I'll go with your definition MinnFlyer. A glow engine will fire (not very often) with no glow starter attached, just the pure chemical reaction. The heat just helps the odds is all. After it fires a bit the platinum gets hot and no starter is needed to sustain the reaction. It's a lot like a gas engine, you just need glowing platinum, no spark, to ignite the fuel. Now here's a question. Would a glow plug with a plain steel red hot filament fire? I'm guessing not, if it's really just a chemical reaction of the platinum and methenol? - Joe