How Much Coal/Hour?

Hi Daryn, if you have a feed rate of only 4.5#/hr, and have hot coals all the way to the end of the grate, you don't have enough combustion air.

I think on most keystoker units, you can remove a few bolts holding the combustion blower to the back of the stoker unit and remove the blower.

If you have a strong vacuum plugged in and ready, you may be able to clean and reinstall the combustion fan quickly and not lose the fire. Vacuum out the space under the grate, use a long screwdriver or a smallish crowbar as a scraper to clean the bottom of the grate. Then vacuum again.

Check that the fan is running at full speed, and there is not a restrictor plate over the inlet to the fan.

You should have 6-8" flames at least off of a full grate of coal.

Hope this helps, Greg L.

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Hi Greg, I have good flame off the coal...probably 10-12 inches. They hit top of heat exchanger. I cleaned well at end of heating season last year. It may be blocked but I had same results last year when stoker was brand new. The restricter plate blocks about 20-25% of air opening. I setup per Keystoker manual for draft w/manometer. Perhaps cam was not setup correctly from factory. I will investigate more at end of heating season.

Are there any other Keystoker users out there able to get their stokers to push 6.66lbs/hour onto the grate (90K/13.5K). If yes, were you able to adjust your air/draft to burn the coal without alot of wasted fuel.

Thanks.........Daryn

You may have to borrow a manometer or draft gauge

There should be a small Hex head Allen Screw In the corner of your Ash pan door, you can take this out and install the draft gauge to check your draft.

Ours will push the flames to the top of the stove when really cranking, the sides of the stove push upwards of 500 degrees with the magnetic thermometer.

Sometimes we get a few hot coals pushing off the grate when they stick to the sides with an uneven push.

If you have a timer/idle box, you may have to take a few pins out per every 10 mins, that reduces the push time when the thermostat is not calling for heat. I think I have 4-5 pins. Each pin is 10-15 secs of push time. Don't take too much time out, it causes the flame to go out on idle.

I have manometer and setup per Keystoker manual. Flames hit top of heat exchanger with ease. I have taken pins out to lower min feed when idling. I have input air maxed out and temp on side of stove reaches about 625-650F when its cranking and hot coals to end of grate. Will take apart and look at cam adjustment at season end per Keystoker recommendations to max feed.

How much coal can my aa-130 burn per day if it were to run for 24 hours straight burning pea size coal?

With full rated 130,000 BTU continuous load it would fill your empty ash pan in less than 24 hours. Estimate how much coal you burn to fill the ash pan and you will be in the ball park. However it's not a likely operating condition. It would cause global warming too.

Yanche wrote:With full rated 130,000 BTU continuous load it would fill your empty ash pan in less than 24 hours. Estimate how much coal you burn to fill the ash pan and you will be in the ball park. However it's not a likely operating condition. It would cause global warming too.

Im not concerned with the ash pan being filled in a 24 hour period. i was just wondering what the aa-130 is capable of burning in one 24 hour period with out shutting off.

brckwlt wrote:

Yanche wrote:With full rated 130,000 BTU continuous load it would fill your empty ash pan in less than 24 hours. Estimate how much coal you burn to fill the ash pan and you will be in the ball park. However it's not a likely operating condition. It would cause global warming too.

Im not concerned with the ash pan being filled in a 24 hour period. i was just wondering what the aa-130 is capable of burning in one 24 hour period with out shutting off.

That wasn't the point. You know how long it takes you to fill your ash bucket and the coal that was consumed to fill it. I'm saying if the A-A burned at full capacity you would likely fill that ash bucket in less than 24 hours. So your coal consumption for an entire 24 hr. period would be at least the amount of coal it takes you to fill it now. Got it?

Yanche wrote:

brckwlt wrote:

Yanche wrote:With full rated 130,000 BTU continuous load it would fill your empty ash pan in less than 24 hours. Estimate how much coal you burn to fill the ash pan and you will be in the ball park. However it's not a likely operating condition. It would cause global warming too.

Im not concerned with the ash pan being filled in a 24 hour period. i was just wondering what the aa-130 is capable of burning in one 24 hour period with out shutting off.

