Lighting a Stoker

 
Scorch
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Post by Scorch » Sun. Jan. 16, 2011 10:28 pm

I discovered my 1000 watt electric paint stipper works fabulously for starting my stoker. Place the stripper on the bed of coal, plug in, wait 5 minuets or so and then turn on the combustion blower. If you have good flames, the coal is good to go! This method is super easy and doesn't smoke-up the house like starter bags and other wood/paper/charcoal methods seem to do.

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Titanium
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Post by Titanium » Thu. Feb. 17, 2011 2:41 pm

I didn't read all the replies, so please forgive me if someone else put this here before. I buy these little paper bags at Cole's hardware here in central Pa. In my Harman magnum stoker, I just make sure there is enough coal in the fire area, place a bag on that, sprinkle a little coal on top of the bag, light it and turn on the stove. Works every time! The cost is about 3 for a buck.

 
bustedwing
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Post by bustedwing » Thu. Feb. 17, 2011 11:57 pm

Feed rate at 4(min),beautiful warm day,lost the fire!Only Kingsford briquettes locally($5.50 small bag),15 yearold can of charcoal lighter fluid(too cheap to get a new one),1 crushed briquette and 2 whole ones soaked in the fluid,lay on a half page of newspaper,wrap it up and place on the burner plate,1 crushed and 2 whole all dry in another piece of paper,a little rice coal in both packages also,pour a little fluid on the paper,mostly cover with coal,turn on the stove,put a block of wood in the draft control to hold it shut and keep the draft high,light it and let burn for a minute or 2 and hit feed rate max for 10 minutes.Works like a charm and cheap too.

 
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coalkirk
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Coal Size/Type: Lehigh anthracite/rice coal

Post by coalkirk » Sun. Feb. 27, 2011 1:51 pm

I'm having a rough week or so. First the Pro-pain incident then the out fire from my GFCI. Well last night after brewing a 5 gallon batch of beer with my boys, (and drinking a few while we were at it) I went down to empty my coal ash. I'm in the habit of turning off the feed motor while I do it so ash doesn't drop while I'm working. So you guessed it, I forgot to turn the feed motor on again. Another out fire. Now I'm not even in the 2 match club now! But the purpose of this post is to admit that even an old dog can be taught a new trick. I didn't have any lump charcoal. So I made a homemade coal mouse like some of you have described. Brown paper bag, handfull of shredded paper from the shredder, smashed charcoal briquets soaked with charcoal lighter and a cup or so of coal. Stuck it on the grate, hit it with a match and closed the door. Damn that WAS easier than my lump charcoal method.

 
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Rick 386
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Post by Rick 386 » Sun. Feb. 27, 2011 9:44 pm

coalkirk wrote:I'm having a rough week or so. First the Pro-pain incident then the out fire from my GFCI. Well last night after brewing a 5 gallon batch of beer with my boys, (and drinking a few while we were at it) I went down to empty my coal ash. I'm in the habit of turning off the feed motor while I do it so ash doesn't drop while I'm working. So you guessed it, I forgot to turn the feed motor on again. Another out fire. Now I'm not even in the 2 match club now! But the purpose of this post is to admit that even an old dog can be taught a new trick. I didn't have any lump charcoal. So I made a homemade coal mouse like some of you have described. Brown paper bag, handfull of shredded paper from the shredder, smashed charcoal briquets soaked with charcoal lighter and a cup or so of coal. Stuck it on the grate, hit it with a match and closed the door. Damn that WAS easier than my lump charcoal method.
Someone is close to being evicted from MD and this forum !!!! :whistle:

I think it is time to start a new company. Sorta like the hotel wake up call system except this new system will take calls from those who shut down feed motors or other electrical devices while emptying ashes from coal appliances. Callers subscribing will be given a phone call 5 minutes after calling in and will then be asked if they have turned their stove electrical connections back on. Penalties will be severe for those who have not thrown the switch(es) including public flogging with a wet willow branch before having to toss it into an outdoor wood boiler and forfeiture of all home brewed beer. :nana: :funny: :rofl:
Come to think of it, lets not limit to home brew.....possibly forfeiture of 1/2 ton of coal or sharing of said alcoholic beverage.

Rick

 
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coalkirk
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Post by coalkirk » Mon. Feb. 28, 2011 6:43 am

Sign me up! :oops:

 
Bratkinson
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Post by Bratkinson » Mon. Feb. 28, 2011 3:15 pm

Mr Kirk -

Suggestion - get a 2nd ash pan and simply swap the empty one for the full one. No need to turn off the stoker! Nothing to remember...other than fill the hopper! :o


 
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coalkirk
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Post by coalkirk » Mon. Feb. 28, 2011 4:35 pm

Great idea. Thanks.

 
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no74falcon
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Post by no74falcon » Thu. Sep. 22, 2011 7:08 pm

I used charcoal and charcoal lighter fluid for a while until one night, I didn't do anything different than I had been, put the charcoal in, put some fluid on, let it sit for a couple minutes, and then tried to light it. Not sure if it was heavy air that night or what, but the fumes from the fluid all stayed in the stove. When I attempted to light it, the fumes ignited, burning the skin on the back of my hand, fingers,ear, and side of my face enough to blister. Also the loss of a lot of hair, including eyelashes and eyebrows. Do yourself and don't learn like I did, sleeping that night in bed with my hand resting in a pan of snow. Even dried out old matchlight will easily ignite with a propane torch held on it for just a couple minutes.

