Keystoker installation finally DONE!

europachris · By: **europachris** On: Sat Oct 27, 2007 8:45 pm

I took the opportunity of some decent weather today to finish up the installation of the stove, after 8 long months of fiddling around with it.

Overall, it went pretty darn smoothly, which surprised me. I had some real reservations about the 5" core bit and trying to cut through the 8" wall freehand, but actually drilling the 3/8" locating hole from the inside with the hammer drill was more difficult. Once I got through the siding and 5/8" OSB under the siding and to the concrete, it was pretty smooth sailing. It took me about 30 minutes of drilling to get through the concrete with modest pressure and a decent flow of water.

Painted up the vent pipe with some black stove paint and hooked it all up. Not sure I like the way I did the outside part of the thimble - I may want to cut out the siding to match the square, edge the siding with that channel edging, and get the thimble flat against the OSB with the siding around it.

Here's some pics. Going to be the first freeze of the season tonight, so I'll have to fire it up tomorrow morning.

Chris

europachris · By: **europachris** On: Sat Oct 27, 2007 8:55 pm

A few more pics.

Chris

Wood'nCoal · By: **Wood'nCoal** On: Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:54 pm

Nice job, I think it looks fine.

We have freeze warnings here for tomorrow night. I spent the day installing the banister on the stairwell to the second floor (not finished yet, though).

heatwithcoal · By: **heatwithcoal** On: Sat Oct 27, 2007 10:27 pm

Nice job..What square footage are you heating with it? It looks like you have a newly finished basement? I like the natural baseboard and window trim.

Mark

Matthaus · By: **Matthaus** On: Sat Oct 27, 2007 10:30 pm

Awesome job Chris! That stove looks like it has 10 coats of base and 20 coats of clear with hand color sanding in between! You can always cut out the siding and add some J channel around the plate next year.

take a break, enjoy the warmth, lord knows you earned it!! :lol:

nfire:

europachris · By: **europachris** On: Sat Oct 27, 2007 10:51 pm

heatwithcoal wrote:Nice job..What square footage are you heating with it? It looks like you have a newly finished basement? I like the natural baseboard and window trim.

Mark

House is about 2800 sq.ft. - 3 bedrooms upstairs (two story) and fully finished basement (bedroom, full bath, and 'media' room). Not a real big house, about 6 years old, we've owned it for almost 3.

We fell in love with the natural trim color (it's a medium maple color) with matching kitchen cabinets, etc. But the clear finish over the stain really is poor - if you ding it, it just fractures and turns white, so the trim looks a lot older than it is already. I don't know if it was some water based poly or what, but the only thing that repairs the finish temporarily is Formby's Tung Oil Finish.

The idea is to run the stove as supplementary heat and just to have a stove. I grew up with stoves, and just always like to have one around. Our main heat is a 90% natural gas furnace, and our gas is pretty cheap here, so the coal really doesn't pay for itself, but it's nice to have anyway. Doesn't take a lot to heat this place, either, except for those zero degree days with the wind howling. Then the gas furnace really has to hump it to keep up.

Chris

europachris · By: **europachris** On: Sat Oct 27, 2007 10:57 pm

Matthaus wrote:Awesome job Chris! That stove looks like it has 10 coats of base and 20 coats of clear with hand color sanding in between! You can always cut out the siding and add some J channel around the plate next year.

take a break, enjoy the warmth, lord knows you earned it!! nfire:

Thanks, Matthaus! I was looking for the original pics of the stove you sent to me before I bought it from you, but can't find them. It would be nice to look back on those now.....

I'm still impressed by how well the stove turned out - that Stove Brite paint really goes on nice. Of course, taking it down to bare metal helped a lot, too. Thank God for the 3M paint stripping discs that go in a drill. My trusty Milwaukee (a real, honest, AC 120V powered drill) did yeoman duty for hours stripping off at least two layers of paint. Laquer thinner did the rest.

I'm going to fire it up tomorrow and sit in front of it, drinking espresso, and wearing my Peanuts boxer shorts. :roll:

Chris

europachris · By: **europachris** On: Sun Oct 28, 2007 9:29 am

32 degrees here this morning and the Keystoker is CRANKIN! Had a heck of a time getting it started. I think I used up a month's supply of charcoal until I figured out that the coal had to be on TOP of the charcoal, not just dropping the charcoal over top the coal bed. So, on the 4th attempt, I poured a few cups of coal over the burning charcoal and away she went.

My basement is now about 78 degrees, house is 68 upstairs, and I can really feel the cold air/hot air exchange going up and down the open stairwell from the basement all the way to the second floor. It should work really well this winter.

Going to cut in an extra cold air return in the basement at ceiling level to assist in pulling the warm air through the house using the furnace circulation fan.

Exhaust system is only warm to the touch, even with a high burn rate - but what a fantastic amount of heat coming out of the vent in the front of the stove! WOWZA! I love coal!

Chris :propellerhead:

Matthaus · By: **Matthaus** On: Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:23 am

There are some good tips on lighting in other threads, but I usually make a slight V in the coal on the grate about half way up with the small ash shovel. Put my plain charcoal slightly soaked in alcohol in the V and cover it with coal. In less than 2 minutes she is a blazin!

nfire:

If you had a way to attach a return duct to the upper floor and hook into the distribution fan that would give you an amazing amount of convection in the house. Of course I know the aesthetics of the install have to be considered! :lol:

I'm so happy you are finally getting to enjoy the fruits of your labors! This is going to be a toasty winter no matter what the outside temps.

ken · By: **ken** On: Sun Oct 28, 2007 12:03 pm

looks real nice Chris.

LsFarm · By: **LsFarm** On: Sun Oct 28, 2007 2:20 pm

Chris, have you checked Ebay for Jacuzzi Tubs?? I'm thinking a load of beach sand, a Jacuzzi, in the basement. Add a few Pina-Collada's this will convert your wife to a fan of burning coal!!

Note: I'm jealous of your nice neat, orderly setup.... You've seen my hodge-podge setup... you have a real knack for neat-n-orderly !!!

Greg L.

Wood'nCoal · By: **Wood'nCoal** On: Sun Oct 28, 2007 3:52 pm

LsFarm wrote:
Note: I'm jealous of your nice neat, orderly setup.... You've seen my hodge-podge setup... you have a real knack for neat-n-orderly !!!

Greg L.

I like neat/orderly as well, but sometimes it gets lost in the quest to just get something finished. I've been cleaning up the cellar trying to get ready for the new oil furnace install this Thursday. At least I'm not a horder.

Sometimes neat/orderly John

WNY · By: **WNY** On: Sun Oct 28, 2007 4:11 pm

Looks good!!

Bring on the cold weather...we expect to be down in the 20s this week....I'm ready.