A hot wire igniter for igniting a gaseous or atomized fuel is disclosed. The coil of the hot wire igniter is formed from a thin high temperature, iron, chromium, aluminum alloy having a center section that is tightly wound. The coil turns initially do not touch one another and each end of the coil is attached to a rod that is received within an insulator member. The rods are connected to a power source. The coil portion of the hot wire igniter is received within a gas collector box which is attached to the burner to be ignited. Application of the power source to the lead-in rods causes the coil of wire to reach a temperature in excess of the ignition temperature of the fuel mixture which surrounds same causing the ignition of the mixture.