I take a small piece of wood (a small piece of molding, a piece of 1"x1", or something just to hold back the charoal), cut it just a tiny longer than the inside dimension of the burner, turn it until it wedges inside the burner, put a few broken up pieces of charcoal behind it, light the charcoal with the torch (or fresh matchlight works great), turn on the fan supplying air to the fire, wait until the charcoal is going good, sprinkle some coal on top, crank up the feed until its going good, then turn down the feed to desired fire. The wood eventually burns away enough that the feed will just push it into the ash pan. Sounds a lot harder than it is.

Don't use charcoal fluid! :)

 
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EarthWindandFire
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Post by EarthWindandFire » Thu. Sep. 22, 2011 8:12 pm

I have a childhood memory of my father having to roll our neighbor on the ground after he squirted too much lighter fluid on his barbecue and the can burst!

Also, my grandfather only had a few area rugs and he would only allow wool rugs. If you apply a flame to wool it will burn. But, once you take the flame away it will extinguish.

 
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Rick 386
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Location: Royersford, Pa
Stoker Coal Boiler: AA 260 heating both sides of twin farmhouse
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: LL Hyfire II w/ coaltrol in garage
Coal Size/Type: Pea in AA 260, Rice in LL Hyfire II
Other Heating: Gas fired infared at work
Contact:

Post by Rick 386 » Tue. Sep. 27, 2011 8:43 am

no74falcon wrote:I used charcoal and charcoal lighter fluid for a while until one night, I didn't do anything different than I had been, put the charcoal in, put some fluid on, let it sit for a couple minutes, and then tried to light it. Not sure if it was heavy air that night or what, but the fumes from the fluid all stayed in the stove. When I attempted to light it, the fumes ignited, burning the skin on the back of my hand, fingers,ear, and side of my face enough to blister. Also the loss of a lot of hair, including eyelashes and eyebrows. Do yourself and don't learn like I did, sleeping that night in bed with my hand resting in a pan of snow. Even dried out old matchlight will easily ignite with a propane torch held on it for just a couple minutes.

I take a small piece of wood (a small piece of molding, a piece of 1"x1", or something just to hold back the charoal), cut it just a tiny longer than the inside dimension of the burner, turn it until it wedges inside the burner, put a few broken up pieces of charcoal behind it, light the charcoal with the torch (or fresh matchlight works great), turn on the fan supplying air to the fire, wait until the charcoal is going good, sprinkle some coal on top, crank up the feed until its going good, then turn down the feed to desired fire. The wood eventually burns away enough that the feed will just push it into the ash pan. Sounds a lot harder than it is.

Don't use charcoal fluid! :)
The main problem here is pouring or squirting charcoal lighter fluid onto the stove and charcoal. Some fluid will go through the spaces and through the air holes in the grate creating a pool of lighter fluid.

The solution has been mentioned numerous times.....Presoak the charcoal in lighter fluid and then just put some of the lighter fluid dampened charcoal on the grate. As long as the fluid is not dripping off the charcoal, you will be OK. This can be accomplished by placing the charcoal in an old coffee can or I just use a ziploc bag. Place the crushed up charcoal in the bag, give a squirt or 2 from the can and then shake. Using the see through bag, you can see how much fluid has been added. The best part is you can then seal the bag and not have any smell.

Rick

 
bustedwing
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Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: LL Pioneer
Coal Size/Type: Rice
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Post by bustedwing » Sun. Oct. 02, 2011 2:17 pm

Lit the pioneer today,3 kingsford briquettes,2 of which were busted up with a hammer,wrap in a sheet of newspaper,spray liberally with WD40,set on grate,sprinkle a little coal around,lite it,let burn 30 seconds,hit the power switch on the stove and close the door,after a minute or 2 add a small shovel of coal and punch in feed rate 10.Works great and cheap too! Rich

 
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EarthWindandFire
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Post by EarthWindandFire » Sun. Oct. 02, 2011 6:33 pm

Last night, at 11:30 I decided to start the Lil' Heater after coming home from my sons double-header baseball game. Finally, at about 2:30am the fire was burning the way it should using crushed cowboy charcoal. This was my first time burning a coal stove so I'm not too embarassed it took that long.

My big mistakes were the following:

1). Trying to get the fire burning at the end of the plate.

2). Setting the temp on the coaltrol above room temperature causing the feed rate to be too high.

 
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Post by Wdollie6 » Mon. Oct. 17, 2011 4:17 pm

Lit my new Keystoker yesterday for first time, actually first time with any coal boiler. Used the cowboy charcoal method with a block at the end of the stoker, hit it with the propane torch and once red layered rice coal, off and running. Running is the word as I mistakenly reversed the wires for the small and big blower... Coal can generate heat in a hurry...

 
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Post by LiftedAWDAstro » Mon. Oct. 17, 2011 4:53 pm

I gotta say using matchlight charcoal is the way to go! Layed about 12-15 briquettes on the grate, broke up 6 more into pieces and placed them on top. I then put some coal around the charcoal and touched it with a torch. Instant flame and never looked back. Made sure I had draft and the fumes went right out. Left it for 10 or so minutes and turned the power on. The combustion blower got the charcoal white hot and I could then place some more coal around it. After about 1/2 hour - 45 minutes I turned the thermostat up to setpoint and the stoker fed the coal as needed. Way easier than using cowboy charcoal.


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