substitute for starter gel?

[mjbrown]

hi guys and gals, i know its been posted before, and i cant seem to find it....what is a good sub for starter gel? i dont really want to pay the price ( almost 7 bucks) for it in my area if there is something that works just as good for cheaper money.

thanks, mike

 

[nailed_nailer]

I use a propane torch with a push button starter.

I toss a small handful of pellets into the burn pot.
Turn on the combustion blower.
Adjust the feed rate to medium.
Hit the pellets with the torch until they catch (20 seconds or so)
Close the door and wait for the heat sensor to go green.
Turn on the convection blower.
Pour a drink and enjoy the oil free heat.

The pushbutton starter and a propane bottle are available as a kit for around $50.00
A replacement bottle is $6.00
I use about 1 bottle a year.

Works great, fast, and is clean.

Good Luck,
---nailer---

 

[Wet1]

You can use hand sanitizing gel as well. I've always used a torch myself.

 

[mjbrown]

thank you for your reply's, the hand sanitizer is what i was trying to remember. i also use the torch, but was trying to remember what the liquid was...thank you both very much.

mike

 

[mgambuzza]

Trioxane tablets that are available at Army-Navy stores. I live in Syracuse, NY - and the A-N store in Auburn had 3packs of the tablets for $.50 each. One third a tablet in the bottom of the burn pot was all that was needed to start the fire burning. I bought five dollars worth and it lasted me a full season - Great deal!!

 

[requin]

you can also thin down the starter gel with isopropyl alcohol (get the kind closest to 100% you can find, not the kind with lots of junk in it). That will stretch out the use quite a bit, I did this a lot with my old Whitfield. I believe alcohol's what's in the gel anyway.

 

[Highbeam]

I am a woodburner but found that you can buy one of those wax/sawdust logs at the supermarket and cut off a chunk to the desired size (I use a golfball size for a wood fire) and then light it with a lighter. The chunk of sawdust/wax burns clean and hot for quite long enough. Not a gel but another option.

 

[mjbrown]

thank you all very much. tried the hand sanitizer last nite but didnt have very good luck with it.maybe it was the type i used.

mike

 

[The Patriot]

thank you all very much. tried the hand sanitizer last nite but didnt have very good luck with it.maybe it was the type i used.

mike

A torch is the quickest way. With any type of gel starter, including hand sanitizer which I've used with similar results to the starter gel, you need to wait a few minutes for the pellets to light sufficiently so they don't die out when the blower turns on.

Since the sanitizer is signifcantly cheaper especially if you can find it in bulk at a wholesale club (I use BJ's brand), don't be afraid to use a generous amount.

 

[drizler]

Push Button turbo torch wins hands down. I go through about 1 bottle a year. Get the shorter stouter bottles as they stand up better without tipping over. Best deals are found by watching Ebay. Try it and you will never go back to the fluid stuff. Don't get cheap and buy the torch with the separate striker. Having used them for about 30 years I can kick myself for not switching over when they first came out.

 

[MCPO]

I mixed some rubbing alcohol with sterno and made my own gel. I wonder how rubbing alcohol alone @.87 cents a bottle would work. Isn`t the gel mainly alcohol?
John

 

[kbilling]

How about free? These work almost too good for a pellet stove. If you're a woodworker, or even if you just have a circular saw in the garage, gather up or make some sawdust. Oak works really good for this. Save the used candle stubs that your wife doesn't love any more; Christmas candles, birthday candles, and so on. Lastly, save some of those old fashioned wood pulp egg cartons. When you've got some of each, melt down a few candle stubs in a coffee can, mix in enough saw dust to make a thick mixture and pour/pack it into the egg carton bottom cups. When cooled, cut the cups apart. Each cup makes a great fire starter for the pellet stove, barbecue, camp fire, what have you. Light the egg carton part and it will burn for about 15 minutes.

