Alternatives for Lighting Coal

I tried Wicho's suggestion with the road flares to start my Alaska Channing, I cut a road flare in 4 pieces, stuck a piece on the burner grate,covered it with coal leaving the end of the flare exposed and lit it with a propane torch, it took right off and worked equally as well as a coal mouse.

This works a lot easier than the Charcoal method. So if you run out of coal mice just go to any auto parts store and get a couple of road flares.

BK [/quote]

I use my oxygen-acetylene torch. Works every time.

Yanche

Yanche, that could almost..... well it really is..... CHEATING!! LOL

Greg

I just use three or four sheets of newspaper, fill the firebox up with kindling and light it. Once it gets burning really good (about a minute, ) I throw on a bunch of coal, just enough to cover the flames. When flames break through at one point, I dump some more coal. In no time the sucker is hot and I start closing dampers. (This is with my cook stove, YMMV.)

I must be missing something! I've tried the torch, my Mapp turbo torch, no luck. I've tried charcoal lighter, I've splashed kerosine on top of the coal which was in a pine wood fire. I've lit good sized wood fires using scrap 2x4 pine. None of this ever worked.

The only method that works for me is a good old hardwood ( oak, ash, etc. ) fire burning really hot leaving red hot wood coals. I sprinkle on some coal, just a small amount at first and slowly build it up over the next hour. Shortcuts never worked! What am I missing!! I'm talking about using nut coal in a hand fired unit.

Cap wrote:I must be missing something! The only method that works for me is a good old hardwood ( oak, ash, etc. ) fire burning really hot leaving red hot wood coals. I sprinkle on some coal, just a small amount at first and slowly build it up over the next hour. Shortcuts never worked! What am I missing!! I'm talking about using nut coal in a hand fired unit.

Your not missing anything. Thats what you need to do. I have a boiler with a 2' long firebox. To get Anthracite to burn properly you need to start with the fires bed. A mouse may light my boiler, but it will a troublesome burn that dies an early death. The larger the coal's size and the unit's firebox the more need to tender the startup, where as a stoker on rice could easily be fired with a small torch and run with no trouble whatsoever.
Anthracite is not very forgiving.

Have used the coal mouse (bag) and works everytime. Put a sheet of newspaper under it, and some coal on top and light it.

Yeah, it will light the coal, but in a long thin fire box you won't get a good base for a fire. Different appliances have different needs and the larger sizes of coal in hand fired units really need to be prepped at startup or you set yourself up for a poor burn and a short life. Boilers are a little worse as they reduce the temperature of the firebox. The hardwood thing is troubling though, are you sure you're getting enough air to get it real hot when starting?

CAP, what kind of unit is it?

Yanche says oxy/acetylene; I'm providing you a link, will light anything, you don't even need (well hardly) a match, LOL.

http://www.doeblitz.net/ghg/

Stand back!!!



YMMV.

Coaledsweat--

I have the mighty monster in my dungeon. Harman SF-250. But this is my 2nd stove. The Harman Mark III was my learner unit. I have much better success with firestarting, maintaining & heat output with the 250.

Tonight after a very mild day in the 50's I came home to what I believed was a dead fire. My son even said, "Dad, the fire was dead when I came home at 3p. " I did not see any glow in the center. Shook her down real good and was ready to button her up for a few days. The temps are to stay mild thru Sunday. BUT, I discovered a small glow in the center. So, I left the ash door open and in about one hour I had a blazing fire going. My stack temp was over 1000F and the firebox thermometer was pegged at 1200F. ( I had left the room not believeing it would live. ) Hard to believe the little glow came back to life. I never had this kind of success in the past. I'm not sure what has changed? maybe it's the foli over the baro damper!

Sterling--

Who was the man pouring LOX into a lit charcoal fire? How did he transport the lox, in the back of his family van? This man needs an education in the safe handling of liquidified gases, especially lox. Did you know a few drops of lox on asphalt and some friction could blows a man's foot off? Lucky for most, LOX isn't readily available. I've worked with a major ind gas supplier for 26 years as a field tech. I've been around lox more than I'd like to have been. LH2 too. I would never tempt fate with either gas. LIN, LAR & CO2 can easily asphyxiate one to death?

Did you know the flame produced by hydrogen is invisible in the day time light? Men have been know to walk right into a hydrogen fire.

Yup, Mark, you bet I do (nearly 20 years in the cryo field). Prof Gobel (the guy with the lox) is (or was) a mech engineer Prof at Perdue. The story is long, but the gist is that the Mech Eng Dept has a cookout every year. It takes a long time to get 60 pounds of charcoal putting out the BTUs, so, being a bunch of engineers, they spent some effort at figuring out ways to shorten it. Started (I think) using the exhaust side of a shop vac, propane torch, C2H2/O2 torch and then, as they saying goes, they were inspired.

Did you see what happened to the Walmart Hibache (sp?) LOL.

Of course, don't try this at home, boys and girls

Cap wrote:Coaledsweat--
Shook her down real good and was ready to button her up for a few days. The temps are to stay mild thru Sunday. BUT, I discovered a small glow in the center. So, I left the ash door open and in about one hour I had a blazing fire going.

One thing this stuff taught me, rev the fire up, 5, even ten minutes with the ash door open if the fire is cold.... then shake it good. Shaking a cold fire is a sure way to kill it. You'll get your blazing fire in 5-10 minutes.
Stokers can idle and run right up due to there design, where as hand fired units are troublesome at low fire, and happy from the middle up. Coal is finicky, but when you learn what it wants, you'll be ecstatic.
The Baro is a saftey, for the stove and you. A small accident and your stove is junk, a big one you could be dead.

Wicho wrote:I just bought my stove this year and was given several of the mice by my dealer. He told me that inside the mice is the same material as in a road flare. Since we sell road flares at work I bought one- cut it into 4" lengths and lit the end- (with gloves on of course). It takes a few seconds to light but once it gets going just stick it in a small pile of coal.. works perfect!

Magnesium. Burns VERY hot.
Thanks for the road flare idea! Forgot about that.

I have a soup can with holes cut at the bottom for air. Put 3/4 match light in and get them going out of the house. Then when there hot put them in a hole in the coal cover them with more coal and turn on stove. This works good for auto stoves at least for me.Use gloves and plires to carry the can. tom