# starting fire with propane torch



## RustyShackleford (Sep 17, 2009)

Watching a friend start a fireplace fire with a propane torch years ago,
I started lighting my wood stove the same way.   One of those handheld
torches with an auto-on trigger.

Is there some reason this is a bad idea ?   I assume the gas in the bottle
has no impurities that would poison the catalyst.   Of course, I'm careful
not to let the hot flame touch any parts of the stove itself, especially
glass.

It gets the fire going a lot quicker, and saves on kindling and newspaper.


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## cmonSTART (Sep 18, 2009)

I do it sometimes and I'm proud of it!  

BTW, MAPP gas works better.


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## KeepItNatural (Sep 18, 2009)

I suppose to each their own, but I like using just one match and seeing if I can get the fire going.
For me its kind of fun to have an elaborate process to get a fire going with as little input as possible and take the time to get my fire going- but that's just me... I'm a little weird.


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## fbelec (Sep 18, 2009)

cmonSTART said:
			
		

> I do it sometimes and I'm proud of it!
> 
> BTW, MAPP gas works better.



ya but it smells awful when the torch doesn't light right away


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## grommal (Sep 18, 2009)

RustyShackleford said:
			
		

> Watching a friend start a fireplace fire with a propane torch years ago,
> I started lighting my wood stove the same way.   One of those handheld
> torches with an auto-on trigger.
> 
> ...


Did this for many years with a cat stove, and never had a problem.  There's nothing in propane or its combustion products that would poison the catalyst.  I usually started a fire with a regular long-nosed lighter, but whenever I used a torch to preheat the flue if the draft was bad, I just went ahead and lit the fire before extinguishing the torch.


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## BrotherBart (Sep 18, 2009)

I used to use all sorts of stuff to start fires in stoves. Then Vanessa showed me the light. Literally.  ;-)


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## Ratman (Sep 18, 2009)

BrotherBart said:
			
		

> I used to use all sorts of stuff to start fires in stoves. Then Vanessa showed me the light. Literally.  ;-)



Right on BigBrotherB, right on.
She has changed my life.

Whats Big V going to do when the newspaper companies all go paperless?
Hmmm....Maybe she'll shave-up some poplar tinder.
Oh wait... That's my idea.
Duh!


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## BrotherBart (Sep 18, 2009)

Ratman said:
			
		

> BrotherBart said:
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She will probably retire and burn natural gas. She has been the owner of the Embers hearth shop in Perth, Ontario for over twenty years and now also has a stove distribution company there. She can just kick back and hit the remote on the gas stove. She can afford it.  ;-)


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## summit (Sep 18, 2009)

sometimes i soak a piece of rag in some k-1... gets 'er goin every time..


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## afblue (Sep 18, 2009)

I guess I am just going to state the obvious. Get the torch lit before you put it inside the door opening. Worse thing that could happen is you are striking whatever to get torch lit and fill the stove with gas and POOOOOFFFFFF, there goes any facial hair you may have.  :snake:


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## stoveguy2esw (Sep 18, 2009)

little tip when torch lighting, before you aim at the base of the fuel , aim the torch up the flue for a minute to dump some heat into the chimney to help it start pulling a bit harder, helps reduce the smoke through the doorway before the wood gets going good.


BTW not to hijack , but has anyone tried an electric grill starter element  to start a fire in a stove? i havent but would love to hear any input.


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## RustyShackleford (Sep 18, 2009)

afblue said:
			
		

> I guess I am just going to state the obvious. Get the torch lit before you put it inside the door opening. Worse thing that could happen is you are striking whatever to get torch lit and fill the stove with gas and POOOOOFFFFFF, there goes any facial hair you may have.  :snake:



Good thought, but like I said, I am using the auto-trigger type (you just pull a
trigger and it starts the gas flow and lights it simultaneously).


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## shawng111 (Sep 18, 2009)

BrotherBart said:
			
		

> I used to use all sorts of stuff to start fires in stoves. Then Vanessa showed me the light. Literally.  ;-)



Yep, +1 for Vanessa


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## Bigg_Redd (Sep 18, 2009)

RustyShackleford said:
			
		

> Watching a friend start a fireplace fire with a propane torch years ago,
> I started lighting my wood stove the same way.   One of those handheld
> torches with an auto-on trigger.
> 
> ...



I use MAPP gas.


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## firefighterjake (Sep 18, 2009)

rsgBJJfighter said:
			
		

> I suppose to each their own, but I like using just one match and seeing if I can get the fire going.
> For me its kind of fun to have an elaborate process to get a fire going with as little input as possible and take the time to get my fire going- but that's just me... I'm a little weird.



