Alaska Channing Stove Help Needed

The Coaltrol is very similar in that you set a high and low fire.

coalstoves wrote: Coal-trol migh be an improvement on this system

Digital vs analog.

coalstoves wrote:....How is the convection Blower regulated ?

The best feature IMO of the Coal-Trol is that the convection fan speed is controlled. It is based partly on the relationship between Tstat set point and actual temp. The convection fan runs at an optimum speed to get the most heat off the stove with relationship to feed rate and delta to set point. Once the set point is met it stops completely or runs at a very slow speed.

Right now my Magnum is idling (outside temp is 43* F, set point 73*F) and the feed rate is at 0% to 7% and the convection fan is off completely most of the time. I believe this set up allows any coal stove to use the minimum of coal and requires no tinkering from the operator beyond the original set up.

Matthaus wrote:

coalstoves wrote:....How is the convection Blower regulated ?

The best feature IMO of the Coal-Trol is that the convection fan speed is controlled. It is based partly on the relationship between Tstat set point and actual temp. The convection fan runs at an optimum speed to get the most heat off the stove with relationship to feed rate and delta to set point. Once the set point is met it stops completely or runs at a very slow speed.

Right now my Magnum is idling (outside temp is 43* F, set point 73*F) and the feed rate is at 0% to 7% and the convection fan is off completely most of the time. I believe this set up allows any coal stove to use the minimum of coal and requires no tinkering from the operator beyond the original set up.

I agree that the convection fan control is one of the better features of the Coal-Trol. I've been a several friends that have standard control systems and they're always complaining about having to tinker with the manual convection fan control.

Set it and forget it (almost)

I always keep my fan running so for me it's a non-issue. To get the maximum heat out of your stove I would think you would always want to run the blower. This would also help to use the least amount of coal. Unless it's a 60 degree day why would anyone want to turn down/off their blowers? I had a Coaltrol and it worked great if I kept the temp set at one temperature. However, with a digital setback thermostat the stove would always over fire by several degrees and then take forever to go from a low temp to a higher temp. It's actually easy to test how a digital setback thermostat work using the manual feed controller. Lets say the stove is at 70 and you want to get it to 75. Simply adjust the manual controls to a higher feed rate and then when it hits the temp turn it down to a feed rate that you would normally use. You'll have to play with the settings but this will give you an idea on how things would work. I like the idea of the Alaska manual set for a digital thermostat because there feed system is setup for their stove. However, I've yet to try it.

traderfjp wrote: Unless it's a 60 degree day why would anyone want to turn down/off their blowers? .

With mine, it idles a lot and at idle the stove body might be 120-150 degrees. Blowing air over the body at that temp feels like cool air is coming off.

My stove rarely idles in the winter unless the temps are unusually high. When I leave for work I set the stove to about 2 and when I get home I ramp it backup to about 3. With the Coaltrol it would take hours to get my stove temp to move and when it did it always over fired. I think it's a great system if u keep the temperature constant. I heard they were upgrading their software so maybe it works better now.

traderfjp wrote: Unless it's a 60 degree day why would anyone want to turn down/off their blowers? .

It's about that here, so my blowers been off and will be for the next few days it the forcasters are correct.

Matthaus wrote:

coalstoves wrote:....How is the convection Blower regulated ?

The best feature IMO of the Coal-Trol is that the convection fan speed is controlled. It is based partly on the relationship between Tstat set point and actual temp. The convection fan runs at an optimum speed to get the most heat off the stove with relationship to feed rate and delta to set point. Once the set point is met it stops completely or runs at a very slow speed.

Right now my Magnum is idling (outside temp is 43* F, set point 73*F) and the feed rate is at 0% to 7% and the convection fan is off completely most of the time. I believe this set up allows any coal stove to use the minimum of coal and requires no tinkering from the operator beyond the original set up.

Thansk Mat
But I'm pretty up to speed about the ins and outs and ups and downs on Coal-Trol my question was addressing the Alaska system as the Factory supplies it

coalstoves wrote: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

As far as I know there is only one other member using the alaska stat system here. The vast majority of alaska's stoves use the autoheat elctronic rheostat. With Alaska's thermostat you have to control the convection fan manually. I had a digital thermo on the stove for a while but I went back to a round analog honeywell. The digital had more overshoot as the heat anticipator was less adjustable. I can keep it within a 2* swing with the round honeywell without to much trouble but it does require some adjusting of the highfire rate depending on outside temps. The setback feature with solid fuel appliances IMOP are virtually useless and always make for overshoots. Secondly if you don't setback for 10 hrs or more you aren't going to save any fuel. IMOP the coal-trol is a much better bang for the buck considering the $250 extra the alaska stat costs over the auto heat. If I had it to do over I would have ordered the stove with the auto heat and then bought a coal trol thus having the auto heat for a back up.

I run my Alaska Channing with a coal trol and am completely satisfied. I have no overshoot, it hits and holds the target temp. No doubt I will save coal over last year.

With the temp swings we have in KY, I was always adjusting the Alaska reostat. I dont use the setback feature I just leave it on 73*. I do still use the manual fan reostat because of my paticular setup, it helps circulate my steam humidifier.

9* four day's ago, today 70*, by next friday back down to 30*.

BK

jpen1 wrote:As far as I know there is only one other member using the alaska stat system here. The vast majority of alaska's stoves use the autoheat elctronic rheostat. With Alaska's thermostat you have to control the convection fan manually. I had a digital thermo on the stove for a while but I went back to a round analog honeywell. The digital had more overshoot as the heat anticipator was less adjustable. I can keep it within a 2* swing with the round honeywell without to much trouble but it does require some adjusting of the highfire rate depending on outside temps .
IMOP the coal-trol is a much better bang for the buck considering the $250 extra the alaska stat costs over the auto heat.
If I had it to do over I would have ordered the stove with the auto heat and then bought a coal trol thus having the auto heat for a back up.

I mulled this around a lot with some idle mind time last night at work, think I see a similarity between the Leisure Line and Alaska models ( Lack of mech feed adj. and still uses carpet feed compared to pusher block ) and considered the possibility of divorcing the coal- trol from the Leisure Line or at least retrofitting one for comparison . But the comparative cost thing was an unknown till I checked backed and seen yer post .

Thanks fer your comparison views the Coal-trol seems to do the job for a lot of folks

Hello

I also have a question about an Alaska Channing III Stove. I got mine used, its two years old and has been running fine for the first month. It has just started to make a little noise when the feed system motor is on. It sounds like a clicking noise. Is the motor going? Do I need to take it apart and lube it up? Is this a common problem with the stove? Thanks for the help.

My stove is prolly to new to know exactly where your getting your noise, maybe your connecting arm/arms has loosened up a bit, Id check that first.

Marshall wrote:Hello

I also have a question about an Alaska Channing III Stove. I got mine used, its two years old and has been running fine for the first month. It has just started to make a little noise when the feed system motor is on. It sounds like a clicking noise. Is the motor going? Do I need to take it apart and lube it up? Is this a common problem with the stove? Thanks for the help.

My buddie's brand new Channing III makes a tick tick tick sound each time the stoker runs. Not loud, but you can hear it. Still a lot quieter than my LL's stoker motor.