Newbie -- trouble lighting Whitfield

[Pbun]

Just bought a cabin with an old Whitfield "Quest" pellet stove. I have never used a pellet stove before. The cabin seller instructed me to soak pellets in kerosene for awhile and then light them in the stove with a long match. (The stove is supposed to ignite itself, isn't it?) The augur feeds pellets in but most of the time the flame goes out. Anyway this procedure seems somewhat dangerous and I am wondering where to go from here. I have a VHS tape manual but no VHS player available.

Is this a common problem with Whitfield stoves? I hope to rent the cabin out and I don't want something that is so difficult, quirky and/or dangerous to use. Advice?

Thanks!

 

[Bioburner]

Early stoves where manual lighting. My Quest is a manual ignition. A cup of pellets with just enough fuel to wet the pellets is all that is needed but most manufactures recommend lighting gel-or now a cheaper product, hand sanitizer with high alcohol content. PM me you email address and I can email you a manual.
Renting with this stove is looking for trouble IMO. There is newer stoves for around $1000 that have auto ignition with thermostat and even remote controls. But for renting, a little gas stove is probably better, safer etc.

 

[Ranger72]

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/gel-starting-a-pellet-stove.133815/#post-1797657
Good post for you to read through. Though I'm partial to the method pictured in post# 22.