Alaska Channing Stove Help Needed

coalstoves,
I'm completely stock here. No thermostat except what came stock with the stove. The only way I know to increase the fire size is to turn up the dial and even burn/use more coal than I am now. Is my new burn tray not right somehow. Maybe some holes plugged. Even on much higher setting on the dial, I don't think, the fire will get down to there. I'll try a test here today and see if I can get it that large. I assume you mean the hole fire, or do you mean just a portion to be lit up out that far on the tray? What is the round honeywell for? Wall mounted thermostat? Thanks for your help.

joecool62 wrote:coalstoves,
I'm completely stock here. No thermostat except what came stock with the stove. The only way I know to increase the fire size is to turn up the dial and even burn/use more coal than I am now. Is my new burn tray not right somehow. Maybe some holes plugged. Even on much higher setting on the dial, I don't think, the fire will get down to there. I'll try a test here today and see if I can get it that large. I assume you mean the hole fire, or do you mean just a portion to be lit up out that far on the tray? (I reference the leading edge of the fire)
What is the round honeywell for? Wall mounted thermostat? Thanks for your help.

I am kinda flyin in the dark now cause its been awhile since I looked at the Alaska Stoves products, I do know they have changed the way they feed they use a spinning half moon type block, how you increase the feedrate I'm not sure, it should be in the manual and the damned web sight doesn’t have a download so I can look .. I am also not sure if a wall mounted thermostat is an option or standard equip on new Alaskas..... I apologize and hope a Channing user jumps in soon.

You will be surprised at how a small adj. in the feedrate can change the size of the fire many folks here recommend only a half turn at a time on the type that use a screw like adjustment on my Harman one complete turn is the difference in a nice fire and it almost looking like it is going out . My idea here is if you increase the size of the fire you will get the heat you seek and the stove will idle more instead of running at a constant push .

coalstoves,
If I remember the manual was not a lot of help. I was very unimpressed. I'm an ex Navy guy and am used to great manuals. Unfortunately I can't find it currently. Someone "put it away" for me. You're right they do use a spinning disk with a cam lobe type hump on it. I do remember that much. The ash on the tray seems like it could maybe be burned more than it is. It's very crunchy so to speak. It dies out by the time it moves much further down the tray, but it may be done burning by then, at the rates I'm using. Who know?
I spoke with the rep from Alaska the other day and he said the combustion air isn't adjustable but I didn't think to ask him about any way to adjust the fire/burn area. I guess I could try him again on Monday. I'm not even sure how the timing circuit works with coal feed on/off cycling. He mentioned so many sec/mins on and so many off per dial setting. Combustion air is on full all of the time. It seems like smoke and mirrors to me right now.
It is supposed to warm up Monday and Tuesday. Maybe I'll shut it down and investigate the tray holes and placement. It seemed to me it could only go on one way. I should check the sealing gasket around the tray also. The tray was off and laying in the bottom of the stove when I got it home from the dealer.
The fly ash inside is builing up on the walls. Could that be hurting performance? I know it always does but I thought I'd ask.
Joe

Ed.A wrote: I wonder about what kind of Coal you use.

To my limited knowledge so far, I know of only two brands of coal that is shipped out of PA. They are Reading and Blaschak. Are both of these brands good to use; with most brands of automatic stoker stoves, boilers, and air furnaces? Or, does one brand of coal sometimes work better with certain model/s?
Do these setup or dial-in problems only happen with the Channing or should I expect it with a future 140 or 140 Auger?

joecool62 wrote:coalstoves,
The ash on the tray seems like it could maybe be burned more than it is. It's very crunchy so to speak.
It dies out by the time it moves much further down the tray, but it may be done burning by then,
at the rates I'm using. Who know?
He mentioned so many sec/mins on and so many off per dial setting. Combustion air is on full all of the time. It seems like smoke and mirrors to me right now.
It is supposed to warm up Monday and Tuesday. Maybe I'll shut it down and investigate the tray holes and placement. It seemed to me it could only go on one way. I should check the sealing gasket around the tray also. The tray was off and laying in the bottom of the stove when I got it home from the dealer.
The fly ash inside is builing up on the walls. Could that be hurting performance? I know it always does but I thought I'd ask.
Joe

To try and clarify the feed rate look at it this way the coal when burning under the forced air has a lifespan or period that it will burn until it is exhausted your feed rate is so slow that this exhaustion is taking place very close to where it begins in the mean time the entire length of the grate is supplying air and would support a fire if there was fuel that had not already been burnt on it so you want to increase the amount or speed at which the new unburned fuel is being pushed onto the grate thus making the fire longer and using more of the available grate. I do not think there is any problem with your grates, gasket or air feed the spent fuel (your ashes) look perfect you just need a larger sized fire the fire in your photo would be perfect for early autumn and outside temps in the 40's-50's to keep the chill off the house but in colder weather she needs to be throttled up . The key maybe in these timer settings your dealer referenced again I apologize for not knowing more about the stove before sticking my 2 cents in but I felt compelled to point out that the fire looked small hopefully a Channing user will pop in and a call to the dealer never hurts. I think you just need an adjustment and tearing it all down won't accomplish much

