Easiest Way to Light Coal!

Sounds a lot like "hand held hair dryer" but a heat gun would be be a lot more substantial

So far the easiest way Ive found is a charcoal briquette burried in the coal and a heat gun. Aim the heat gun at the briquette for five minutes, turn the fan on, and you have fire!!

A very easy way is to do the following;it takes about 3 mins.Take a mid -size soup can with top and bottom out,In the bottom edge make 1 inch square or circular hole.In the top edge drill a small hole for wire coat hanger retrieval,Load your stoker as normal;shove in top of can a 1/2 inch newspaper wafer .then 1-2 inches wood chips and finally cup rice coal-shove can into rice coal -hit hole with propane torch 10-15 secs/close doors and turn on stove 1-2 mins with blower /when lit/ safely remove can/put in metal pail to cool-this works ,but safety at all times use gloves and glasses with drafts open I do not know how long soup can will last.

plumber wrote:So far the easiest way Ive found is a charcoal briquette burried in the coal and a heat gun. Aim the heat gun at the briquette for five minutes, turn the fan on, and you have fire!!

Gerald Sage wrote:A very easy way is to do the following;it takes about 3 mins.Take a mid -size soup can with top and bottom out,In the bottom edge make 1 inch square or circular hole.In the top edge drill a small hole for wire coat hanger retrieval,Load your stoker as normal;shove in top of can a 1/2 inch newspaper wafer .then 1-2 inches wood chips and finally cup rice coal-shove can into rice coal -hit hole with propane torch 10-15 secs/close doors and turn on stove 1-2 mins with blower /when lit/ safely remove can/put in metal pail to cool-this works ,but safety at all times use gloves and glasses with drafts open I do not know how long soup can will last.

Geralds concept has been the staple used for generations for handfired, cowboy fires, etc. (Im sure if you could find a vintage can it would last a long time )
Im not sure I would like holding a heat gun for 5 or 10 minutes in the same location (I think China may use that as one of their torchore technics), But not a bad idea for an auto start feature if a stove Co. could integrate one of these elec. heat guns somehow and you just turn switch onto "start mode" and close doors and sit back for 10 minutes while all the sulfur gasses burn off inside the sealed stove as it self ignites

Welcome to the forum.
Noticed you listed a Invader BB stove also in your profile, is that the one that sold at Barnstable's ?

Gerald Sage wrote:A very easy way is to do the following;it takes about 3 mins.Take a mid -size soup can with top and bottom out,In the bottom edge make 1 inch square or circular hole.In the top edge drill a small hole for wire coat hanger retrieval,Load your stoker as normal;shove in top of can a 1/2 inch newspaper wafer .then 1-2 inches wood chips and finally cup rice coal-shove can into rice coal -hit hole with propane torch 10-15 secs/close doors and turn on stove 1-2 mins with blower /when lit/ safely remove can/put in metal pail to cool-this works ,but safety at all times use gloves and glasses with drafts open I do not know how long soup can will last.

[quote="McGiever"]Welcome to the forum.
Noticed you listed a Invader BB stove also in your profile, did you get that at Barnstable's ?

Wohw... good eyes McGiever Ive never seen an Invader Lite up so maybe this guy will do us the honers this season of posting some threads about his Square Top BaseBurner

Just a FYI...Anyone can see a Invader BB by going to Barnstables web site...it is SOLD, though.

And, didn't *coalnewbie* get an Invader BB off ebay a while back???

I had another outfire yesterday. I think it's because of this wet bagged coal, it bridges in the hopper and makes a tunnel straight down. Out of coal with 150 lbs left in the hopper!

So, I went to relight. I was a little aggravated or angry as I just wanted a hot shower. I grabbed my acytlene torch and buried it in the coal waited 30 seconds and turned on the fan. Less than 30 seconds later I had enough of a fire to step back and let it go on its own.

If you put soaking wet rice coal in the hopper, you are guaranteed to have problems.

I had some soaking wet rice coal and I never had a problem with the Harman. Sometimes it would have a block of ice in it but it always melted and slid down. Maybe the walls of your hopper need cleaning? oiling?

Kevin

Rob R. wrote:If you put soaking wet rice coal in the hopper, you are guaranteed to have problems.

I'll concour with that. After a thorough disassembly and cleaning, I'm now trying to dry the coal before it goes in the hopper. The sludge under the grate was nasty. Not fines, sludge.

Everyone was asking about the Invader base burner on the the Barnstable site;that stove is mine and...............it is still in the original box about 3k-would trade it for a mint,small Oak Andes wood stove/cylinder (Jerry/Rochester,N.Y.)

I'm surprised noone else has specifically mentioned this, perhaps this won't work as well with inclined bed stokers, with underfeeds, it's the only way to go.

The easiest way to light any underfeed stoker (anthracite or bit) is to just use a piece of paper. That's it. Make sure the pot is full of fresh coal, make a big valley in the middle, light a tightly compressed ball of newspaper or packing paper (about the size of your fist) place it in the divot and let it become engulfed. Then sprinkle a small amount of coal over the paper so that it's smouldering. Turn on the stoker (or just the combustion blower if you have separate control). After the combustion blower is turned on, immediately bury the remaining visible paper with about an inch or so of coal. Wait until flames appear (2-3 min) and the coal gas has ignited (leave the viewing door open during this time to prevent possible puff-back). Once flames appear leave the blower running for another 2-3 min (w/bit coal) or longer w/ anthracite. Finally, turn stoker/blower OFF for about 15-30 minutes (make sure the viewing door and ashpan is tightly closed at this point - you want the natural draft to stabilize the fire) to allow the coal bed to burn down into the pot w/ natural draft and stabilize, once this happens, you can turn the stoker/blower back on and you're good to go.

I'm being generous w/ the instructions; once you get the hang of it, start to finish, I can light a bituminous stoker in 4-8 minutes to full fire and anthracite in just a bit longer.

These work great for me. I've tried charcoal briquettes in the past, didn't work. Used mice for a but and they worked (sometimes), but haven't been able to find a supplier recently. Found these last year and they are so easy, will probably just use these going forward.

http://downeastcoal.com/accessories.htm

wonder if you could just soak a few coals in kersosene and start it with 20% of these soaked ones scattered throughout for first layer?

Never tried it .... have no idea .. brainstorming