Feed Problem With a Keystoker KAA-2

 
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1975gt750
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Post by 1975gt750 » Sun. Jan. 03, 2010 12:02 pm

adjuster rod is properly connected
chris


 
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Post by Machinist » Sun. Jan. 03, 2010 12:09 pm

As europachris mentioned the diameter of the cam is 1 1/2". I've not measured anything else on mine.
I have greased my cam to eliminate a noise. The adjustment plate on mine is very rusted and probably contributed to noise and wear.

 
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Post by Machinist » Sun. Jan. 03, 2010 12:26 pm

Chris, Have you ever removed the pusher plate?

I took the gearbox off mine looking for a way to grease or oil it. Pulled the pusher plate out and found lots of coal fines on it after 1 year of use. Fire looks better, but I cleaned everything all once.

 
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1975gt750
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Post by 1975gt750 » Sun. Jan. 03, 2010 1:28 pm

i have never pulled the pushe plate .i am waiting to pull the push plate out until I have parts in my hand could be coal fines but you would think it would increase the feed. but I will check I am still leaning towards a worn part

chris

 
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Post by Machinist » Sun. Jan. 03, 2010 3:19 pm

Waiting for parts in hand is the best plan.
I was thinking coal fines around the pusher plate might cause binding or reduced travel.

 
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Post by oliver power » Sun. Jan. 03, 2010 7:39 pm

europachris wrote:I made a sketch of the new cam I received after melting my old one into a pile of goo :mad: trying to run buckwheat.

It is 1.5" diameter with a 5/16" diameter shaft hole and the center of the shaft hole is offset 3/8" from the outside edge of the cam. There is a 1/8" thru hole on the side to pin it to the motor shaft. I didn't note the thickness of the cam.....

Please note that my cam is for a 90k stove. It might be different for the KAA-2 stoker.

Chris
From what I always understood, Buckwheat was the choice for KEYSTOKER. I bought 5 ton of Buckwheat this year. Tell me more of how you melted the nylon cam. I will be firing up my KAA-2 in the near future. I don't want to turn my cam into goo. Are you still burning buckwheat? What changes did you make?

 
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Post by europachris » Sun. Jan. 03, 2010 8:03 pm

oliver power wrote:From what I always understood, Buckwheat was the choice for KEYSTOKER. I bought 5 ton of Buckwheat this year. Tell me more of how you melted the nylon cam. I will be firing up my KAA-2 in the near future. I don't want to turn my cam into goo. Are you still burning buckwheat? What changes did you make?
I believe the issue is buckwheat combined with a direct vent Keystoker. The Keystoker direct vent draft is set for a specific coal and combustion blower setting. It cannot compensate for any changes like a natural draft stove with barometric draft regulator. Therefore, when I switched to buckwheat, I didn't check my draft, which probably ended up too high. In addition, buck doesn't pack into a nice "cake" when pushed down the grate and lets more air circulate thru it so the excess draft was pulling air down thru the hopper and coal and the fire just followed the air up the grate until it was burning in the hopper. :blowup:

I don't think the fire got THAT far, but it got up far enough to overheat the pusher block to where the cam and nylon screws all melted, which woke me up at 2am with a wonderful stench. :sick:

Other than that, the buck burned great and I'd burn it again if I could. I did see a picture where a member modified the direct vent to accomodate a Field RC draft control, which is a clever idea and would make burning buck with a direct vent much more likely to be successful. Field makes a 4" RC which would really be perfect for the job.

Right now I'm burning a mix of buck and rice with no issues at all. The Blaschak rice has plenty of fines to negate the beautifully clean Superior buckwheat I got from LsFarm. :P


 
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Post by oliver power » Sun. Jan. 03, 2010 8:28 pm

europachris wrote:
oliver power wrote:From what I always understood, Buckwheat was the choice for KEYSTOKER. I bought 5 ton of Buckwheat this year. Tell me more of how you melted the nylon cam. I will be firing up my KAA-2 in the near future. I don't want to turn my cam into goo. Are you still burning buckwheat? What changes did you make?
I believe the issue is buckwheat combined with a direct vent Keystoker. The Keystoker direct vent draft is set for a specific coal and combustion blower setting. It cannot compensate for any changes like a natural draft stove with barometric draft regulator. Therefore, when I switched to buckwheat, I didn't check my draft, which probably ended up too high. In addition, buck doesn't pack into a nice "cake" when pushed down the grate and lets more air circulate thru it so the excess draft was pulling air down thru the hopper and coal and the fire just followed the air up the grate until it was burning in the hopper. :blowup:

I don't think the fire got THAT far, but it got up far enough to overheat the pusher block to where the cam and nylon screws all melted, which woke me up at 2am with a wonderful stench. :sick:

Other than that, the buck burned great and I'd burn it again if I could. I did see a picture where a member modified the direct vent to accomodate a Field RC draft control, which is a clever idea and would make burning buck with a direct vent much more likely to be successful. Field makes a 4" RC which would really be perfect for the job.

Right now I'm burning a mix of buck and rice with no issues at all. The Blaschak rice has plenty of fines to negate the beautifully clean Superior buckwheat I got from LsFarm. :P
Thanks europachris. Thanks for explaining the circumstances.

 
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1975gt750
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Post by 1975gt750 » Mon. Jan. 04, 2010 7:26 pm

called keystoker they said it was most likley the nylon wheel unless something was bent. when I take it apart I will get back to everybody on my findings

chris

 
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Post by 1975gt750 » Sat. Jan. 09, 2010 9:41 am

just got my parts from keystoker I will be installing today I will report back on what I find

chris

 
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Post by europachris » Sat. Jan. 09, 2010 10:54 am

Good luck! It's an easy job. Just make sure everything is clean and free to move and double check the nylon screws for proper adjustment. You can probably do it and never let the fire go out! :-)

 
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Post by 1975gt750 » Sun. Jan. 10, 2010 4:47 pm

installed all new parts up and running but still seems not to be right. I am still only getting 7/8 inch stroke where my friends is gettinga full inch. and my stack temp is barley getting to 300 when it used to be at 350 with the stoker turned out 4 turns. I am running full stoke now. as for the nylon screws they don't look worn. one side of the push plate the screws were screwed all the way in and the other side was out about a 1/16 if inch. when I sliped the push plate in without the motor there was no side-to-side play so made no adjustments to it. if anybody has any ideas I am open to suggestions.

chris

 
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Post by CoaLen » Sun. Jan. 10, 2010 7:02 pm

The 1/8" stroke difference on the stoker shouldn't prevent you from achieving a full burn. It'll just take a bit longer to get there. I'd go back to Greg's suggestion and look at the air flow. The holes may be open on the end of the grate but if the chamber beneath the grate is full of fines, the air can't get to/thru them. Poking something down through the holes only tells you the holes themselves are open. They may still be blocked by the fines underneath. Have you vacuumed out the area under the grate? That's where I'd focus my attention at this point.
Good luck,
-Len

 
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Post by 1975gt750 » Sun. Jan. 10, 2010 7:34 pm

already cleaned under the grates

air flow is good

chris

 
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Post by 1975gt750 » Sun. Jan. 10, 2010 7:50 pm

after looking at the stoker I noticed one thing that does not look normal and that is where the feed motor mounts to the plate. theres ar four rubber gromets that the screws pass through that hold the motor to the plate and those bushinig are streched backwards away from the boiler . this could be my problem. does anybody have a pic of the motor attaching to the stoker

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