does sterno expire or go bad?
I have some that is 10-15 years old and would like to pack it in my BOB.

I don't know about expire, but I did have some go bad a few years ago.

Same here.. never seen any with expiration dates on it, however I have opened some older ones and they were dried out.  I try to rotate them every few years or so and it never happened after that, so if they are that old, check a few of them out and make sure they are still good.

BTW the ones that went dry on me were cheap non name brand stuff from smart and final, NOT the Sterno brand. Since then I only buy the good stuff.

Mine dried out as well. Now I take wax and melt it around the lid to seal it. I have never had another one dry out and they are at least 12-15 years old. I open them up every few years and look at them, and then melt the wax again to seal them up.

They don't go bad unless they dry out.

So can you add alcohol to Sterno to make it work again?

Learned the hard way that 'Yeah they go bad'.  Caffeine withdrawl headaches in the deerstand on opening morning because your Sterno was less then functional-in -warming-water-enough-for-coffee brought this issue to my attention.

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Quoted: Mine dried out as well. Now I take wax and melt it around the lid to seal it. I have never had another one dry out and they are at least 12-15 years old. I open them up every few years and look at them, and then melt the wax again to seal them up.

Great idea

+1,

picked up a few cans last night. Just sealed 'em up with a little melted parafin.

It tastes a bit funny after a few months but it still goes down good!


eh, oh, you mean for burning... the I go with what the other fellers say.
As long as it is sealed and not dried out then it should be fine. If you really have to know just check one out and see how it does.

I moved away from sterno to magic heat/campheat. These burn a lot longer, have an adjustable wick, lid screws on, no fuel can slosh or come out of the top of the can etc.

ETA: This is about a 5 hour can without spreading the wick. They come in 3, 5, and 8 hour sizes. With an 8 hour you can really get by in a 3 day BOB-all your cooking and you can use the can to start a few campfires as well without having to mess with alot of kindling etc.

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Quoted: I moved away from sterno to magic heat/campheat. These burn a lot longer, have an adjustable wick, lid screws on, no fuel can slosh or come out of the top of the can etc. ETA: This is about a 5 hour can without spreading the wick. They come in 3, 5, and 8 hour sizes. With an 8 hour you can really get by in a 3 day BOB-all your cooking and you can use the can to start a few campfires as well without having to mess with alot of kindling etc.

Be careful with the wicking canned products.  Most, if not all, use diethylene glycol instead of gelled denatured ethanol alcohol.  Diethylene glycol is very toxic if ingested.  Of course you shouldn't ingest Sterno either, as the ethanol alcohol is methylated to denature it...but incidental ingestion is generally not harmful.

Good information on alcohol stoves/fuels..even making your own 'Sterno': Gelled alohol stoves Info

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Mine dried out as well. Now I take wax and melt it around the lid to seal it. I have never had another one dry out and they are at least 12-15 years old. I open them up every few years and look at them, and then melt the wax again to seal them up.

Great idea, I will have to try that.  I buy my cans on sale and keep an older, used up, can next to them and compare weights to see if the unused have lost any fuel.  If the Sterno 'goes bad' it's because the seal isn't airtight and the gelled alcohol has evaporated (and the can will lose mass).  That avoids having to keep opening cans up (and thereby potentially harming future sealing).