the triglyceride oils contained in vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled greases, forming fatty acid methyl esters (biodiesel) and the byproduct glycerin."
OK OK ,,, its all Japanese to me ... I dropped science for the sixth form.. concentrated on the arts...look what I missed.. hey you could not do " Sports Science " in those days I would have had a butchers at it ... har... thanks re info on Methanol ...zooming now to the bio ~ diesel websites at warp speed ...hold on >>>> ........ whoo.....oo....osh ..
Hi all ...regarding a previous posting on this thread by Mr Trojandog and location of Methanol .. I have been the scouring my local areas here in the North West using what low animal cunning I have ... result.. less than 5 miles from me ... Azure chemicals , Bahama Road , Haydock Industrial estate... 5 mins J 23 M6 guys ...Methanol 5 litres for £13.99 last week it was £12.50 !!...listed on the Evil Bay site for all to peruse.. yay .. but Methylated spirit still availble for £1.29 at Homebargains Newton le Willows ... stick with that its less harmfull to my health..
