The two most common types of Alcohol used for heat transfer are Ethyl Alcohol and Methyl Alcohol. Alcohols as heat transfer fluids are becoming increasingly rarer due to health and safety concerns.

Ethyl Alcohol commonly referred to as Ethanol and occasionally referred to as EA and pure alcohol.

Ethanol has historically been used in some beverage cooling systems, ice rinks and geothermal heat recovery loops, especially in Scandinavia and Canada. Its continued use in those countries is under careful consideration due to health and safety issues - specifically it is flammable in concentrations above 5% by volume in water.

Methyl Alcohol commonly referred to as Methanol and occasionally referred to as wood alcohol. Methanol has many similar characteristics to Ethanol, but it is far more toxic and subsequently rarely used in modern systems.