How much coal should a KA-6 burn?

Hello I have done some reading on this forum and decided that I had to join. I just recently put in a KA-6 Keystoker boiler to replace my oil boiler. I have been burning approx. 2-3 five gallon buckets a day. I have the red nut back off 12 turns, 4 pins at 0 and 4 pins at 15. 150-170 on aquastat with a 15 dif. This is heating a 3,000 square foot home and my domestic hot water. The is insulated pretty well. The house is about 70 deg. The up stairs thermostats are turned down. Thanks for any help you can give!!

Where do you live? I'm heating approx 3,000 square foot home set at 73 degrees. 130-150 with 15 dif 2 pins at 0 and 2 pins at 15.... red nut is 15.... Boiler using about 3 bucks a day with temps outside ranging 20-35.

Sounds perfectly acceptable considering the load. I understand the upstairs isn't a big load, but the heat from below is going up there anyway. The buckets aren't tippy top full I assume, so lets say 35 lbs each...70 to 100 a day...not bad.
If you post a general area where you live, that might give some understanding as to the demand. Rice or Buck sized coal? Source of the coal? Amount of ash? Chimney considerations? Baro installed, and adjusted properly?

Welcome to the forum hovermania! We need a little more info before we can determine if you're buring too much coal or not. Where do you live? What are the current outdoor temps? I'm in northern Maine and I'm burning about 75lbs per day right now. The temps are in the low single digits at night and the high teens and low 20's during the day. 3,000 sf is a pretty big house. Do you have a baro damper on your flue pipe? If so, has it been set with a manometer? Have you measured the over fire draft? 12 turns sounds about right. Attach some pics of your system for us. We love pics!

Thanks for all the quick responses!! I live in Notheast PA. The current temeratures are about High 20s low 30s. I am burning rice coal and the buckets are not overflowing when I fill them. I have a 2 story block chimney. I would say that the ash pan is about 3/4 or less full when I empty it every day. I did install the baro damper that came with the boiler. It has not been set with a monometer.Is it important to do that?? The draft seems to be working pretty well. It moves back and forth slightly and I can feel the air being sucked in. I have not measure the over the fire draft. Is that important as well? I dont mean to some stupid but this is all new to me. Thanks again for all the help!! I will try to get some pics up soon.

Hoovermania,

We realize you are new. We all were at one time or another as well. So welcome to the forum, if you can spare some time, use the search bar and do a little reading. There is a ton of wealth located here on this site.

As far as setting the baro, yes it needs to be done with a manometer. Otherwise you MAY be sucking a lot of heat up the chimney. It is unknown unless the baro is set properly. In essence, as the outside temps decrease, the chimney will increase in draft. Also during high wind conditions, the wind blowing across the top of the chimney may also increase the draft. The baro prevents the increased draft from being drawn out of the heating appliance. In increased draft conditions, the baro opens drawing air from the room rather that through the burning coal.

Different mines bring different burning coal to the surface. That was why you were asked where you bought your coal. Some coal has more ash, some coal burns hotter than others. Again read through the site and you will probably get your questions answered. If not post them up.




Rick

hoovermania wrote:Hello I have done some reading on this forum and decided that I had to join. I just recently put in a KA-6 Keystoker boiler to replace my oil boiler. I have been burning approx. 2-3 five gallon buckets a day. I have the red nut back off 12 turns, 4 pins at 0 and 4 pins at 15. 150-170 on aquastat with a 15 dif. This is heating a 3,000 square foot home and my domestic hot water. The is insulated pretty well. The house is about 70 deg. The up stairs thermostats are turned down. Thanks for any help you can give!!

Sounds reasonable to me given the sqaure footage you heat. DHW is a big load and will suck the coal depending on how many showers, laundry, dishes, etc you do.

So it sounds like we are asking - How much coal can a coal chuck chuck?

I am heating 4000 sq ft home with in floor heating and a 1680 sq ft shop with a unit heater. My coal consumption has been about 88lbs a day for Dec. I have the same exact settings as you except I have a KC-10, this is my first year with this unit and I am burning rice coal from a local supplier who gets it shipped in from out eastern Pa somewhere he wont tell me, ... I am not impressed with the ash so I will be trying some other rice coal when I get a chance.

Sounds like once you get your draft dialed in you'll about where you should be. Most people I know with a KA-6 burn 75-90 lbs a day.