Starting fires

From Cornburning

Corn burners, or pellet burners with electronic ignition, will not start on their own and since the corn kernels are so hard, they don't start burning easily. To start a fire in your corn burner, you have to start with something a bit easier to light. Most people use a couple of cups of wood pellets to get the fire going but even those pellets need something flamable to be spread on them to get them going.

The best way to start a fire in your corn burner, not considering cost is a gelled alcohol fire starter. Gelled alcohol is a great way to start the fire. It has no smell and lights quickly and safely with no flare-ups. However, it is expensive. An eight ounce bottle can cost $12 and would not last a full season.

A new option on the market for 2006/7 is Gelled Alcohol Packets which seem like they would be even handier than the bottles. Still not the cheapest option though at $0.20/fire.

Other methods can be divided into two catagories, liquid and solid starting methods. In general, you must be VERY careful using liquid starting methods on a hot stove. On a hot stove the liquid you are using will become aromatic and could flare up. It is much, much better to only use liquid starters on a cold stove.

You should also be aware that if your stove is of the Stir the Fire type, you should be careful using the solid fuel starters, large chunks could get caught in the agitators and cause damage to your stove.

Liquid Starting

• Charcoal Lighter Fluid - Kingsford has less odor than the cheap offbrand stuff you buy at Menards but less odor is not the same as odor free. Depending on how your burner is designed, you can still get quite a bit of odor back into the house. The advantage is it is quite cheep and a can of it will last you a couple of seasons. Just put some pellets in a cold stove, squirt in a little charcoal lighter fluid and set fire to it.

• Lamp oil - use similar to charcoal lighter fluid, it is much less volatile and slower burning. Much less chance of a flare-up.

• Soaking Pellets - Some people use isopropal alcohol, others have had success with just regular rubbing alcohol. Put the pellets, or other material into a mason jar, pour in some alcohol and shake. It usually only takes a couple of cups of pellets to get your fire going, so if you have a good sized jar you could make enough starter pellets for a couple of fires.

Solid Starting

• Matchlight Charcoal - put a 5 or 6 peices in the firepot, light it up and after a bit, kick on the draft fan and feed.

• Firestarter Bricks - Or other brand of wax empregnated starting blocks. A commond brand here in the midwest is put out by the Diamond Match people. They are called Strike-A-Fire starters. They are essentially a 12 minute match. Break them in half, so you are only using half a match per fire starting. Then break the half match into small pieces that can be spread over 6 ounces of wood pellets in the fire pot. I light the pieces with a wooden kitchen match. The cost of half a Strike-A-Fire match costs about 7-1/2 cents when bought from Walmart.

• Fireplace starter logs - similar to the firestarting bricks, break up the log into small hunks and light.

• Propane torch held to pellets for 1 minute works well also.