Purchasing Harman P38+ / Questions?

[Lousyweather]

I don`t mind the P-38 manual light . It takes only 30 seconds or less to mix a cup of pellets with a little gel , or even better a couple oz of 91% alcohol ($2.49 qt in Wal mart). Then dump it in the burnpot and light it up and you have an instant fire in a lot less time than auto light and no worries about the ignitor ever burning out .

while the ole Master Chief is certainly a veteran of lighting his stove, I must warn folks about using alcohol of that strength to light your stove....very explosive.....if squirted on a "live" fire (or ember), the fire can go right up the stream, into the can, causing you to quickly discard the can whereever convenient.....the rug, couch, sibling, pet, etc.....not a pretty picture. I suggest using pellet gel, available from your local, helpful, smart, good looking, debonaire hearth dealer!

 

[TheMightyMoe]

From my hiking days, you can make 500 firestarterss for 15$ with some cotton balls and vaseline. Drop a couple in, use a BBQ lighter, and you are cooking. I'm positive 4-5 would get your pellets going with little risk.

 

[MCPO]

while the ole Master Chief is certainly a veteran of lighting his stove, I must warn folks about using alcohol of that strength to light your stove....very explosive.....if squirted on a "live" fire (or ember), the fire can go right up the stream, into the can, causing you to quickly discard the can whereever convenient.....the rug, couch, sibling, pet, etc.....not a pretty picture. I suggest using pellet gel, available from your local, helpful, smart, good looking, debonaire hearth dealer!

Good reminder I guess for anyone who might be totally ignorant regarding any wood fueled stove. , but adding gel in the same scenario wouldn`t exactly be a safe thing to do either. Actually there might not be ANY thing that`s safe to throw on a fire or a hot burn pot.
The only drawback to the wal mart alcohol vs the gel IS the fact that some ignorant fool might just do that, throw it on a fire . In the USA the law (READ: lawyers) would prefer to lay the responsibility on the stove maker instead of the user for obvious reasons of litigation , (Read : lawsuit, money). IMO the responsibility lies soley with the dope who would in fact throw an accelerant into a hot stove, embers, or a fire.
Obviously the manufacturer has some responsibility to educate the end user of proper use and operation his product and does so with an instruction booklet , but anyone who doesn`t already know what can happen when a liquid accelerant is tossed into a fire has to be mentally challenged to begin with and definitely never given the responsibiity of having to start a fire in a pellet stove.
That all said , I will say from my experience with the P-38 which might be one of the harder pellet stoves to manually start and when used as a fire starter (from a cold start) the 91% alcohol mixed in a cup of pellets is much more efficient and reliable starting a pellet fire than the gel ,is no more prone to flashing as the gel is , and is much cheaper and readily available at any wal mart.