Keystoker Hearth fire slides into ash pan

I have a Keystoker Hearth stove purchased used a number of years ago.
The stove is red with brass trim. It has an entirely flat back on it with the fluepipe exiting through the back at floor level. The front of the stove has three sides to it: the center one with a glass door into the fire box and below this a door about seven inches high to remove the ash pan.

I have always had a problem with keeping the fire on the burner tray (is this called a "grate" in auto-stokers also?).
Here's what happens:

1) The burning coal tends to slide off the burner tray into the ash pan. This reduces my heat output dramatically and I end up with partially burned coal in the ash pan. Additional coal being fed by the pusher causes more coal to slide into the ash pan. It's like the burner tray is TOO smooth.

2) The ashes building up on the burner tray which causes the coal to be heaved up behind the burning coal and ashes into a layer as thick as the sides of the burner tray. When this happens, the heat output is reduced significantly. The pusher gradually moves the entire mass of ashes and coal down the tray.
When the ashes fall into the ash pan, the burning coal fire keeps dribbling down also. I end up with a significant amount of partially burnt coal in the ash pan.

I called Keystone several years ago about this problem. In the case of number one above, he said if the stove was exactly level and this was occuring, I should raise the left side of the stove a quarter of an inch (1/4"). He said this would change the angle of the burner tray a few degrees (toward the horizontal). I did this but I end up with second problem above occurring more often.

I think the gentleman at Keystone also said that there should be about 1/2" freeboard on the burner tray. The few times that this occurs, that is that there is a half inch of the sides showing above the burning coal, I get GREAT heat output and great fuel economy.


Also, I do not have an owners manual for this stove. If anyone can email me a copy, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.
Tim///

Hi TimH.

I have a Keystoker stove and although it is not an insert, the stoker part sounds like it is much the same as yours. It sounds to me like your coal feed is turned up too fast. On my stove turning the coal feed adjuster knob counter-clockwise slows the rate of feed. The knob on mine is in the back but I don't know where it would be on yours.

Other suggestions in my manual for the coal over the side rails problem are:
Make sure the stove is level.
Sand the grate and rails smooth with emery cloth.
Mixing buckwheat coal with rice coal may help.

I hope this helps.

Sounds like a feed rate or your combustion blower holes might be clogged and not burning on the plate where it should. I had alot of ash under my burn plate last season and it will affect the air flow under the coal.

Also, does your have an Idle/Pilot Timer Box? for when the thermostat is satisfied to keep the coal moving ever so slightly? if so, you may have to remove a pin or two.

if you adjust it, as mentioned in the other post, only go 1/2 turn at a time. It takes a while for it to catch up. Turn it CLOCKWISE until snug, then back it out 2 turns to start, then adjust from there less feed (counterclockwise) if still running off the the end.

here is a pic of my Keystoker running around 450 on the sides. There is about 3/4-1" of ash at the end, but you can see it does form a clump (clinker) at the end, but it has been falling into the ash bin.

Hi Dave, that is what my LL stoves burn like, but the burnt ash is loose, and drops off into the pan like a snowfall, not in clumps...

Greg L

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