Same here . . . then again I often start my fire the old school way as well . . . although if I must confess the last two fires have been top down fires.


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## Backwoods Savage (Sep 18, 2009)

I still do it the old way with newspaper and kindling. There are a few time when we do use some firestarter but have never used a torch.


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## TreePapa (Sep 18, 2009)

Sounds sort of like shooting a flea with a gun.

Peace,
- Sequoia


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## fbelec (Sep 19, 2009)

i use those long lighters. you know the one's that don't work right after the second time you leave em on for more than 30 seconds. thats for my upstairs stove and a top down burn with 100 year old wood lath, but i do use a torch down in the basement stove. i rake the ashes into the ash pan but leave the left over coals and put them in a pile then bring out the torch. hit them for about 30 seconds close up the stove except the ash door and after 3 minutes nice bed of blue flaming coals.


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## BrotherBart (Sep 19, 2009)

Ghettontheball said:
			
		

> starting of the fire is the most inefficient& polluting part of the burn cycle i thinx
> i love cardboard & lotta air from wherever, ashpan is my fave so to get er hot! butt top down is good



So you finally bought a wood stove?


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## fbelec (Sep 19, 2009)

check out the size of the torch this guy has.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlh-p56eug8


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## BrotherBart (Sep 19, 2009)

fbelec said:
			
		

> check out the size of the torch this guy has.
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlh-p56eug8



He could use a few more combustible items around that stove. Especially that bottle of propane sitting right next to it.  :ahhh:


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## RustyShackleford (Sep 19, 2009)

fbelec said:
			
		

> check out the size of the torch this guy has.
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlh-p56eug8



Wow, this isn't quite what I do.   I lay a fire as normal, but maybe not as
much paper and smaller kindling.   Then I cook the largest kindling with the
torch, trying not to light the paper.   When the kindling starts smoking, THEN
I light the paper.   So the paper is more creating a draft that makes the 
kindling burn, but hopefully the torching has already heated the kindling to
near the ignition point.

Total time I run the torch is MAYBE 1 minute.


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## Dune (Sep 19, 2009)

Last I checked mapp is ten bucks a tank. Used newspaper is free. Must be nice.


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## BrotherBart (Sep 19, 2009)

Dune said:
			
		

> Last I checked mapp is ten bucks a tank. Used newspaper is free. Must be nice.



And setting the Washington Post on fire is one of the few simple pleasures left in my life.  :coolgrin:


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## fbelec (Sep 19, 2009)

BrotherBart said:
			
		

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that's for sure. he must not run it to hot. he had a nice layer of black on the glass.


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## Lazy Flame (Sep 20, 2009)

I've used newspaper (don't get it anymore) and Shredded cardboard, which was time consuming but always worked. 

I used a torch but it didn't really get r done. Not mapp tho, I aint brazing, lol. 

Now its a squirt of fire gel on some tinder and wait. KISS. 

My wifey has backdraft trouble some days so she sticks a hairdryer up the shaft to insure she dooesn't fog her nice clothes again. (not to mention the rest of the house. Pets smelled like smoke until she washed them)


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## rustynut (Sep 20, 2009)

yall be careful with those explosive gasses in the house
closing up camp one morning we unscrewed a lantern 
from one of those small propane bottles.
the bottle did not seal when we disconnected the lantern
that bottle produced an explosive cloud of propane
about 40 ft in diameter. it dissapated without a problem.
just remember that a leak in the house could be a big problem
rn


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## fbelec (Sep 21, 2009)

rustynut said:
			
		

> yall be careful with those explosive gasses in the house
> closing up camp one morning we unscrewed a lantern
> from one of those small propane bottles.
> the bottle did not seal when we disconnected the lantern
> ...



that happen quite offen. so i leave what ever appliance i got hooked up to the tank on it until the tank is dry.


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## weatherguy (Sep 21, 2009)

> BrotherBart - 19 September 2009 09:00 AM
> fbelec - 18 September 2009 10:51 PM
> check out the size of the torch this guy has.
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlh-p56eug8
> ...



Today Joe shows you how to start a fire...Tomorrow Joe shows you how to burn a house down


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## ControlFreak (Sep 21, 2009)

I make my own firestarter.  I take a ziploc baggy and put a handful of sawdust in it, then saturate the sawdust with camping fuel and close the baggy.  Place it in the center of the kindling and light one corner.  Instant fire, instant draft.  I usually get flamed for this, but it's the only thing that gets a fire going fast enough to overcome the severe downdraft I often have in the chimney when it's cold.  Pointing a torch up the flue could work too, but I've done the ziploc thing for only about a thousand times and it works very nicely.


