Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

The OEM meths burner holds somewhere around 25-30ml of meths, so you'd be looking at roughly 40 fill-ups per litre. A lot depends on how ready access you've got to cheap meths. You can get 5L or 10L quantities fairly cheapy (per litre, that is) and DIY and discount stores often stock it quite cheaply in half-litre or litre size. Compare that to the price you're paying for tablets. Tablets or meths burner run for roughly the same time, so you can do a direct comparison.

Personally, I find the tablets have an objectionable smell that gets it the back of your throat but I can't argue that they are safer. You need to apply a bit more common sense and care with meths. Never overfill the burner and keep your container capped and well away from the engine or other sources of heat or sparks and you shouldn't go wrong. I find that meths is a great deal cheaper and far less noxious. Others may not agree.