I was warned by a Reddy Heater tech that the igniter would not fair well with biodiesel. He was right. Carbon builds up at the base of the igniter and it eventually shorts, breaking the $50.00 plus silicon carbide igniter. I replaced it with a much more robust and less fragile Nitride Igniter (33.00 plus shipping). It took me about 15 minutes to replace it with this Igniter.

http://www.ignitersdirect.com/igniter.htm

Installation was a snap. None of the enclosed brackets were required. I just wiggled it into place and used the supplied screw. Most furnace igniter's use to much current to be a direct replacement for the Reddy Heater. This replacement uses 1.2 amps which is right in line with the original from Desa.

It can be purchased from this web site.

http://www.comfortgurus.com/product_info.php/products_id/586

I have also been warned that within the next couple years I will be replacing all my rubber hoses.

Thanks for the link Reggie. I am on my second season with mine with no issues to date..

How many seasons did you use your before failure?

Lastly, do you have a source for viton replacement hoses?

What sort of fuels will an igniter like this light? Just diesel, kerosene, BD? Or could this be used for propane, WVO, motor oil, etc, assuming proper per heating of the WVO or motor oil?

When I looked at their site, they sell igniters for oil fired furnaces. I think Reggie said he found one that would work with the Reddy Heater multi-fuel torpedo heaters.

You could probably use them to light other fuels...

You know what, it says they heat at 1200F, and the auto ignition temperature I found here for propane is 1004F. There was a range of auto ignition temps for SVO (here), but they were all under 800F, so, yeah, both should light with one of these igniters. Cool

Sorry I didn't realize that anyone posted to my comments. I got a couple of seasons on my original. It was so fragile.

The replacement is working great. In fact I actually think it ignites the bio better than the original. Has not failed me yet (not all that cold yet). Think about it uses the same amount of power as the original (140 Watts) but it replaces units that use as much as 3 times the juice. It sure appears to glow brighter during ignition. One day I will try to rewire it with a double trow switch. This way I could leave the igniter glowing until the unit gets glowing hot.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Reggie,

quote:

Originally posted by Beer McCoy:

Lastly, do you have a source for viton replacement hoses?

Read my other posts for addtiional info on these hoses. Great hoses so far and so much cheaper than Viton.

http://www.vulcanperformance.com/servlet/the-Fittings-d...Fuel-Line/Categories

I started it up this morning without issue. I have a small piece of paper restricting the air flow a bit. It was about 45 degrees.

The warmer garage floor may have kept the fuel a bit warmer. Last year (as I remember) it would have had trouble starting at this temperature. Breaking the original igniter may have been the best thing that could have happened.

Reggie: as you discovered, the Si/C ignitors are fragile, and don't like droplets hitting the surface. I played around with an antique A-C hot-wired glow plug from a test rig and was surprised how well it ignited SVO and BD when a puddle was pooled around it in a cup, even though the surface of the wire only got to about 1100F (dull red). It ain't all about temperature. Heat (btu's) is also needed, and the Si/Ni elements are better at transmitting heat than Si/C.