Bioethanol fuel buying guide
Updated: 23 October 2026
You already own the fireplace or tabletop burner, and amazon.co.uk is mixing bottled liquid with gel, ceramic wool and paraffin heaters. This bioethanol fuel buying guide is the order of checks: liquid rather than gel, a stated purity, litres you can store, then the cap, the scent and delivery. The six bottles in our [bioethanol comparison](/hub/diy-supplies/bioethanol) survived that filter. Prices are the amazon.co.uk figures stored on 19 October 2026. Peter F. did not burn these fuels in a lab. If you buy through a link, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
You already own the fireplace or tabletop burner, and amazon.co.uk is mixing bottled liquid with gel, ceramic wool and paraffin heaters.
You already own the fireplace or tabletop burner, and amazon.co.uk is mixing bottled liquid with gel, ceramic wool and paraffin heaters. This bioethanol fuel buying guide is the order of checks: liquid rather than gel, a stated purity, litres you can store, then the cap, the scent and delivery. The six bottles in our bioethanol comparison survived that filter. Prices are the amazon.co.uk figures stored on 19 October 2026. Peter F. did not burn these fuels in a lab. If you buy through a link, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Stated purity | Volume | Delivery | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  B2C B2C EcoLine 1 litre | 96.6% | 1 L | n/a | 8.3 | about £7.99 | View offer |
| Best value |  Green Haven Green Haven 12 litres | 96% in the bullets; 96.6% in special features | 12 L | n/a | 7.6 | about £42.49 | View offer |
| Alternative |  B2C B2C Eco Line scented, 6 x 1 litre | n/a | 6 x 1 L | Mainland UK only | 5.6 | about £31.89 | View offer |
On this page
Start with the liquid, not the accessory
The search also returns ceramic wool, gel pots and heaters whose fuel field says kerosene. Those are different products. A bioethanol fireplace or tabletop burner is built for a liquid the manual names. In this set every kept bottle is sold as liquid, but two catalogue lines still fight the title. The Green Haven 2 litre file lists the power source as ethanol gel, and the scented 12-bottle file does the same, while both titles describe liquid fuel. Follow the title and the bullets when the attribute disagrees. A bottle can still be liquid and leave the purity blank, which is what the two scented packs do.
Read the percentage before the brand
EkoFuel and Hofeu talk about a band around 96% to 96.6%, sometimes toward 97%. That is a buying habit for fireplace fuel, not a legal maximum in Excise Notice 473. The notice covers completely denatured alcohol for heating and lighting, and it tells you not to purify or redistil it. It does not give a percentage to shop by. Match the figure the listing states to the burner manual. If the manual is silent, the mid-90s band is trade practice, not a certificate. In this set some plain bottles print 96% or 96.6%, the 12 litre page prints both, and the scented packs print none. A line about denaturants required by UK law is not the recipe.
Price per litre and what you can store
A bigger pack is cheaper per litre, and it is more fuel to store. Green Haven 12 litres is £42.49, or £3.54 a litre, the lowest in the set. EcoLine’s single litre is £7.99 a litre, the highest. The 12 litre file also prints 10 x 10 x 2 cm and 10 g, which is not a credible size or mass, so do not plan a cupboard from that line. Scented fuel is restricted to mainland UK postcodes. Orders to offshore addresses, the Channel Islands, the Scottish isles and Northern Ireland are cancelled. Store the bottle capped, cool and out of children’s reach. Pouring is on how to use bioethanol fuel.
Scent, caps and shared stars
A scent is optional, and in these reviews it is often faint. The mix arrives as whatever fragrances are available, not a scent you choose. The shared complaint is little or no scent while the fuel is burning. On the shared Green Haven file, a safety cap that spins and will not unscrew comes up again and again. EcoLine names a safety nozzle, and at least one reviewer found the squeeze bottle awkward. If the cap will not open, contact the seller. Do not treat one Green Haven star row as three tests. If the cupboard already holds methylated spirits, that choice is separate: bioethanol vs methylated spirits.
Which check decides the order
If the title says liquid and the manual’s percentage is on the page, order a plain bottle you can store. If the percentage is blank, or the address is outside mainland UK, leave the scented packs. Read the stars after those checks.
Common questions
What purity should I look for?
Look for a percentage the listing states, then match it to the burner manual. Seller guides from EkoFuel and Hofeu talk about roughly 96% to 96.6% for fireplace fuel. That band is trade practice, not a legal maximum in Excise Notice 473. In this set, EcoLine states 96.6%, the Green Haven 2 litre and 6 litre bullets state 96%, and the 12 litre page states both 96% and 96.6%. The scented packs state no percentage.
Does vent free mean I can shut the room?
No. Several of these amazon.co.uk bottles carry a vent-free attribute and list indoor use. RoSPA and UK fire services still say an indoor bioethanol fire needs ventilation, because the fuel produces carbon monoxide, and they advise a carbon monoxide alarm. A catalogue attribute does not cancel that advice. Outdoor fire pits are a different setting from a closed living room.
Should I buy scented fuel if the percentage is missing?
Not if the manual asks for a stated purity. Both scented packs leave the percentage blank, and you do not choose the scents in the mix. The shared reviews often say the fragrance is faint or missing while the fuel burns. The packs are also limited to mainland UK delivery, so a missing percentage and a cancelled Northern Ireland order can rule them out together.
Are the Green Haven star ratings three separate tests?
No. The 2 litre, 6 litre and 12 litre Green Haven files show the same 4.5 from 3,520 reviews and the same review text. Some of that text describes a 2 litre bottle, so it is weak evidence for the larger packs on their own. EcoLine’s 4.6 from 2,114 is a separate file. The two scented packs share 4.2 from 1,074.
Will scented fuel ship to Northern Ireland?
The scented listings say no. They restrict delivery to mainland UK postcodes and say orders to offshore addresses, the Channel Islands, the Scottish isles and Northern Ireland are cancelled. The plain Green Haven and EcoLine files in this set do not print that limit. If your address is outside mainland UK, do not count on the scented packs arriving.
Related pages
Sources
Public UK sources and the amazon.co.uk listings compared on this page. Shelf prices in the product files were stored on 19.10.2026.
- HMRC, Excise Notice 473 (retrieved 19.10.2026)
- RoSPA: bioethanol fires (retrieved 19.10.2026)
- Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service: bioethanol burners (retrieved 19.10.2026)
- Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service: bio-ethanol and gel fuels (retrieved 19.10.2026)
- Warwickshire County Council: safe home heating (retrieved 19.10.2026)
- EkoFuel: bioethanol fuel FAQs (retrieved 19.10.2026)
- EkoFuel: 1 litre bioethanol fireplace fuel (retrieved 19.10.2026)
- Fireplace World: 12 x 1 litre bioethanol (retrieved 19.10.2026)
- Fisher Scientific UK ethanol SDS (laboratory ethanol) (retrieved 19.10.2026)