Alaska Burn Rate on Idle

traderfjp · By: **traderfjp** On: Sat Dec 29, 2007 9:54 am

Hi,

I just wanted to let everyone know how amazed I was to go on vacation for 6 days and come back to a stove that only used 1/4 of a hoppers worth of coal. I find that amazing. I used much less then last year and the difference was a rheostat on my exhaust blower and a Baro on my direct vent.

Matthaus · By: **Matthaus** On: Sat Dec 29, 2007 9:58 am

Congratulations on your improvements Frank. Amazing how efficient these things are when we limit the amount of heat that goes out the flue and set up the draft properly!

Jerry & Karen · By: **Jerry & Karen** On: Sat Dec 29, 2007 2:00 pm

Good deal Frank, I'm glad everything is working fine.
Jerry

av8r · By: **av8r** On: Sat Dec 29, 2007 2:25 pm

Just another point of reference.

A friend went away early Christmas day. He left his Channing III running with a full hopper and the room set to 66 degrees. Came home Friday night and had 1/3 hopper left. Pretty good I'd say! Room was 69 degrees (he uses a standard digital tstat)

traderfjp · By: **traderfjp** On: Sat Dec 29, 2007 2:31 pm

On my feed rate dial I have it calibrated so 1 is at idle and I left the stove at 1.5. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the stove lit. Thanks for all the help setting things up.

Ed.A · By: **Ed.A** On: Mon Dec 31, 2007 12:49 am

traderfjp wrote:On my feed rate dial I have it calibrated so 1 is at idle and I left the stove at 1.5. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the stove lit. Thanks for all the help setting things up.

I'd say thats the most ambigiuos thing about Alaska's, they're controller is not quite calibrated.
If I set it below #2, it's dead...Right on #2, it'll idle along at a minimum burn and I'll get 3-1/2 to 4 days on a full hopper. Yup I tried it out....sure nuff.

lincolnmania · By: **lincolnmania** On: Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:19 am

i keep trying to make mine idle, and it goes out

Ed.A · By: **Ed.A** On: Mon Dec 31, 2007 9:42 am

lincolnmania wrote:i keep trying to make mine idle, and it goes out

Ok, I guess "Idle" could be a relative term. Lets call it the lowest heat/burn setting without going out.

joecool62 · By: **joecool62** On: Wed Jan 02, 2008 9:30 pm

Hello Everyone,
I'm an obvious newbie to this forum and to running a stoker stove. I can use all of the help I can get from you guys.
I bought my Alaska Channing III stoker stove brand new a month ago. The electrical connections seemed straight forward enough so I don't think that is my problem. My barometric damper seems to operate correctly. My exhaust temp located just above the damper reads between 150°F-160°F and 180°F when I turn it up a bit. My problem is even on low heat settings of "1+1/2" to "2" on the factory dial I use almost a full hopper load in just 1 day. I also get a full ash pan full with chunky ash- not powdered. If I run the stove on "1" it will last only 1+1/2 days but almost no heat output. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong but I just can't figure it out.
My old Franco Belge put out this much heat using 1/2 as much coal.
Any and all advice or tuning tips will be greatly appreciated.

Matthaus · By: **Matthaus** On: Wed Jan 02, 2008 10:47 pm

Welcome Joe!

The fine powdered ash and lower usage rates are the benefits of the hand fed stoves (so I'm told, I have only burned stoker stoves :lol:

). From what you describe you may be running OK, the quality of the coal can have lots to do with how much it burns in a day and the look of the ash.

If you post a picture of your ash and how the fire looks at the usage rate you described that will help. I have never run the new Alaska stoves but one of the members that does (Jpen, traderfjp, BKsaun, are a few I think who do) can provide you some tips. The main thing is stick with it, running a different stove always takes a little effort to get dialed in.

