Best way to light a StarLyte?

[Manfred]

It seems like there are many happy users of the StarLyte stove out there. I would be interested to learn from other users how to best light a StarLyte.

Here is some rather lengthy background for my question that you can skip.

Recently I went on a four week trip into the Brooks Range in Alaska with my sons. They carried a Ti-Tri Sidewinder Caldera with an Evernew 1300 and I carried a Classic Ti-Tri Caldera with a Snow Peak 600. They used a StarLyte stove to be able to fit it into their pot. I used a 1210 (pepsi can) stove. During a week of constant rain and snow the boys' Bic lighter broke. Lighting the StarLyte with the Bic lighter had already been an issue for the boys in windy, rainy conditions (which might have contributed to it breaking). Using their back-up (a fire striker) took them 10 and more tries and barely worked (I would say it didn't work). I used the same fire striker exclusively (no lighter) with my 1210 stove and had it lit under all conditions with 1 or two strikes. It seems the metal mesh on the StarLyte prevents sparks from lighting the stove (and it also makes it hard for a lighter). We resorted to first lighting my 1210 with my striker and then lighting their StarLyte on the flame of my 1210.

I'm wondering whether there is a better way to light a StarLyte – especially with a fire striker.

So what is your best practice to light a StarLyte?

[William Chilton]

If you have a lighter, the beauty of a Starlyte is that you can hold it upside down with the lighter directly underneath, in which case it will light under any conditions in which a lighter will burn.
The mesh does make it harder to light with a fire starter, so I don't try. If I had to, I would pour a little alcohol on the metal rim (more effective with the modified version) and light that. The Starlyte used to come with a little foil dish that you could use for priming. You could make something similar, light a little alcohol in it then place the Starlyte into it to be lit by the burning alcohol.

[alan genser]

if possible, it helps to fill the starlyte to capacity before trying to light it. this way there is some alcohol pooled at the top for easier lighting.

one good boil will bring the amount of alcohol in the stove back down to a spill-proof level.

[Mole J]

occasionally lighting is tricky.
various ways around it.

keep fuel warm. a small bottle in pocket.

use a temporary wick on top. it needn't be big say an 1/8" -1/4". wet it with a little fuel as you fill stove. Light by wick. this works with a striker if you use a larger piece.

e.g use a piece of dead grass/tp/dead leaf

Zelphs larger stoves of similar design have a copper braid wick built in.

In strong winds, I have on occasion lit it inside my jacket and then dropped it into my cone.

[Anonymous]

"if possible, it helps to fill the starlyte to capacity before trying to light it. this way there is some alcohol pooled at the top for easier lighting."

+1 This technique, when used with a plain old book match, does the trick for me almost every time. Occasionally, I mis-strike a match, but not often. A book of 20 matches weighs almost nothing and will last me for my typical 8-9 day trip with matches to spare.

[J R]

I've found that an actual re-fill hasn't been necessary, if there's enough fuel already in the stove then just a splash on the mesh and ready to light right away before it evaporates and soaks in.

[M B]

Never lit a starlyte. But my way to light alcohol stoves is to dip a twig or blade of dry grass in the alcohol light it, and use it to light the stove with windscreen in place. Saves the hair on my knuckle.

[Dan Yeruski]

The best way to light it is to have your fire source ready and then pour the fuel in and immediately light it. Got to get at it soon after pouring the fuel in order to use a flint as your source of ignition. A wet stainless steel mesh is necessary in windy conditions. When it rains, the humidity is high. High humidity means less oxygen ppm in the air to aid in combustion.

[Michael Gunderloy]

You don't have any trouble breathing humid air and your stove doesn't either. Even at 100% humidity air maxes out at about 4% water, which isn't going to displace much oxygen. This is not to say that the stove isn't harder to light, I just don't believe the oxygen starvation explanation.

[David Thomas]

Yes, ethanol needs oxygen to burn. But in this case, I think the issue is that air needs fuel in it to burn.

