Lighting Coal Trouble at Start up - Second Year Use

Hey Guys,
I thought I had this down to an art!!! I was able to light my Keystoker KA-6 boiler in 10 minutes on the first try last year, as I had to do this several times due to power outages and one failure to check the bin, however, this year I am having no luck at all. I checked everything over and it looks fine. The grate is clean and the holes are clear, the combustion fan is running and I can feel the air coming up through the grate.
- I did notice air coming out of the end between the grates and the support structure. Should this be sealed with furnace cement???
- I am using charcoal briquets that sat in the basement over the summer, could this be the problem???
- Last but not least, a couple of times I thought I had it, but it just died out on me.
My draft is fine, I let it up to .05 to start and even tried at .02 with no luck. I will try calling Keystoker toady, but anyone have any suggestions??? This is frustrating me to no end. I've had the stoker unit out and looked it over, recleaned it, and I can't figure for the life of me why it won't light.

is the charcoal burning up or just kinda smoldering? Shouldn't be that hard to light, go get some more matchlight, may have gotten damp over the summer.
I crush mine up to small chunks, roll it up into a small piece of newspaper and bury it a bit into the middle of the grate..

is your layer of coal on the grate, thick enuf? Don't be stingy, pile it on . An 1 1/2" is 'fine' .

The charcoal burns, but not real bright. In some cases it just goes out. I don't think I'm being stingy with the coal, I put the briquets right at the edge of the coal on the grate and light it with a MAPP gas torch, then push the coal over the briquets. I'll try some different briquets today and see what happens. Even the coal gets red hot and then dies out!!!

Sounds like tyou briquets are damp from being in the basement. Buy a bag of what's commonly called lump or cowboy charcoal. You only need a 6-8 small pieces on the grate. Have your coal on the grate ready to go but on the lest couple in inches, put the charcoal only. Hit them with the MAPP gas torch for 20-30 seconds, then turn on the combustion blower and close the boiler door. Give it a couple minutes for the charcoal to get going, then open the boiler door and sprinkle a cup or son of rice coal on top of the charcoal, close the door. Give a couple minutes then take a look. Coal should be burning. Turn on the stoker to start feeding more coal. Of course your charcaol pile and the coal ready to feed should be next to each other actually touching. It works every time for me and takes less than 10 minutes.

Go get your self a bag of cowboy charcoal as coalkirk said. It works alot better then Matchlight. If you had a open bag of Matchlight from last year, thats probably the problem the briquets dry up and they don't burn to good and don't throw alot of heat either.

I third the cowboy charcoal!!!!
Works great!!

I swear by cowboy charcoal, I smash the charcoal into very small peices, put a handfull into a small paper bag, roll the bag up and tape closed, place the bag back on the grates, cover with about a handful of coal, waqd up a piece of newspaper, place in the damper, turn your sove on light the newspaper which will induce a draft in your pipe, light the paper bag with a mapp torch to get the charcoal lite, and you have fire, the very small pieces of charcoal ignite very quickly and burn extremly hot. works every time, even a caveman can do it!!

journeyman wrote: light the paper bag with a mapp torch to get the charcoal lite, and you have fire, the very small pieces of charcoal ignite very quickly and burn extremly hot.

I do the same thing to light my VF3000, the key is the map gas torch and keep the blower off until the charcoal gets going then turn the blower on, I use the match light charcoal with no problem.

Im kinda partial to the big green egg lump charcoal, gives a better flavor, and a little less ash.

But as a newbe this year using this method I think lighting my stoker was easier than lighting my "Big Egg" smoker/grill.

Well Thank You Again Boys!!!! I'm SOLD on the Cowboy Charcoal (Lump Charcoal)!!! I bought some today and had it lit and blazing in 5 minutes!!! Your Wisdom and Experience is appreciated very much. I never would have thought that the charcoal briquets were the problem. Thanks again!!!

Mike

FingerLakesStoker wrote:Well Thank You Again Boys!!!! I'm SOLD on the Cowboy Charcoal (Lump Charcoal)!!! I bought some today and had it lit and blazing in 5 minutes!!! Your Wisdom and Experience is appreciated very much. I never would have thought that the charcoal briquets were the problem. Thanks again!!!

Mike

We don't need no stinkin' coal mice!