What the Right Fire Should Look Like?

Hi, like so many out there I'm new to the stove thing with just purchasing a new house. I've read many posting and have already learned a lot about my Alaska Channing stove. I've got it lit and learned about the brick at the top, that made the fire a little hotter, but I still don't think it's right.

I saw one photo that showed about 1 inch of flame with about 6 inches of ash below it and that was called a low to mid burn, yet mine turned all the way up and that's what it looks like. I also read that someone said a high burn should only have about 1 or 1 1/2" inches of ash.

When the fire first start and it's low on the chute, over the part with the vent holes in it, it burms great, but eventually the fire climbs up the chute and shrink to that 1 with a lot of ash. It's almost it's not being fed fast enough but I looked in the back and it seems the stoker is set to max.

Any ideas on what it could be, or do I just not know what the right fire should look like.

Thanks in advance, Ross

I am new to the forum and also just learning about my old Kodiak II. But it does sound like you are not feeding enough fuel if there is only about one inch of fire and several inches of ash. For me, that is what I have at about the lowest setting.

Was the stove cleaned out good before you started it? It may have cloged combustion holes on the burn plate or alot of build up under the burn plate.

Is there an adjustment screw for feed rate on the back of the stoker? I believe turned all the way in (Clockwise) shoudl be max feed rate. It could be out of adjustment, I would set it on max (clockwise in) and wait a while (hour or so) and see how much coal is being pushed, as long as you are not pushing hot coals off the end, you are okay, once that happens, you need to back it about 1/2 turn at a time and WAIT another hour or so for it to settle down, It takes time for these Coal stoves to respond to minor changes in feed rates. Only adjust 1/2 turn at a time and wait to see the results, it may take a few hours to get it adjusted properly, but worth the wait!!

Hang in there, sounds like you are close.

Is the stove a channing III or earlier generation? If it is a channing III it has no adjustment in the feed mechanism itself. The channing III has the paddle type feeder and is controlled by either the auto heat sytem or the alaska thermostat system. Most likely what is happening if it is a channing III is that the control knob is out out of calibration. If you only have 1-1.5 inches of fire the knob can most likely be turned past the numbers and should increase the fire size. If that works there is a small straight blade set screw in the knob. I would just get the fire set so it is at a minimum burn rate allowing time to adjust like wny stated and loosen the set screw and adjust the knob so it reads 1 on the scale.I know when I first got mine I had to calibrate the knobs as they were quite off .

Thanks to those who responded. It must be the Channing II since it had the set screw in the back and that worked like a charm. I now have a hot fire and I'm sitting around in shorts the way I like.

Thanks again!