 

[MCPO]

How about free? These work almost too good for a pellet stove. If you're a woodworker, or even if you just have a circular saw in the garage, gather up or make some sawdust. Oak works really good for this. Save the used candle stubs that your wife doesn't love any more; Christmas candles, birthday candles, and so on. Lastly, save some of those old fashioned wood pulp egg cartons. When you've got some of each, melt down a few candle stubs in a coffee can, mix in enough saw dust to make a thick mixture and pour/pack it into the egg carton bottom cups. When cooled, cut the cups apart. Each cup makes a great fire starter for the pellet stove, barbecue, camp fire, what have you. Light the egg carton part and it will burn for about 15 minutes.

That sounds like a good idea for those who have sawdust.
After a few hit and miss start up attempts with the gel myself (probably not using enough) I decided to go with the push button torch method. It`s fast and works every time for me. The initial cost was $26 but I needed one anyway for other uses plus it`s a one time expense.
John

 

[laurieland]

Hi All.
We use a Firebrand Starter Pellet to start our stove. It works great, lights easily and doesn't flare.
We get ours from Vermont Pellet Stoves.

 

[ducker]

Anyone have a link to an example of a decent push button torch? It sounds the easiest and cleanest way to go about doing this.

 

[GVA]

Anyone have a link to an example of a decent push button torch? It sounds the easiest and cleanest way to go about doing this.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/17130/
this thread was a similar discussion click on the link I put in in post 14

 

[MCPO]

Wal Mart has a Bernzomatic with a tank of propane for $26. Blister packaged.
John

 

[ducker]

Anyone have a link to an example of a decent push button torch? It sounds the easiest and cleanest way to go about doing this.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/17130/
this thread was a similar discussion click on the link I put in in post 14

awesome thanks!

 

[laurieland]

I used a Starter pellet, made by Firebrand. Works great, lights right up and the whole jar lasts the season

 

[CygnusX1]

Not sure what the problem is. A $7.00 bottle of starter gel last me a whole season and a half.

You don't need a lot of it to get the pellets going. I only use a thumbnail size dollop.

Is it really worth using a torch or a highly combustible substance, which could end up doing real damage, or pay $7.00 a year?

 

[Xena]

Not sure what the problem is.
A $7.00 bottle of starter gel last me a whole season and a half.

I oftened wondered what the deal was too.

 

[drizler]

Those table saw scraps chopped up nice and thin in strips do seem to lite better than the pellets themselves. Something like 20 seconds with the turbo torch for pellets and 10 seconds for the wood slivers. I try to keep some on hand near by. Some folks light their corn by soaking wood pellets in alcohol a bit before lighting it. That works well but seems a pain to me as just adding a big fist full of pellets before the corn starts falling is easier for me with the torch.

 

[rayttt]

I've tried the torch in my P38 and it just doesnt work...turns em black but doesnt get them going...even after 2 minutes of torching.
Using straight alcohol works the best for me...
I bought rubbing alcohol (61%) and it didnt work well at all but the 90 % works well. I take a plastic cup and cover about a half cup in the alcohol and dump them in the burn pot, light it and it goes every time.
Starter gel doesnt always start...half the time I have to open it dump more in ..relight to get it going.
I bought some Germ X (large bottle) hand sanitizer and it works the same as the gel that I had.
(And my burn pot is sanitized and smells good too )

 

[MCPO]

I've tried the torch in my P38 and it just doesnt work...turns em black but doesnt get them going...even after 2 minutes of torching.
Using straight alcohol works the best for me...
I bought rubbing alcohol (61%) and it didnt work well at all but the 90 % works well. I take a plastic cup and cover about a half cup in the alcohol and dump them in the burn pot, light it and it goes every time.
Starter gel doesnt always start...half the time I have to open it dump more in ..relight to get it going.
I bought some Germ X (large bottle) hand sanitizer and it works the same as the gel that I had.
(And my burn pot is sanitized and smells good too )

I agree. The torch method sucks IMO. It simply takes too long with all 3 of the different pellets I`ve used so I abandoned it long ago.
Pooks suggestion using kerosene is also a bad one as it burns too slowly and produces smoke .
Alcohol works too but the fumes can cause it to poof when you light it .
I find that charcoal lighting fluid works the best for me , as it never fails , heats very fast , and might also be the cheapest of all .

Boy, is this an old thread from last April when I was totally green with inexperience. . Disregard everything I posted earlier.
I`ve come to loathe the torch method and consider it the worse..