10-13-2021, 02:51 PM | #1 |
Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 66,530
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35 year old fuel tabs and MRE matches. Will they work?
On my way home yesterday, I took a snooze at a rest area in Arkansas. When I got up in the morning, I wanted a hot cup of instant coffee. Instead of pulling out the little butane stove, I figured I see if my little stove I carried in Germany 35 years ago still worked.
Guess what? The MRE matches stored with it still worked and lit the fuel tabs to get the water hot.
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"The truly dangerous man dresses inconspicuously and is soft- spoken. He walks away from most confrontations. The only time you learn that the truly dangerous man is mad at you is a split second before you die, for he never fights. He only kills. The truly dangerous man knows that fighting is what children do and killing is what men do." - Charley Reese 1986
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10-13-2021, 10:34 PM | #2 |
I'm a grumpy SOB
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Frostbite Falls, MN
Posts: 10,527
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Nice! I have a few of those here. Good to know they'll still work after all this time.
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10-15-2021, 08:21 AM | #3 |
Military Truck Collector
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: North Florida
Posts: 671
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20 years ago, I bought two very large cases of those Trioxane fuel bars in green foil covering. I used them to start fires in the wood stove till I found that pine lighter knot worked as well and was free.
The Trioxane doesn't go bad unless you tear open the foil covering & leave it open. The MRE heaters that generate heat from adding water are quite different, they have a definite shelf life that is not the long, maybe 7 or 8 years @ best. I have thrown away quite a few that did nothing due to their age. |
10-15-2021, 10:36 AM | #4 |
Home on the range
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: S. Indiana
Posts: 17,285
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Flameless ration heaters usually last about 5 years. Sometimes you can add the salt pack to get it going.
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10-20-2021, 09:06 AM | #5 |
High Priest of Honkydom
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Cheetahstan
Posts: 9,549
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If you keep MRE matches in a sealed container they seem to last forever. I keep a bunch in used rocket flare tubes. Those are stashed in pretty much every building on our property JIC.
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