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## rich81 (Sep 21, 2009)

Hey, take it easy on Joe he's a Marine


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## fbelec (Sep 21, 2009)

ControlFreak said:
			
		

> I make my own firestarter.  I take a ziploc baggy and put a handful of sawdust in it, then saturate the sawdust with camping fuel and close the baggy.  Place it in the center of the kindling and light one corner.  Instant fire, instant draft.  I usually get flamed for this, but it's the only thing that gets a fire going fast enough to overcome the severe downdraft I often have in the chimney when it's cold.  Pointing a torch up the flue could work too, but I've done the ziploc thing for only about a thousand times and it works very nicely.



i tried a small paper cup with saw dust and crayons. it worked but not good.


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## firefighterjake (Sep 21, 2009)

fbelec said:
			
		

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That's because you colored outside of the borders.


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## fbelec (Sep 22, 2009)

firefighterjake said:
			
		

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i failed art class


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## CowboyAndy (Sep 22, 2009)

firefighterjake said:
			
		

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The ONLY way I start a fire is top down.



			
				ControlFreak said:
			
		

> I make my own firestarter.  I take a ziploc baggy and put a handful of sawdust in it, then saturate the sawdust with camping fuel and close the baggy.  Place it in the center of the kindling and light one corner.  Instant fire, instant draft.  I usually get flamed for this, but it's the only thing that gets a fire going fast enough to overcome the severe downdraft I often have in the chimney when it's cold.  Pointing a torch up the flue could work too, but I've done the ziploc thing for only about a thousand times and it works very nicely.



I buy the little firestarter blocks... got a box of like 300 of them for $10 on rollback at wally world in the spring. they should last me 2 seasons.


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## blel (Sep 22, 2009)

When using a torch to start draft on EPA stove, do you just point it in the general direction of the baffle?


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## Skier76 (Sep 22, 2009)

blel said:
			
		

> When using a torch to start draft on EPA stove, do you just point it in the general direction of the baffle?



From what I've read, it's better to heat the space above the baffle. I'm assuming you'd want to put the tip of the torch near the top front of the stove; the gap between the baffle and the stove front. 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.


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## rich81 (Sep 22, 2009)

Skier76 said:
			
		

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i think your right


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## Hogwildz (Sep 22, 2009)

Your all pussies, I rub 2 sticks together, like a true cave dweller.........................


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## firefighterjake (Sep 22, 2009)

Hogwildz said:
			
		

> Your all pussies, I rub 2 sticks together, like a true cave dweller.........................



Sometimes I don't even do that . . . I just hope and pray that there will be a nearby lightning strike in a pine tree so I can get the fire going.


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## Hogwildz (Sep 22, 2009)

firefighterjake said:
			
		

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I heard from one of my fellow knuckle draggers, that one guy uses a kite with a key attached to it to catch the lightning.........
I don't believe it though, same guy says the earth is round, and we all know it is square..........


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## BrotherBart (Sep 22, 2009)

Hogwildz said:
			
		

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Go tie you some newspaper bows or Vanessa will come over and kick your butt.  :lol:


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## fossil (Sep 22, 2009)

Super Cedars.  No newspaper, no cardboard, no explosive gases, no nothing.  Super Cedars & a few sticks of kindling.  Top-down, bottom-up, don't matter.  Simple, clean, affordable.  This from a softwood burner who typically has to start two fires basically from cold every morning (two stoves, little to no residual heat/coals after overnight...that's just the reality in which I live).  Rick


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## wendell (Sep 22, 2009)

I plan on using 1 SuperCedar on October 1 and then 1 again next year.


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## RustyShackleford (Sep 22, 2009)

Ok ... well ... I guess this thread has gone full circle, as it were.

Thanks for the reassurances, and hopefully I won't have to be
lighting nearly as many fires if my forthcoming BKP has anything
like the burn-time performance it's supposed to.


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## Hogwildz (Sep 23, 2009)

BrotherBart said:
			
		

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Tell her to send her daughter, and ya got a deal 
I ain't doing no paper, and no bows. Kindling & a grille lighter is all that is needed.


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## Hogwildz (Sep 23, 2009)

RustyShackleford said:
			
		

> Ok ... well ... I guess this thread has gone full circle, as it were.
> 
> Thanks for the reassurances, and hopefully I won't have to be
> lighting nearly as many fires if my forthcoming BKP has anything
> like the burn-time performance it's supposed to.



Not sure how you plan on burning. But once the cold is here to stay for the season. If your going to burn 24/7, you wont be having a need to start very much, cause it should be kept going continually.
At least thats how it goes here. Torch, matches, bows, whatever works for ya, use it. Just be safe.


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