Lighting a stoker

I use one handful of shredd paper and two handfuls of sticks the size of pensils one match.
Then in about 1 minute I start the fan and walk away.
the 1951 AA260 dose the rest.
Paper is free and so are the sticks
BBD

I found a site that you can order the mouse starter bags for as low as .74 depending on the amount ordered. www.downeastcoal.com

Well after lighting my Keystoker 90 stoker stove for 17 years I think I have to agree with the Cowboy charcoal (lump).I came across this site a few months ago, and tried Cowboy for the first time this year. Damn, what was I missing all these years. Works far much better than Matchlight....
Small steel strap to hold ash back
couple pieces of lump charcoal
pull coal down and sprinkle some on the charcoal
Hold the old propane torch on it till it lights
turn on the fans
sit back, Doesn't get much easier than this
Thanks for the tip,
John Miller
Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania.. Home of Keystoker

I have a keystoker econo model. I had a hard time with the wood and paper sliding off the grate. So I cut a thin piece of wood about 1" high, 9" long and put it in the slide to hold the kindling and coal in place. My wife makes starters out of paper egg cartons using dryer lint and paraffin. She puts the lint in the egg holder, pours melted paraffin over it and when it cools you have a starter. I tear one of those off, put it and the wood, one small pile of coal on the stoker slide and before long it's burning. The wood holds starter bags on too. When the fire gets going, it burns the wood and eventually it slides off into the ash pan but by then the fire is going.
I found that some white vinegar diluted with some water cleans the glass real well...better than any commercial cleaner. The glass has to be cold before you put liquid on it.

mcrchap

hdrider wrote:Well after lighting my Keystoker 90 stoker stove for 17 years I think I have to agree with the Cowboy charcoal (lump).I came across this site a few months ago, and tried Cowboy for the first time this year. Damn, what was I missing all these years.

Another convert! We don't need no stinkin' coal rodents. Lot's of methods work. This one works best. Easiest and quickest.

coalkirk wrote:

hdrider wrote:Well after lighting my Keystoker 90 stoker stove for 17 years I think I have to agree with the Cowboy charcoal (lump).I came across this site a few months ago, and tried Cowboy for the first time this year. Damn, what was I missing all these years.

Another convert! We don't need no stinkin' coal rodents. Lot's of methods work. This one works best. Easiest and quickest.

Your right Coalkirk... easiest way of all....No more praying "Please Stay Lit, Please Stay Lit"...Lol. Great comment too,"We dont need no Stinkin' coal rodents"

For myself I've found that placing a few pieces of Kingsford charcoal in front of the ring and covering it up with some rice and pea coal and lighting it with a propane torch works out to be the easiest and quickest way for me to light my stove.

I got my Stoker VF3000 running a week ago today, I seem to have unburned black looking coal in my ash tub. I dumped it out and it seems to be mixed in with all the ash.. what am I doing wrong? Please help!

AndyinSparta wrote:I got my Stoker VF3000 running a week ago today, I seem to have unburned black looking coal in my ash tub. I dumped it out and it seems to be mixed in with all the ash.. what am I doing wrong? Please help!

Looking too closely at your ash! This has been hashed and rehashed many times. Could be some none coal material but more likley it is some unburnt coal. It seems to be nearly impossible to avoid some unburnt coal in this stoker. Make sure you don't have live coal falling off of the end of the grate first of all. Then you might try running the combustion fan on the distribution timer so it runs a few minutes after the feed motor shuts off. Don't fret about it too much. You are saving a bundle burning coal so if it isn't quite as efficient as you would like, it's not so bad in the long run.

Hello Folks, I found Mice!! http://www.downeastcoal.com/accessories.htm There ya go! -Phew- I had to look everywhere!

You don't need no stinkin' coal rodents!

Read the first post in this thread.

Torch

The easiest way I found was to put 5 to 6 charcoal brickets into the burner squirt a little charcoal lighter (kerosene for the cheapskates) light it turn the blower on without the feed and wait until the charcoal is burning good. Then put a shovel of coal on top with blower still on and in about a 1/2 hour or so check for a full burn then turn the coal feeder on and wala. Now you can stand there drooling watching the coal flame while the wife is yelling at you that she has more on the honeydo list.

D-Y-N-A-M-I-T-E!!!!

I suspect every first-time stoker owner wanted to use dynamite at some time...

I've been through the mice, and even some 'bagggie' mice from my local dealer, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. I've even tried highway flares and they succeeded in clogging up the combustion fan air holes to feed the fire.

After reading here a large number how to light 'em, I finally located some lump charcoal (not brickets) and tried it. I used a hammer to break the big pieces into not more than 2" size.

I also found the 'magic trick' that many others here have...a small 'dam' to keep everything from sliding off the grate. I used a bent piece of galvanized steel bent like a letter "C". Others have used a properly sized piece of small piece of wood. Put 4-6 pieces of lump charcoal on the grate behind the dam, and a handful of rice coal on top. Take a propane torch (the yellow can one, they get hotter than the blue can variety), spend about a minute or two firing up the charcoal, turn on the combustion air close the door and let 'er rip! 5-10 minutes later, turn on the stoker and enjoy the fire!

Last year I had a hell of a time lighting my KA-6 boiler. The charcoal briquets wouldn't light at all. After taking my boiler apart and reassembling it I called the manufacturer thinking something was wrong with my boiler. I took their suggestion and went out and bought a bag of Cowboy Charcoal. I put a couple of lumps just in front of my coal on the grate and hit it with my propane torch and turned on the power. In 5 minutes my boiler was lit and firing up to temperature. No rodents and definitely no more briquets. Seems they had absorbed enough moisture over the summer to keep them from lighting properly. The key evidence should have been they didn't start glowing bright orange when the blower was turned on!!!