Lighting a stoker

I just re-lit my Koker yesterday. Took literally 30 seconds to have a good fire. I put 10-12 Matchlite briquettes on the carpet and then crumbled up 4 more into smaller pieces. Hit it with a torch for about 5 seconds to get it all burning and closed the door. Placed the torch into the baro damper to make sure I had a draft going. After 2 minutes I sprinkled a hand full of coal on top of the burning charcoal and turned on the combustion blower.

I relit mine last night too. Our 75-80 degree days and 55 degree nights are gone for now. It's going to be 50's this week and 30's at night. Used the cowboy charcoal and torch. I do now put foil over the baro and preheat my chimney with some newspaper fire balls. That just involves crumbling newspaper into balls and shoving them into the cleanout cap on the end of my horizontal vent pipe and lighting them. Do it a dozen or so times and hit the cowboy charcoal with the torch. Takes a good hour or so to get the boiler and all of the water in the system hot. Taste of spring was reall nice!

I did the same just so the boy wouldn't get to cold.

coalkirk wrote: preheat my chimney with some newspaper fire balls.

I do the same except I have a stripping gun I place in there for ten minutes or so to get it warmed up a bit.

During a recent shut down to replace the door gaskets I wanted to try something new as far as lighting the stove.

Normally I put a thin layer of coal across the grate, Put a scoop of lump charcoal (Cowboy Coal or similar) on top and light the lump with a torch. This creates a few small problems. 1st is the sparking you get from lighting the lump. Those little buggers tend to hurt a bit. 2nd is the bit of smoke that escapes during lighting. Not bad, but when you don't burn wood, the smell is very noticeable.

So I decided to try something different and it actually worked VERY well. I set the stove up the same as always, with the thin layer of coal and lump charcoal on top. Instead of lighting it directly with the torch I used some gel starter that they use for pellet stoves. I squeezed some on top of the lump, plugged in the stove, hit it with the torch, closed the door and I'll be a SOB if it didn't take right off. No sparks to contend with, no odor and quicker than any other method I had tried up till then.

Now I realize this was just the 1st try but I think this may work out. I do know that the gel and charcoal cost some $$$$ but the few times that I actually need to relight the stove make it worth it to me. It seems the gel and charcoal will last for quite a few lights also.

Yeah, for flat stoker, instead of using the *GEL*, I found that using just a tablespoon of *rubbing alcohol* per cupful of wood pellets and pre-soaking a in a air tight jar ahead of time worked great.
Wood pellets take longer to absorb the alcohol...so get them soaking first before doing anything else.
Diesel fuel works even better, if available.
Even if going the *GEL* route ($$$)...Bag of wood pellets ($6.00 per 40 lb) should last just about a lifetime of stoker start'n.

McGeiver wrote. " I found that using just a tablespoon of *rubbing alcohol* per cupful of wood pellets and pre-soaking a in a air tight jar ahead of time worked great." Nice idea using stuff most of have! Get some pellets from a freind who has some, add a little alcohol and you have a fire starter for next to nothing invested. I will be using that that next fall. THANKS

For my Model 140, I always light it with a heat gun. I have a Ryobi that is adjustable from Home Depot (got it on sale for about $30). I make a small pipe of coal on the grate, turn the gun to high and hit the rice right in the center. Just give it about 2 minutes and we're off and running every time (very clean way to go about it..)

Just my 0.02

-Storm

First time ever starting a stoker, it only took 5 mins. Rap crush charcoal loosely with piece of newspaper, turn it upside down. Place piece of wood on grate to keep fire in place. One match and a handful of coal later, fire on

Nice! I have only lit one Keystoker, but it was a KA-6 and I did it the same way.

Someone, I don't remember who, posted a video of a way to light coal with a can device similar to the things you use to light charcoal grills without lighter fluid. I forgot to load my hopper and lost my fire today. Anyway I just tried the can method and it is incredible!



Took about 2 minutes. I'm a believer!

anybody interested, I can get you the coal starter bags, I use a brick on the end of my grate to hold everything on, place 2 bags n the grate, light, cose door turn on blower wait about 1 minute, then hand ffed coal. give it another few minutes, remove brick from grate and walk away

coalkirk wrote:Took about 2 minutes. I'm a believer!

Me too, used that method with both stoves this year. Worked great.

Ed.A wrote:

coalkirk wrote:Took about 2 minutes. I'm a believer!

Me too, used that method with both stoves this year. Worked great.

I started this thread 5 years ago. It's amazing what you learn in 5 years. Forget about the coal mice, cowboy charcoal, matchlight charcoal, heat guns, mapp torches, etc. This method is like the invention of the wheel.

OK, I am curious now.....
I searched for the lighting with a can video but didn't come up with any hits. What is the method using a can?

I presently just put some broken up cowboy charcoal on the grate about 1/2 way back, the rest of the grate has rice coal on it. Hit the cowboy coal with a propane torch with the combustion fan on, close door & wait about a minute or two until it catches well, then turn off combustion fan while sprinkling rice coal on top of it, close door and turn on combustion fan again, wait about a minute or two until the rice coal starts crackling burning and then turn on feed motor. Hasn't failed yet and is easy enough for me, but I am always looking to play around with new methods!

Take a can, ideally a larger diameter can like tomatoes come in, and cut out the bottom. Top should already be gone or you will have tomatoes all over your grates. Cut holes around the lower edge of the can. I used a church key. Take 1 sheet of newspaper and tear it into 4 pieces. Crumple them and put them in the bottom of the can. Take very small dry wood pieces and criss cross it over top of the paper. Place can on the grate. Surround can with coal to block other holes in the grate. Light paper through one of the holes and close the door. Within a few seconds you've got a rocket engine. Place a few more pieces of wood in the top of the can. Start sprinkling a little coal into the can. Don't smother it of course. Within a couple minutes, the coal is going and you lift the can up and out with bbq tongs or just drop it into the ash can fore retrieval later.