Ok now we're getting somewhere! Joe, the burn you picture is a damn close to mine with a calibration @ #2 or 2-1/4. At this setting right at this moment I'm running a stove temp of 210* and a stack temp of 110* (the baro is only open a 1/4" -3/8" swing at the bottom) it's 40* at 9:00 pm and 70* inside the house, at this rate I'll burn about 20lbs a day.

I use Blashak rice and LSM rice in Munson Mass. (I have no idea where LSM gets their coal but the quality seems to match that of Blashak).

There is no way you should be burning 80lbs a day (24 hour cycle) at the setting pictured. I'm thinking heat is just wafting out the chimney.

Joe, is you ash box cool to the touch or is it hot? Hot as in ...you can grab it and pull it from the stove but you'd rather not, or you can pull the box out without much thought at all?

My feed is about 3/4 of the way to 3 and I have about the same size fire on my grate. At this feed I burn about 40-50lbs. of coal each day. The roomm that the stove is in is about 75 and the upstairs is about 68.

Ed A,
Now I'm starting to feel better. I just filled up with another 40lb bag. I could probably put another ten pounds in. So a total of 50lbs. It's almost exactly the same time as I filled last night. I ran the dial on 2 overnight and 2.5 all day today. I did slow my convection fan speed in half and it does seem to put more heat out. It's still not blistering hot but I can't complain I guess. My stove room is ~78° and my living room is 67°. It is in the mid 30's outside so it's not taxing much. My damper is still open 1/2 way and outlet temp is 145°. Is that excessive? Should it be cooler on the outlet? I still think I'm wasting heat up the chimney. Not sure what to do about that though.
My ash pan is not super hot but it is uncomfortable to touch without gloves.
I'm going to find a way to get this coal (Reading) in bulk. It seems to have a lower ash content and maybe it's a little bit hotter burning.

joecool62 wrote:Ed A,
I still think I'm wasting heat up the chimney. Not sure what to do about that though.

Get a Manometer, either buy one or borrow one from the loaner program.

i have a laser thermometor but it only goes to 750 degrees

Ok I 'm glad to see you are making some headway with the stove. The exhaust temps are probably within a reasonable range for a top vent alaska. Ok coal stoves and everyone else here is the scoop on how alaska now controls there new feed sytems. They currently offer 2 of them the standard "auto heat" ( joecool62's controller type) and the optional "alaska stat." which I have. Both of these systems are based off an old burner system called the "easy fire" . They have no manual feed adjustment. They use timer relays to operate the feeder. So basically when you turn up the dial on the "auto heat" you make the feeder run more seconds on time and less seconds off time. So basically all the "auto heat" is a fancy rheostat to control the constant fire size as it doen't cycle up and down. So to make a bigger fire you turn the dial up and to make it smaller you turn it down. The "alaska stat" operates in a similar manner but it has a wall mounted thermostat that switches between a high burn setting and a low burn setting. Joe where are you in central pa I know 2 bulk dealers out around Miffllinburg that deal Jeddo and some deep mine stuff and both are better than reading's stuff.

Jpen:

I assume that you have a t-stat running off the control boxes. When the thermostat needs heat it uses the high fire setting and when the thermostat is satisfied then low burn setting is used. I was wondering if you have the termostat set at one temp or are you using a digital thermostat with multiple settings. If so is the setup you have very accurate and how fast does it get up to heat? Do you find that the stoves over fires and then underfires?

traderfjp wrote:Jpen:

I assume that you have a t-stat running off the control boxes. When the thermostat needs heat it uses the high fire setting and when the thermostat is satisfied then low burn setting is used. I was wondering if you have the termostat set at one temp or are you using a digital thermostat with multiple settings. If so is the setup you have very accurate and how fast does it get up to heat? Do you find that the stoves over fires and then underfires?

Now I feel better I was starting to think Alaska was depending solely on their old rheostat method and not using a thermostat .

stupid rheostat.........glad alaska got something better now

traderfjp wrote:Jpen:
I assume that you have a t-stat running off the control boxes. When the thermostat needs heat it uses the high fire setting and when the thermostat is satisfied then low burn setting is used.

How does this system work out for you guys ?
How is the convection Blower regulated ?
I'm going to have to pop in over at the plant and take a look, I'm starting to think the Coal-trol migh be an improvement on this system