That wasn't the point. You know how long it takes you to fill your ash bucket and the coal that was consumed to fill it. I'm saying if the A-A burned at full capacity you would likely fill that ash bucket in less than 24 hours. So your coal consumption for an entire 24 hr. period would be at least the amount of coal it takes you to fill it now. Got it?

noo ... i was hoping for an explanation like in the beginning of this old thread

Manufacturers of boilers for oil and gas are usually members of IBR the institute of boiler and radiator manufacturers. Until the advent of IBR and uniform standards of rating boilers it was pretty much up to the experience of the installer to properly select equipment, as ratings were not reliable.

Ratings of hand fired stoves are also wildly optimistic, requiring severe over firing to reach rated outputs. Years ago I noticed that stoves made in Germany had a stated output about half of what similar stoves made elsewhere were rated at. The German stoves reflected real world output rather than what was possible running red hot. My little Franco Belge is rated at a normal output of 48,000 BTU which means I would have to push about 100 pounds of coal through it per day. I think the stove would be too hot to approach with out special flame resistant clothing and gloves and even if you could approach it the stove would not last very long at the temperatures required to reach stated output.

If you call the manufacturer again you might ask how they arrived at their figure.

Richard

This thread is fascinating. Lots to learn at coal college. I have a Keystoker too and two Poconos - big Victorian farmhouse - big problems. The Keystoker is in the middle of a big room with 11' ceilings and chimney right up the middle. Incredible heat output but yes it does not burn as much coal as it should according to these calcs. About 50-70# a day when its cold. Now my Poconos (110K) chew through the coal in fact poco1 (as I call it) b4 I put in a second one, used up to 175# day. I opted for that config rather that a hyfire II for redundancy and heat output and this raises another question. Using two stoves I have a much bigger firebox area and so the question of efficiency of these stoves as they are pushed to the limit arises. Are they more efficient when they are middling along not just looking to make marketing claims - I think so but I have no proof - yet. I will bring out by trusty IR thermometer this winter and make more careful notes.

coalnewbie wrote:This thread is fascinating. Lots to learn at coal college. I have a Keystoker too and two Poconos - big Victorian farmhouse - big problems. The Keystoker is in the middle of a big room with 11' ceilings and chimney right up the middle. Incredible heat output but yes it does not burn as much coal as it should according to these calcs. About 50-70# a day when its cold. Now my Poconos (110K) chew through the coal in fact poco1 (as I call it) b4 I put in a second one, used up to 175# day. I opted for that config rather that a hyfire II for redundancy and heat output and this raises another question. Using two stoves I have a much bigger firebox area and so the question of efficiency of these stoves as they are pushed to the limit arises. Are they more efficient when they are middling along not just looking to make marketing claims - I think so but I have no proof - yet. I will bring out by trusty IR thermometer this winter and make more careful notes.

Yessir! Interesting thread...It started in Feb....2007

Bob

franco b wrote:Manufacturers of boilers for oil and gas are usually members of IBR the institute of boiler and radiator manufacturers. Until the advent of IBR and uniform standards of rating boilers it was pretty much up to the experience of the installer to properly select equipment, as ratings were not reliable.

Ratings of hand fired stoves are also wildly optimistic, requiring severe over firing to reach rated outputs. Years ago I noticed that stoves made in Germany had a stated output about half of what similar stoves made elsewhere were rated at. The German stoves reflected real world output rather than what was possible running red hot. My little Franco Belge is rated at a normal output of 48,000 BTU which means I would have to push about 100 pounds of coal through it per day. I think the stove would be too hot to approach with out special flame resistant clothing and gloves and even if you could approach it the stove would not last very long at the temperatures required to reach stated output.

If you call the manufacturer again you might ask how they arrived at their figure.

Richard

Wildly optimistic, probably true lol.. I'm using around 50 pounds a day in my Clayton, yeilding at best somewhere around 26,000 - 27,000 BTU per hour. Its rated for 120,000. I would never want to try and reach that output. I would be afraid of a thermo nuclear meltdown thru the basement floor followed by a mushroom cloud over where my house once stood ha ha ha

But then again, I would rather idle a big engine instead of pushing the H*** out of a little one

Nvm

brckwlt wrote:How much coal can my aa-130 burn per day if it were to run for 24 hours straight burning pea size coal?

See yanche calc on page 1.