Koker Owners Question

jrn8265 wrote:I just leave a window cracked near my koker. Why would you need to put a hose from outside to the combustion fan? Seems it will not do much!

For me it makes a difference. Initially, years ago I left the crawlspace area open to the basement and the make up air would come from a vent in the crawlspace through the basement to the combustion fan. Now the cold outside air is piped directly to the combustion fan inlet. I blocked off the crawlspace to the basement opening and the basement does not cool off from the draftiness. I don't have temp measurements of before and after but I can say it definitely feels warmer down there.

So, forgive me if this is a no-brainer question to you... my current setup, while maybe warming the basement somewhat, is actually pulling the air from the surrounding basement and thereby creating a draft of sorts. Kinda like it's working against itself. Heating surrounding air, while pulling that same surrounding air into the system for combustion...

I do not have last year's "before" temps, other than remembering from recall a general range. I got a little thermometer crazy last year, first year with coal and all...

ChrisS wrote:my current setup, while maybe warming the basement somewhat, is actually pulling the air from the surrounding basement and thereby creating a draft of sorts. Kinda like it's working against itself. Heating surrounding air, while pulling that same surrounding air into the system for combustion...

That's exactly what I was trying to describe. Without the pipe from the outside to the combustion fan, the inside air you burned coal to heat would be sent up the chimney.

My high efficiency propane furnace does the exact same thing, it uses a 2" pipe to take air from the outside right into the combustion chamber.

Goofy question. Well, I know, this is the place for such questions. This is my second year with my Koker. Had it fully serviced last Spring, and it's been up and running about a week or so now.

It seems like an excessive amount of air is "escaping" from the top of where the Dayton blower meets the unit. Maybe this is normal, I can't really say that I recall putting my hand back there last year at all. I was trying to route some fresh air return to near the combustion motor, and incidentally noticed this large amount of air blowing, which only occurs when the blower kicks on.

Maybe the seal is not as tight as I assume it would be, and like I said, maybe it's normal for air to come out there. The Koker seems to be heating fine, but the amount of air coming from the registers seems lower than I recall. Again, I did not exactly document how it was last year, we were just thrilled to have good heat.

Anything come to mind which I should check? Is it easy enough to pull that blower off and see if there is any obstruction? What kind of obstruction could there even be there?

I am assuming you are talking about the convection (room air) blower. If so, then yes, there isn't really a "seal" to speak of where the neck of the blower fits into the stove opening. It is just steel going into steel. I took some good foil duct tape (not conventional duct tape, but the shiny foil tape) and taped up the entire area around the neck of the fan after it was installed into the stove. This tape is very sticky and doesn't dry out, so it will withstand small amounts of air pressure, to keep the air where you want it, in the stove. Make sure you get the bottom of the neck, along the floor also, there is probably air leaks around the entire opening. I have had the tape on my koker for 5 or 6 years, and it is still sealing it. You can get the tape at any Lowes/Home Depot. Try to get the better stuff (more expensive) made from, I believe, 3M. It has the red lettering on the tape, as pictured below. They do have cheaper tape, which isn't as thick as the 3M foil.
So, in the end, air escaping, is probably normal, but to get max air volume/efficiency going to the house, the gaps should be sealed.

Yes, the convection blower. I'm thinking something did not "re-seat" with the service call, possibly. Still under warranty, I think I'll get a visit from the installer and then tape it up as you suggest. Thanks!

Oh, and you can tape it up while the stove is running.

What about the replaceable furnace air filters? They need replaced every month or there abouts.
Neglecting to change them will reduce the air volumes being output by the floor registers.

I have never had a service call on my stove, but I can't think of a reason why they would need to even remove the blower. There is nothing inside the stove to look at, just the outside of the fire box wall. The convection fan motor is sealed and non-serviceable. And if you need to clean the fins, you may be able to do that through one of the air filter openings, but if you are using air filters, the fins shouldn't need to be cleaned very often.

I know with my blower, it is hard duct-ed into my return air ducts, so removing the blower would be a big pain. Unless it fails, it isn't going to move till then.

Taping it up today, then. I'll follow up and let you know. Thanks again!

McGiever wrote:What about the replaceable furnace air filters?

Yeah, I've been diligent about keeping fresh filters going.

McGiever wrote:What about the replaceable furnace air filters? They need replaced every month or there abouts.
Neglecting to change them will reduce the air volumes being output by the floor registers.

This is true also. Two years ago, I widened one of my return air ducts and inadvertently ended up getting dry wall dust in the duct from opening up the hole in the wall wider. When I turned the stove on in the fall, it kept shutting down at night when it was answering the call for heat. After two shut downs, I realized my filter was plugged up, severely reducing the convection air flow so much that the stove was hitting its high temp shut off temperature on the convection fan dial controller. Once the filters were replaced, it ran smooth as silk.

Id like to get a second stoker, maybe a Keystoker 90 or 105, and connect it to ductwork. Problem, the ductwork I'd like to connect to is in the ceiling of the second story, and the best place for the stoker is the basement, 2 stories down. Is this even feasible or possible?

Not a great plan for many reasons, one being heating any space from the ceiling downward is much harder than from the floor up.
And using any far remote space heater as a furnace is difficult at best.

I kinda figured as much. We could put something else on the first floor and let the heat rise, but I think we'd heat ourselves out of our family room to do so. The heat pump just doesn't cut it when it's really cold, so the second floor stays rather cold. Thanks for the input.