Start up With a Road Flare...

There's been a few posts about lighting a stoker. I've been using Coal mice. Well we are about to run out and there isnt a supply anywhere on the East Coast it seems.

Many members have pointed to road flares as a method but I couldnt visualize this method so I bought a pack and videoed my first road flare experiments. Pretty straight forward but I didnt know if the thing would explode or blind me or what!! Step three will be to get one in the stove next time I shut it down and need to start it back up.... Hope someone find this useful




Enjoy the narration!

I'd like to see it light a stove. Are u up to the task. These experiments look like fun.

I lit my boiler with one. Actually I cut it into pieces and lit it with my mapp gas torch. I was a little hesitant taking a hacksaw to a road flare but it worked out fine, no burnt appendages.

I tried a road flare once with marginal success. I had it positioned in the coal but when it lit an intense flame shot up at the glass in the door and for a minute I thought it would break the ceramic glass. That was lots of fun but a little smelly. I also cut up the flare with a saw, crushed some match light and rolled it in paper. I'd like to see a mixture of gun powder and a road flare. Tell me that wouldn't be a hoot. As long as the gun powder wasn't contained it should act as a nice catalyst for a quick flame. You could even create a fuse on the fly and run the powder along the top of the grate.

Andrew,
I would be worried about damaging the grates on your stove.
That road flare gets very hot and it might warp the grates.
on my VF3000 the grates just sit in place (no screws hold it on)
if they were to warp I could see the stoker pushing them out of place while stoking.

I'll post picture of the grate below. I have had very good luck by putting 4 pieces of matchlight charcol(buy it at Ace hardware) in a old cake pan and smashing them with a hammer then dumping the cake pan into a sheet of news paper and fold the news paper into a 6" by 6" square and scotch tape it closed.
now put it on the grate on top of 1" of rice coal and hit it with your map gas torch till glowing red then turn on the stove combustion blower and close the door and you are done.

Skip the Flare and get right to business with Torch!!!

The first time I lit the boiler I thought the map gas torch would do it.
but it didn't get hot enough.... you need that little extra heat the the matchlight gives off.

Yeah but the road flare is so much more fun.

does anybody know how much Harman charges for a new set of grates ?

probly around a 3 month wait from what I have been reading.

The heat from the coal fire is probably around 1200 so I can't imagine that a road flare would warp the grates but I've been wrong before. Just ask my wife.

You did that on a concret floor? Concreted heated can POP and pieces of hot cement go flying.

I lit my pea coal with Mapp gas. It only took a minute or two. I do agree, the flares look like a lot of fun. Gunpowder? Noooooo

A road flare burning on the grate will not harm it.. the heat is not as hot as the hot burning rice coal..

I cut 2-3" pieces, hold it with a pair of pliers, light each end, set on grate and cover with a cup or handfull of coal,, start the combustion blower,, in 10 minutes you have a fire.. It might be 'fun' to use some cowboy coal or some wood shavings or chip with the piece of road flare.

Greg l
.

Ill try to respond to all of these great replies at once:

Yep, not worried about warping the grates, I put the coal mice right on top of the grate then cover with coal. That thing glow bright red in seconds, I'd imagine as hot as the flare.

Sure there's been plenty of talk about (and success it seems) cowboy coal, lump coal and matchlight alternatives but the road flare method has that element of fun I cant pass on Gunpowder? ... not looking for that much fun !

I was able to cut the flares with a regular utility knife, no worries about ignition. I didnt think testing on the concrete would have been a problem, I'll remember that (thx)

Around here, not not many of us have a mapp gas setup whatever that is, but I do have a propane torch (as seen in video). I tried to ignite Rice caol with just the propane but all I did was get the coal to glow red and when the torch was removed, everything cooled off.

If/when it warms up enough around here to shut down, I will start it back up with the flare, certainly video and come back to this post with the results.

Thanks all.

To use it Mapp gas is just like propane, only hotter. It comes in the same size can and is usually it's sold right next to Propane. It's yellow cans sell for about $9. Mapp does require a torch head made for Mapp. That head will burn either fuel. One thing with Mapp, if not burned full blast the end of the torch will get red. A Mapp torch is a good gift to ask for. It will turn steel red hot. Handy as heck for getting rusty nuts started or to bend steel bar. It's max is to heat a 3/4" nut red, or to heat a 1" by 1/4" steel bar enough to bend it easily. Maybe a bit more than that, but you won't go melting steel or bring a 2" angle iron red hot. I can't justify acetylene and find two cans of Mapp a year get me out of a bunch of pinches. Last I knew a Mapp head was about $40.

Freddy wrote:To use it Mapp gas is just like propane, only hotter. It comes in the same size can and is usually it's sold right next to Propane. It's yellow cans sell for about $9. Mapp does require a torch head made for Mapp. That head will burn either fuel

That's interesting. My the can on my torch IS yellow. I go back out to the garage and take a closer look, it is MAPP GAS. So how long do I have to cook Rice Coal to get it to ignite using JUST MAPP GAS?

**Broken Image Link(s) Removed**