Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines
The Regular Stuff: Chat, Buy, Sell, Off Topic, etc. => General Discussion - Model & Toy Steam Engines – Stirling Cycle – Flame Lickers – Small Antique Originals => Topic started by: Jim on January 16, 2026, 03:25:07 am
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I've made a lot of folded and silver soldered copper gel burners over the years, and 75% gel is a superb fuel for this hobby.
Wilesco has now come out with their own line of replacement/upgrade gel burners -
https://www.ministeam.com/collections/wilesco-burners
I was at the right place at the right time and literally got a lifetime supply of 500ml pump bottles of 75% gel.
Burns very hot with a blue flame and very clean.
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Certain kinds of Hand Sanitizers are pretty runny and certain kinds of burner trays are pretty holey, so that combo may not work too well. I know Sterno will not run at all, so it does work well in like Wilesco's very holey burners!
I'll definitely be looking to pick up a bottle of 75% Hand Sanitizer soon, and see how it works for me in some of my engines!?!?
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I was displaying at a show a couple years ago and had two different families talk to me about engines they had at home but hadn’t ran them in years because they didn’t know where to get fuel, so I told them to try hand sanitizer… both came back the next day, told me it worked and thanked me because they were happy to finally run their engines after many years! :)
I still like using Sterno and have a couple dozen cans because it brings back memories of my first running of a Jensen 65 with my dad. He had found it at an antique shop and bent up an aluminum tray for Sterno.
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I have found hand sanitizer gives much more heat than Sterno, I stocked up when stores were giving it away free because of covid!
Good to know Nick, thanks for that tidbit!
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I have found hand sanitizer gives much more heat than Sterno, I stocked up when stores were giving it away free because of covid!
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Have you tried Chafing Dish fuels like Sterno in that engine yet Jim?
I doubt that you will get significantly better performance than the hand sanitizer offers, though it should work about the same, but it might be a bit cheaper ... or not?!?!
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I agree . I use 75% hand sanitizer in my Midwest Fantail Launch . It burns clean , hot ,and a long time . I think it is the perfect fuel ! With that little Midwest boiler , I start with three oz. of water , about ten minutes to steam and about twenty minutes of run time . Also , there is very little residue , and that cleans up with water . Great fuel !
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I have had so much fun running the SE-03 and have tried spirits, gas and wood fire to bring the boiler up to steam. I have been using hand sanitizer gel for a couple of days and it's just brilliant. The SE-03's removable burner tray is perfect for using hand sanitizer and doesn't need any modifications.
The gel I'm using is 75% ethanol and is leaving virtually zero residue.
Another bonus is that the burner tray holds the perfect amount of hand santizer to not only bring the boiler up to boil, but a good powerful 20 minute run before it burns out and still leaving plenty of water in the boiler.
https://youtu.be/arsYTfAu140