Keep us posted and please put up at least a picture of the ash. By the way, where do you get your coal?

joecool62 · By: **joecool62** On: Thu Jan 03, 2008 1:30 pm

Matthaus,
Thanks for the input. I will take a snap shot of the ash this evening when I get home. It appears that the coal isn't getting completely burned to me. My buddy that has an older Kast console gets a lot more heat and uses alot less coal. We do get our coal from the same guy but it was from different times and maybe loads. I know the pea coal I got from him for my Franco didn't burn very good at all. I've heard the Francos are very fussy about the coal they like. I got lots of chunks, jams and short burn times from that coal. I switched to a Reading coal just before I sold it and it ran really good but that coal is far away and I don't have a truck anymore so I had to have it delivered. I'm just mainly worried about the feed rate and the burning air combination. It seems to feed too fast for the low heat setting. On 1-1/2 on the dial I would think I should get about that amount of heat but not use 100lbs of coal in 24 hrs. This way is not going to save me any $. I'm thinking I may have the wiring screwed up or something needs adjusted I just can't see what may be wrong. I've emailed Alaska twice now about how to ensure I've connected the plugs to the motors and fans to make sure but haven't heard back from them. It didn't really cover anything in the manual about them. If anybody knows for sure I'd like to hear about them. Also the coal I get is in Central Pa but I think he gets it from southeastern Pa somewhere. Thanks to everybody in advance.
Joe

Matthaus · By: **Matthaus** On: Thu Jan 03, 2008 2:56 pm

I'm at a disadvantage because I have never operated the new Alaska stoker system. But is sounds like you are correct in that the feed rate is excessive for the setting. Especially if you are getting unburnt coal in the ash. Is there an adjustable stroke on the mechanism? Or maybe as you fear you have something cross connected in your hook up so that you are not controlling the right motor with the feed control. Jpen should be able to help you with the details since he has one, but I think you might be on the right track. I didn't know how big the hopper was, you are right 100# in 24 hours is excessive for low heat output. :shock:

Keep us posted, this problem can't be that tough.

joecool62 · By: **joecool62** On: Thu Jan 03, 2008 9:22 pm

I apologize for hogging up two forum slots, so if you interested I had started another post @
http://www.nepadigital.com/bb/about2980.html on this same forum.
Thanks to all and I hope to hear from everybody over there.

Joe

WIcoal · By: **WIcoal** On: Tue Feb 26, 2008 1:44 pm

traderfjp wrote:Hi,

I just wanted to let everyone know how amazed I was to go on vacation for 6 days and come back to a stove that only used 1/4 of a hoppers worth of coal. I find that amazing. I used much less then last year and the difference was a rheostat on my exhaust blower and a Baro on my direct vent.

Are you using the Alaska direct vent, with the blower inside? Maybe everyone else understands how you set this up, but I am having a little trouble understanding it. First I thought one of the benefits of a direct vent, is that there is no need to have a Baro metric damper, which draws air out of the room or basement; and creates a negative draft to draw in cold outside air. What number did you set the Baro at? For the the long idle burn, what position did you set the rheostat?
Is this your own design or did a dealer give you the information and rheostat? I would like to learn how to set up my future Alaska 140 Auger this same way. Where can I learn how to set this up the same way?

traderfjp · By: **traderfjp** On: Tue Feb 26, 2008 5:30 pm

WIcoal wrote:
traderfjp wrote:Hi,

I just wanted to let everyone know how amazed I was to go on vacation for 6 days and come back to a stove that only used 1/4 of a hoppers worth of coal. I find that amazing. I used much less then last year and the difference was a rheostat on my exhaust blower and a Baro on my direct vent.
Are you using the Alaska direct vent, with the blower inside? Maybe everyone else understands how you set this up, but I am having a little trouble understanding it. First I thought one of the benefits of a direct vent, is that there is no need to have a Baro metric damper, which draws air out of the room or basement; and creates a negative draft to draw in cold outside air. What number did you set the Baro at? For the the long idle burn, what position did you set the rheostat?
Is this your own design or did a dealer give you the information and rheostat? I would like to learn how to set up my future Alaska 140 Auger this same way. Where can I learn how to set this up the same way?

Alaska Burn Rate on Idle

Alaska Burn Rate on Idle

Re: Alaska Burn Rate on Idle

Re: Alaska Burn Rate on Idle

Re: Alaska Burn Rate on Idle

Re: Alaska Burn Rate on Idle

Re: Alaska Burn Rate on Idle

Re: Alaska Burn Rate on Idle

Re: Alaska Burn Rate on Idle

Re: Alaska Burn Rate on Idle

Re: Alaska Burn Rate on Idle

Re: Alaska Burn Rate on Idle

Re: Alaska Burn Rate on Idle

Re: Alaska Burn Rate on Idle

Re: Alaska Burn Rate on Idle

Re: Alaska Burn Rate on Idle