Metho.

[bigbob]

It is my understanding that metho added to a marine fuel tank will cause any water contained to evaporate along with the metho or an allied process somewhere along these lines, so would it be stretching things to suspend a piece of wood in metho until saturated in the belief it would draw out and remove any moisture content or am I simply piddling into the winds?

[perry]

Crikey it would burn well Bob - WOOOOFFF - I am aware of the old trick of adding Metho to Fuel Tanks to aid with removing Water but can not see how it would do anything but strip Natural Oils from Timber if you where to Soak a piece in it. I do know that when you mix about 20% Water by Volume with Metho it does burn with less Soot on your Pots when using Metho Stoves

regards Jacko

[bigbob]

Thanks Perry it was really only an abstract thought any way. Never even thought about it removing the inherent oils either. Guess if I did soak some and lit it would remove all the moisture!!!

[perry]

Yep, throw the Match, turn and run before you loose your Eyebrows

regards Jacko

[matt61]

Try putting boat fuel in a glass bottle add a drop of water and then a small amount metho and you will be able to see if it works.
Matt

[jindydiver]

It isn't that the metho cause the water to evaporate, it just allows the water to "burn" and helps it through the system

[bigbob]

It isn't that the metho cause the water to evaporate, it just allows the water to "burn" and helps it through the system

thanks Mick I now seem to remember something to that effect now. Seems obvious when you think of it , but I often put my mouth in gear before engaging the little brain i still have.

[Dennis La Varenne]

Bob,

As I recall from my high school chemistry, metho and water form another compound in which the water molecule attaches itself to the alcohol molecule. However, there is a specific ration of metho to water required for this to happen which I cannot recall presently.

The resulting compound burns easily. When metho is added to a fuel tank, it bonds with any water present if enough is added and helps prevent the water forming a blockage in the fuel line or doing damage to a diesel engine because if its non-compressibility. The metho-water compound is flammable and burns, getting rid of the water in the fuel system.

Theoretically, if you applied it to your wood, it would bond with only the water to which it had direct physical contact on the surface of the wood. It would be unlikely to have any effect on the water well inside the wood.

Also, the metho can only form a compound with water in specific proportions to each other. Not enough metho will leave unwanted water still inside the wood. Too much metho could absorb all the unwanted water perhaps, but wood becomes more brittle if you remove it to less than about 10% on average.

So, presuming that you could get the metho inside the wood to bond with the water, how do you know what quantity of metho to instil into the wood to get the water content down to around the 10-12% level?

You must still allow for evaporation of the metho (high) and the water (less) at ambient temperature in order to have enough metho to absorb the required amount of water so that you get the wood to the desired moisture content?

[bigbob]

Thanks for your informative response Dennis. With my shredded memory these days, i often have moments where I partly retrieve data from my tattered memory banks but can't regain all of it. i can watch the most involved documentary on say, the cosmos or Catalyst and understand it implicitly but come the next day struggle to recall or relate the information. All that you mentioned about Metho's properties came back with your information, but in any case it was really only me thinking rather obliquely about its properties rather than a practical solution to excess moisture.

[Dennis La Varenne]

Don't worry, Bob. I have problems enough along the same line too. You aren't flying solo there.