Talk:Sterno

Untitled
Why remove the mention of the very well-known phenomenon of sterno abuse? It is, after all, factual. --jpgordon&#8711;&#8710;&#8711;&#8710; 16:40, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)

chafing fuel?
What does "chafing fuel" mean? --Allen 23:52, 6 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Fuel for a chafing-dish -- I've made a link. --jpgordon&#8711;&#8710;&#8711;&#8710; 03:19, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Drinking Sterno? Really
Where are the citations for the Cocktail section? It's difficult to believe that anyone would try to extract the alcohol from Sterno, which must be more expensive than just buying alcohol outright. There are no citations at all in this section and it sounds like someone just made it up. 118.90.79.17 (talk) 05:05, 10 January 2008 (UTC)


 * I don't have a citation other than the word of my father (who's no longer with us). One of my favorite stories of his during WW2 (the Pacific theatre) concerns drinking strained sterno.  If you have no alcohol, you'll probably use just about anything, in a "time of need".Bigrafa (talk) 20:24, 11 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Drinking Sterno, unfortunately, was very common for a time, especially during prohibition (in the U.S.) and for a while afterward (which answers the first question, above, about sterno vs. regular ethanol). It's widely enough known that probably no citation is necessary (google "drinking sterno" or "canned heat" and you'll see).  It's not nearly as common anymore, but it still does happen.  In his youth, Woody Guthrie actually sold it, along with "jake," under the table in one of his jobs as a soda jerk (see, Ramblin' Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie, by Ed Cray).  "Jake" was extract of Jamaican ginger, a patent medicine, occasionally fortified with denatured alcohol.  However, jake also contained a sketchy little toxin, added by bootleggers -- too much of it and you get "jake-leg," and Guthrie will write a song about it:


 * Jamaica ginger in a cold root beer
 * Make your eyes see double and your ear sound queer.
 * It'll paralyze your dingdong, too.
 * I'm a jake-walk Daddy with the jake-walk blues!


 * Sugarbat (talk) 03:41, 9 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Jamaican ginger was an ethanol extract. It always had a lot of ethanol in it, and wasn't ever "denatured" (which would have included methanol). All the damage from Jake was done by the tricresylphosphate added to it to mimic the expensive oil-of-ginger (about 20% of the unadulterated protect) it was supposed to be made with. This was the 1920's version of melamine poisoning from Chinese milk, and it happened for the same reason: an adulterant was added to get around tests designed to detect the expensive quality incredient (protein in the case of the milk, ginger essential oils in the case of Jake). S  B Harris 04:29, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

I was surprised to see in the Discussion page that much of what has been added about drinking Sterno and other cultural references had been posted and removed several years ago. Unaware of that, I re-posted much of what had been discussed, but I added 5 links and references that verify each of the claims. I hope that no one will try to purge this information again. It is not only true but it is also culturally relevant, and I thought that that is what Wikipedia is supposed to be all about. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.248.239.141 talk) 02:20, 10 October 2011 (UTC)


 * How would you know ? I mean this seriously. My grandmother who has been dead many years now, would have an idea. My grandfather likewise. But some 23 year old kid who "heard about" or "read this on wikipedia", well ... good luck with that. People have known Sterno was poisonous for a long long time. Unless you are over 90, I'm going to discount your "it was true" statement. 116.231.74.164 (talk) 09:59, 27 August 2018 (UTC)

Added to Peter Jackson sentence
I added to the Peter Jackson/Sterno sentence to include that the character wasn't addicted to Sterno in the movie, but using it as medicine. Since this is a big difference from the novel, it should be mentioned.

Rayghost (talk) 08:04, 22 September 2008 (UTC)

I think this page needs to have a lot of terms linked to other articles, there seemed to be an odd lack of blue text. 68.161.68.30 (talk) 01:39, 10 October 2008 (UTC)

Sterno is a registered trademark of the Sterno Group, LLC.
→ I represent the Sterno Group LLC.

Sterno is a registered trademark of the Sterno Group, LLC. STERNO and its related trademarks have not become genericized and The Sterno Group, LLC seeks to protect exclusive rights in its valuable STERNO trademark. The Sterno Group takes significant measures to prevent the Sterno Trademark from being generercized and prevent comments such as the "the Sterno trademark is genericized". If a reference refers to the Sterno Groups’s product, proper usage should appear as: “STERNO® canned cooking fuel.” If the reference does not refer to the Sterno Group’s product, the reference should avoid using The Sterno Group’s registered trademark and use the generic phrase “canned cooking fuel.”

Also, as a matter of accuracy, The Sterno Group is not owned by Candle Corporation of America. It is currently owned by Midwest-CBK, Inc., also a subsidiary of Blyth, Inc.

My edits have been removed already. If there is an opposition to these changes, please explain why. Otherwise, please allow for these changes. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jetzy2011 (talk • contribs) 22:58, 19 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Hi. Please review our conflict of interest policies; we do not get to write about ourselves or our companies. Feel free to suggest changes to the article on this page; but we will take this solely as suggestions, not as requirements. --jpgordon:==( o ) 02:28, 20 January 2011 (UTC)
 * This needs a reliable update - looks like the Candle Corporation trademark registration was cancelled in 1993. Now a different company owns the Sterno Group. --Wtshymanski (talk) 17:58, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

calorific value/BTU
A section paragraphs needs to be added that discusses the calorific value of the fuel (BTU). According to wolfram alpha,

3.3% of 198 =    6.543 198 - 6.543 =  191.457    6.543   grams of methanol in btu = 141 btu_it 191.457 grams of ethanol in btu = 5390 BTU_IT 5390 + 141  = 5531 total btu

in a can of 20108 sterno ethanol gelled chafing fuel with a two hour burn time, and listed ingredients weight of 198grams of which 3.3% is methanol, there are about about 5531 BTUS in one can (about 2765 BTU per hour). 141 BTU from methanol and 5390 BTU from ethanol. In reality it might be as high as 5950BTU (the gelling process may contribute to the BTU)

sterno       3,388 BTU per dollar ( 22,124 / 6.53 ) wood pellets 34,121 BTU per dollar ( 22,124 / 6.53)

For £4 you can buy 4 cans of sterno for a total of 22748 btu

In england (like London)
 * For £4 (about $6.53 today) you can buy 4 cans of sterno for a total of 5531 * 4 = 22,124 BTU
 * For £3 (about $4.90 today) you can buy 10 kg of wood pellets for a total of      167,195 BTU

That is 7.5 times more BTU for cheaper.

sterno       3,388 BTU per dollar ( 22,124 / 6.53 ) wood pellets 34,121 BTU per dollar ( 22,124 / 6.53)

In USA (san francisco bay area) wood pellets are twice as cheap and sterno is about same price. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.51.144.118 (talk) 06:04, 21 December 2013 (UTC)


 * Agreed, Sterno is a ripoff. But it's difficult to get a bag of wood pellets under the fondue pot :D 116.231.74.164 (talk) 10:03, 27 August 2018 (UTC)