Gel fire starter...?

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suprz

Member
Sep 24, 2012
219
Rhode island
I got a case of "Real Flame" cans free off craigslist. I was thinking i could empty the gel into a empty liquid soap bottle to use as a firestarting gel. Ideas? Opinions? Etc....
 
Your Jotul owner's manual, in all probability, advises against using any sort of accelerant in your stove.

ETA: Got a fire pit outside? Go for it.
 
Your Jotul owner's manual, in all probability, advises against using any sort of accelerant in your stove.

ETA: Got a fire pit outside? Go for it.

Yes, i do have a fire pit... I just figured for free.. I have nothing to lose by using it
 
Yep - virtually all manuals state that you shouldn't use lighter fluid type accelerants. Ain't nothing wrong with starting a campfire with it though.;)
 
If I am not mistaken the gel-type fuels are alcohol based, but I would still be leery of using any liquid fuel in a stove. I accidentally set my hand on fire once (!) using alcohol around fire. I was young, learned a valuable lesson, and luckily did not sustain any 3rd degree burns, but I felt the fire in my hand for many days after.
 
Be real careful with those the flame can be near invisible and have been known to explode in ceramic pots on refill
 
If i were to use it, it wouldmbe only be a little squirt to start the kindling if needed
 
Sounds like you are gonna try it anyway. Under no circumstance squirt it on coals or into a burning stove. The fire will come right back up the stream and that bottle will go off like Napalm in your hand and house. And leave the stove door cracked open so fumes dissipate and blow up in the flue, not in the stove. Alcohol fumes will build in the stove and you don't want to see what happens next. That is the reason stove manufacturers and every fireman on the planet say not to use liquid fuels to start a stove.

I squirted some of that creosote preventing liquid into a burning stove one night and the fire came up the stream into the bottle and blew it out of my hand and across the room.

At the price of that stuff I would sell it and use a fraction of the proceeds to buy proper fire starters.
 
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[quote="

At the price of that stuff I would sell it and use a fraction of the proceeds to buy proper fire starters.[/quote]

That is a good thought....
 
don't they use gel fire starter in pellet stoves?

Yep. And the minute you push that "on" button the exhaust blower comes on and starts sucking air, and fumes, out of the firebox and up the flue. I have a pellet basket I use sometimes in my woodstove and they suggest gel starter for it. No way, I stick pieces of fire starter in the pellets.
 
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