Ken,
disclaimer first: I personally have never used an alcohol stove, not being fanatical about the small weight saving and clean burn issues.
Factor (A): "As I was doing this some grass outside my
cleared area caught fire."
Is part of the problem also due to Factor(B): more difficult to see alcohol flames which might catch something on fire, or Factor (C) the (too)lightweight contraption gets knocked over. Of course that could happen with some of the top heavy pocket rocket gas stoves as well.
Factor A : will never go away (how much cleared area in a windy, 10% humidity zone is 100% foolproof?)
Factor B : Maybe if alcohol suppliers (or campers) put in color additive, then the risk of not seeing flames could be reduced.
Factor C: will never go away, especially with my big feet around.
Harvey
Harvey, good thoughts.
Factor A is a real issue. Understanding that i'm a bit of a ultralight fanatic, I thought that the alcohol stoves were a Great Leap Forward. I think I own a couple. The problem comes to the actual use. There is a need to be meticulous and attentive. I tend to be, but I don't necessarily want to bring that on a trip all the time.
Factor B: There are no suppliers for stoves, only other uses. I'm not sure what you could add, that would make the flame more visible, reliably. Napalm, perhaps?
Factor C: There is always that, and stories related to that, every year.
I went through my "Esbit Phase", using commercial stoves, homemade stoves, and built-on-the-spot stoves using rocks. Man, I had some pretty tolerant hiking companions. I just could never like any of the Esbit options, I guess mainly because the heat output is poor. There are times where it can be a real challenge to get water to boil. It's probably the thing to use in a tent fly, because it doesn't flare, and I can't imagine it producing enough heat to light a tent on fire.
I finally decided on one of those lightweight ti canister stoves with a 110g can. Lasts me about 4 days. Weight is small, fast, convenient, cheap.
However, most times for 3days, I go cold, nowadays.