The stoichiometric ratio of ethanol to air is 1:14.3 (by volume of vapor) The limits of flammability are much broader, but being too lean or too rich makes any air-fuel mixture harder to light. That 1:14.3 ratio out of 760 mmHg atmospheric pressure means 50 mmHg ethanol and 710 mm Hg air would be ideal.

Alcohol isn't as volatile as gasoline. At 20C, its vapor pressure is 43 mmHg – a little low, but pretty close to ideal and I would expect pretty easy to light. But at 0C, ethanol has a vapor pressure of 12 mmHg and that's quite a bit below that ideal of 50 mmHg. And those vapor pressures exist only at the surface of the liquid ethanol – not above it where it is diluted by ambient air.

So it seems you might need add enough heat to vaporize a little more ethanol AND provide the ignition energy to kick off the reaction. That's a lot to ask of some sparks passing through a metal screen or a Bic flame pointed downward.

Experiments to do at home (sorry about your kitchen counter, Michele): Try lighting the Starlyte with everything at room temperature. Repeat after leaving everything in refrigerator. Then try heating one sidewall of the refrigerated Starlyte/fuel with the Bic for just a few seconds. I suspect after warming one edge, lighting with a Bic or sparker along that same edge will go better.

For those of you who use methanol, the fuel:air ratio is 1:7.15 (that's moles-to-moles, not weight-to-weight), the ideal vapor pressure in the zone to be lit would be 93 mmHg (but higher is better because it will just light higher up in the air). 20C gives 97 mmHg and 0C is beyond the app I'm using, but looks to be about 35 mmHg. Short answer: methanol is a little easier to light than ethanol, but only to about 5C colder. And water in either fuel would make it harder to light.

Brainstorming (for those who don't value their eyebrows much): 10% gasoline in the alcohol would increase the VP somewhat, but not much and would mostly boil off early as the alcohol stove heats up. That might make the alcohol-gasoline mix at 0C behave about like alcohol-only at 20C and make for easier lighting, (plus give a marginally higher heat content per weight).

Better living through Chemistry!

[Manfred]

Thanks a lot for all your input and insight. I really want to like the StarLyte – as it doesn't spill fuel and allows me to turn it off (blow it out) and avoid wasting fuel once my water is boiling. Especially here in California the StarLyte seems to be an alcohol stove that is in many jurisdictions still permitted without question.

For the last couple of years I have only carried a striker (no matches, no lighter) and never had any problems with my 1210 stove. It is easy to spark into the stove and even in freezing temperatures or rain the stove would light.
With the StarLyte it is hard for me to get a Spark thru the mesh even in warm, dry conditions. So that forces me to carry a lighter. Once the lighter fails (as it did in Alaska) my striker is close to useless for directly lighting the stove. Your replies gave me some ideas – overfill, so the spark hits alcohol outside of the mesh. I guess I will keep experimenting some more.

[Dan Yeruski]

Manfred, are you/son holding your striker/knife stationary while pulling the ferrocerium rod towards you?

Trying to whittle sparks off a rod is not the proper way to use a flint and steel by pushing a striker towards the stove is the most difficult way to do it. I know you said it works for your 12-10 but…..

Videos on the correct way to use flint and steel:

https://www.google.com/search?q=correct+way+to+use+flint+and+steel&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

[Bob Moulder]

Take half a cotton ball and fluff it out, spark it with the firesteel – it'll start.

[d k]

I can assure you that Manfred uses the striker correctly, having seen him demonstrate one for me a couple of years ago. Not sure where you got the idea that he pushed the rod, unless perhaps he used the wrong terminology and later edited it out.

Difficulty of lighting the Starlyte with a striker could make me less likely to acquire one; I hope that someone comes up with a foolproof way to do so.

[Mole J]

as I described above. on the occasional time it's tricky, use a small fuel soaked wick. on the mesh surface.

I usually use a lighter, and once had a cheaper type which had leaked and become empty. Using a small piece of toilet paper soaked in a drop of fuel, I managed to light it ok with the relatively weak sparks.

starlyte has been my goto stove since 2010. on my second now. the original had corroded a little on the lid rim. (could have fixed with foil tape I guess)

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