Alternate starting methods

[jaspit]

Every couple seasons seems my ignitor in my Napoleon NPS45 pellet stove breaks. No one carries them locally so I must order on-line. They are typically about $25.00 - not to bad but........
This morning a put a new one in to replace the current broken one and it broke too. During startup it was happy for the first five minutes but then when the flame go high it went short circuit and blew the fuse on the controller board. This shut off the combustion fan of course and the house filled with smoke as it leaked out the air intake which is a loose fitting hose.
Thereafter the starter measured open. Hmmmmm...I'm an electrical engineer and know about these things. Filament heaters have a cold resistance that is roughly half the hot resistance. The spec says it is a 275watt ignitor. Ohms law P = Vsquared/ R. If we solve for resistance, R ~ 50 ohms. Currrent = voltage/Resistance = 120v/50 ~ 2.4amps. Makes sense as the fuse is a 5amp rating. However, I think the 275W is a hot rating and really on startup the ignitor measures 25ohms. This means the ignitor draws a surge of current until it gets hot which doesn't take that long. Perhaps this surge is a stress that eventually breaks the filament.
With this in mind I plan to put a Thermistor in series with the ignitor to quell the surge. I hope I get more life out of a starter. I'll let you know in three years if this is effective.
Speaking of starters, do any of you use an alternate method of starting your pellet stove?
I use a torch until I am able to replace the igniter which is quite inconvenient as you must open the stove and hope you are timed correctly with the combustion air.
Perhaps something like a fireplace wax/sawdust starter would be cheaper/easier/more convenient.

 

[Ssyko]

Hand sanitizer 😏

 

[jaspit]

I clean the combustion chamber/pot and wipe down the glass every bag religiously. Every ten bags I empty the ash bin, clean the exhaust port, and the the heat exchange fan.

 

[Washed-Up]

Just because I have one handy I’ll use a map gas torch, only have had to a few times

 

[Jeremy6500]

Hand sanitizer 😏

I have 2 stoves. A USSC 6500 which is a manual light and a pp130 that has an igniter. I use hand sanitizer for my USSC 6500 and have also used it for my pp130 when the igniter went out. Good thing about it is you don’t have to stand there with the door open and a torch. Just squirt it on the pellets, light it and close the door. They sell specialty pellet starting gel that works in the same way. They also have small bags of starting pellets you can use. Throw in a handful and they light almost immediately with a lighter of some kind.

 

[zrock]

i just use starting gel and always keep a spare ignitor since it is a common wear and tear item.. Now why would you go modify your stove the ignitor is a heating element and that is the nature of the beast.

 

[stovelark]

Fire-gel (gelled alcohol) has been around for lighting no-self igniting pellet stoves... Think you maybe just got a bad ignitor, there definitely are some better than others, but burning up the first lighting? Never saw that one.

 

[rickwai]

Every couple seasons seems my ignitor in my Napoleon NPS45 pellet stove breaks. No one carries them locally so I must order on-line. They are typically about $25.00 - not to bad but........
This morning a put a new one in to replace the current broken one and it broke too. During startup it was happy for the first five minutes but then when the flame go high it went short circuit and blew the fuse on the controller board. This shut off the combustion fan of course and the house filled with smoke as it leaked out the air intake which is a loose fitting hose.
Thereafter the starter measured open. Hmmmmm...I'm an electrical engineer and know about these things. Filament heaters have a cold resistance that is roughly half the hot resistance. The spec says it is a 275watt ignitor. Ohms law P = Vsquared/ R. If we solve for resistance, R ~ 50 ohms. Currrent = voltage/Resistance = 120v/50 ~ 2.4amps. Makes sense as the fuse is a 5amp rating. However, I think the 275W is a hot rating and really on startup the ignitor measures 25ohms. This means the ignitor draws a surge of current until it gets hot which doesn't take that long. Perhaps this surge is a stress that eventually breaks the filament.
With this in mind I plan to put a Thermistor in series with the ignitor to quell the surge. I hope I get more life out of a starter. I'll let you know in three years if this is effective.
Speaking of starters, do any of you use an alternate method of starting your pellet stove?
I use a torch until I am able to replace the igniter which is quite inconvenient as you must open the stove and hope you are timed correctly with the combustion air.
Perhaps something like a fireplace wax/sawdust starter would be cheaper/easier/more convenient.

Are you getting OEM igniters or knock offs? $25 seems kind of cheap. A OEM Harman igniter is about $140 but last many years

 

[tbear853]

A handful of pellets, a squirt of starter gel, light it with long thin grill lighter, after a couple minutes gently punch the green run button.