Electric starters

field hand

There's been alot of posts about starters, but haven't seen much about electric starters and how well they work. Any comments? I received one for Christmas and was wondering what to expect. Thanks in advance.

Barry
Marthasville, MO

Petunia

All we have ever used is the electric starter and have no complaints. Bury it under the wood and leave it in until you get flame. If it is a short cook you might want to move it to one or more different areas. When we unplug it we usually leave it in the wood for a while as long as it isn't in the flames to utilize all its heat. Usually gets the job done in 10-20 minutes.

PhilsGrill

I've always used an electric starter. Works perfect, I leave it in for 5 mins and the fire is rip roaring in 10.

2Fategghead

I use one all the time. Be careful I got a phone call one time while I was heating up some lump and forgot about the heating iron. When I remembered the electric starter was on fire and it triped the breaker... you get my point. :(

PhilOsh

I use an electric starter but am careful to only leave it in for about 10 minutes to light my coals. I learned the hard way that you can burn one of those up pretty fast if left too long in the coals. No odor can be left in the coals. I put it in vertical if I want a smaller fire to start and I put it in horizontal if I want a larger area to start up. Either way it lights real easy.
Phil

field hand

Thanks to all for the info. More positive than I expected, now looking forward to trying it out. Will watch the on-time to prevent over heating.

Barry
Marthasville, MO

Lambchops

I use one and think they work better than anything I have tried. about 10 min. and you are ready to go.

perseusgrey

Do you leave the lid open when you use your electric fire starter? I've seen people do both.