LESLIE: Ed in Oregon is calling in about a wood stove. What can we help you with?
ED: Hi. I’ve been heating my house for 35 years or more with wood in a wood stove and I’m getting old and tired. (Tom laughs) And I wondered if there’s any kind of conversion kit, in order to make it light faster with propane.
TOM: Ed, we have a simpler solution for you that will get that fire going quickly in the morning.
ED: Alright.
TOM: It’s something I picked up years ago and I use it on my own fireplace. It’s actually called a Cape Cod Fire Starter. And what it is is a torch that’s made from pumice stone. The pumice is mounted on the end of a metal handle and you soak …
LESLIE: And it’s a long-enough rod, so you don’t have to worry about your hand.
TOM: (overlapping voices) Right. And you soak this pumice in a container that contains lamp oil. And so, what you do is you soak it and then you pull the torch out, you light the stone on the end of it and that’ll burn for about 10 or 15 minutes; plenty of time to get the fire going in the morning without kindling, without newspaper and without a big mess. So …
ED: Right. My wife, though, is kind of sensitive to the smell of cold oil or barbeque starter, so … (chuckles)
LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Well, this is actually lamp oil.
TOM: (overlapping voices) Well, it’s – but it’s lamp oil. It’s lamp oil.
ED: Yeah. Does it smell at all?
TOM: (overlapping voices) And you shouldn’t really have much odor at all; it should go right up the flue. You might want to give it a try. I would get online and simply search for a Cape Cod Fire Starter. You’ll see lots of pictures of this and it’ll come to life for you.
ED: Yeah. I’ll have to look for that. Well, thank you very much for your time.
TOM: You’re very welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.
Leave a Reply