Koker 160; Finding Coal in the Ash Pit

Billg · Post by **Billg** » Fri. Feb. 22, 2013 12:50 pm

Hi All,
First year running the koker and so far it been running well but it has been a learning experience. They should offer a short training coarse for beginners like me, especially for the direct vent technology. Lately I have noticed that there is some unburned coal in the back of the ash pit when cleaning it out. There is a little bit on each side under the grate. I am not sure why it would be pushing unburned coal in there. The fire is burning well and looks like the sketches in the manual. Any idea what would be causing this? Thanks !

CoaLen · Post by **CoaLen** » Fri. Feb. 22, 2013 5:25 pm

We've run into this before. I hope this helps:

By: CoaLen On: Sat Nov 08, 2008 4:07 pm
I had (have?) the same issue with my Koker. The sides of the "grate" don't go all the way back to the back wall of the furnace. There's about a 1/4" vertical gap. As the stoker bar pushes coal down the grate, some of the smaller pieces fall off to the side through this gap. It collects on the shelf below the stoker unit and once that area is filled, begins to collect on the floor of the furnace.
I cleaned all the ashes and coal off the grate and all the coal out of the hopper. I then cut a couple of pieces of rope gasket material to the proper length and pushed them into the gaps. This should prevent any coal from falling through, keeping it all in front of the pusher bar.
I'm assuming the gaps are simply a clearance designed into the furnace and stoker assembly to prevent any assembly problems. I checked mine very closely before doing anything, to make sure something couldn't be tightened to draw the stoker closer tinto the back of the furnace. Everything looked good, so I went ahead with my fix.

Here's the thread it's from:
Members Running a Keystoker DV

WNY · Post by **WNY** » Fri. Feb. 22, 2013 6:07 pm

Typical with most stoves, you will always have some unburnt coal, it sometimes rides on the rails or on the top and just doesn't get burnt up.

Here a few threads to get you started..

Unburnt Coal

Unburned Coal

Looks Like I Have Unburned Coal in My Ash... HELP!

WNYRob · Post by **WNYRob** » Sat. Feb. 23, 2013 10:21 am

Same problem here, as CoaLen described. Common with kokers. I may try to use some high temp silicone or furnace cement to fill the gap for next winter. If you do try something to fix it, be careful it can't come undone and end up blocking your coal from being pushed down the burn plates.

WNY is also correct about small amounts of unburnt coal within your ash pan. But the coal you are talking about is falling off the stoker before it even gets to the burning section of your plates.

samhill · Post by **samhill** » Sat. Feb. 23, 2013 10:48 am

I get the same with mine, when I shut down I clean the bottom out real good & then clean all the unburnt off from the sides & beneath & used that over, it doesn't amount to all that much. I think I have mine timed well as I get very little unburnt in the ash pan & it may not even be burnable, there is a little more during warmer weather & hardly any when running harder.

Billg · Post by **Billg** » Mon. Feb. 25, 2013 7:55 am

Thanks for the information. Next time I shut her down I will take a closer look at it and probably go with Coalen's suggestion of the gasket. Other than that the koker works great but in my case does require periodic cleaning. I start to loose the draft after about 4 weeks of hard burning. Cleaning is not that big of an issues takes about 2 hours. I find the main congestion area is right at the direct vent fan, it seems to collect around it.