Dialing in Ka-6

Last 2 months I've tried to tweak system to get the best burn possible, but seems like nothing has helped. I'm leaning towards coal quality maybe the issue but like to see how others stokers compare to my set up. Ka-6 connected to mason chimney, on idle manometer runs at 0 ....during burn it's -.02. No matter where I place Air shutter nothing changes and baro is set at lowest restriction. Timer 4 pins every 15 mins. low 130 high 150. rednut 17 turns. Coal 91 lbs Ash weight was 17lbs. Just seems like it's more unburnt then it should be. I've read on the boards that stokers create 10% unburnt coal saying it's the nature of the beast. Keystoker members what is your Ash percentage and what coal are you using? Have you seen a different in other coal when you got it somewhere else? I'm buring Casey Kassa rice coal. Thanks Randy

In all coal ash there are two types of coal pieces to be found...

Unburnt Coal and Unburnable Coal.

If you have a lot of the latter...nothing to do but try another source of coal.

Unburnt Coal and Unburnable Coal.

Well all I know is it's coal so I must have unburnable coal

I did a quick experiment a few months ago and came up with 15% coal/ash content in the tub. It is might be a little less now that the stoker is running more, but only by a percent or two.

Perhaps your coal doesn't burn thoroughly when the stoker is just idling, and perhaps some of it doesn't burn at all...but if 18% of what you put in the hopper ends up in the ash tub as coal & ash, I don't think you are doing too bad. Enjoy the heat, and try some different coal next time to compare.

You are not doing too bad. Coal varies in quality. I was running about 20% as under light load earlier this year. I feel that is a bit high but blame the coal, not the adjustment.

You will not obtain a perfect burn of 10% ash unless you have perfect coal. No way of telling what you have other than buy from a dependable breaker.

Some unburned coal will get through at light loads. Do you fine tuning under heavier heat load.

Try other brands of coal for a test burn to compare.

Also, make sure you subtract bucket weights in your coal and ash weight. Scale accuracy can also have an effect. Small weights of 100 lbs of less can have an error of 2-3% if you have bucket weights of 2-3 lbs that were not subtracted from the weigh-ins.

burning blashack rice, no manometer, 160 lo, 180high, 10 deg diff. 16 turns, 3 pins at 0 and 15 (tried 2 and lost fire) ash looks decent, and im right were i should be as far as what i burned last yr for oil compared to coal, and im heating my shop!!!! (some upgrades done to house to improve overall effciency of house piping.) like rob said, more she runs, better the ash looks, and better it rebounds from a heat call.

like rob said, more she runs, better the ash looks, and better it rebounds from a heat call.

Yes Rob is on the mark with this. Getting better burns with colder nights, looking forward in seeing what the beast will do when temps start staying below freezing.

you and me both im confident in its abilities, and already i notice a huge difference with how much more evenly my house is heated with all the work ive done. still nervous for colder months tho, in the dead of winter at night with the wind blowing the only time my oil boiler shuts off is when it hits high limit lol

I'm using buckwheat coal so our red nut adjustment is different. I have one pin every 7.5 minutes. Or 4 pins on the thirty minute timer. I have a two story masonry chimney.
If you make changes to your boiler make them in small changes.