Keystone Koker

JAF · Post by **JAF** » Thu. Jan. 10, 2008 3:56 pm

I've been looking at stokers and I am interested in buying a Keystone Koker.
Has anyone had any experience with this furnace?

WNY · Post by **WNY** » Thu. Jan. 10, 2008 6:54 pm

Do a SEARCH for Koker 160 on here, there are quite a few members with them. They do look very rugged and for whole house heating, should do the job.

Ordered New Keystoker Koker

av8r · Post by **av8r** » Thu. Jan. 10, 2008 8:30 pm

A friend has one and has good things to say about it.

MrP57 · Post by **MrP57** » Fri. Jan. 11, 2008 8:16 pm

This is my second year with mine, so far, so good. It's doing a fine job.
Gary

LsFarm · Post by **LsFarm** » Fri. Jan. 11, 2008 8:39 pm

Moved this topic to the stoker furnace/boiler forum for better response.

Greg L

cArNaGe · Post by **cArNaGe** » Fri. Jan. 11, 2008 10:01 pm

av8r wrote:A friend has one and has good things to say about it.

Don't steer the man wrong. We all know you don't have any friends.

Timdaviszap · Post by **Timdaviszap** » Sun. Feb. 10, 2008 7:21 pm

I Received my Koker 160 a few weeks ago. I set it up and think I don't have it set right yet. I installed it in my 32 by 48
pole barn and it is not putting out that much heat. Coal bed has about 3-4 inches of glowing coals, and about two inches of ash
at the end of the grate. I thought it would be blasting heat, but I am wondering if draft is wrong. I did notice a slight smell of
coal gas at blower near bottom of furnace.

While building the pole barn, before pouring the concrete, I used a 120,000 BTU karosine salamander, with no insulation and open
rafters, which brought the pole barn temp up to over 80 degrees.

I haven't seen the temp over 55 degrees with the Koker 160. I will be insulating and drywalling the pole barn, but would like to
warm it up a little bit while doing the wiring. Please, if anyone knows what I am doing wrong, let me know.

Cold in Vicksburg, MI

WNY · Post by **WNY** » Sun. Feb. 10, 2008 7:35 pm

Do you have a baro damper and the draft adjusted correctly? you might be loosing a lot heat up the chimney..

That has an air jacket around it, so it may not radiant too much heat from the sides, but it should put out some serious heat out the vents, how do you have it ducted?

Timdaviszap · Post by **Timdaviszap** » Sun. Feb. 10, 2008 9:30 pm

the koker is vented straight out the wall behind the furnace.
the exhaust vent is very warm , but I can touch it. I was going to stick a temp gage on it to see what it was running.
I just went out and checked the furnace and it seemed to be burning hotter. I saw one of the post about adjusting the coal feed.
Turned it in clockwise all the way then backed it out eight turns. It seems to be a brighter and hotter fire.
I might have gotten it way out of adjustment , by messing with it .

still cold in Vicksburg.

LsFarm · Post by **LsFarm** » Sun. Feb. 10, 2008 9:57 pm

Get a barometric damper installed on the exhaust flue, you are pulling most of your heat out of the furnace and sending it outdoors.. Read the several posts about installing a barometric damper,,, they work, and save lots of coal and heat..

Greg.

watkinsdr · Post by **watkinsdr** » Sun. Feb. 10, 2008 10:12 pm

I'm heating a 4000 sq ft, 2 story colonial with no problems with my Koker. I love this thing! I believe the convection blower is rated at 1529 CFM; so, my air flow could be a little bit higher to the second floor---but my air temps are really good throughout the house. I have one centrally located programmable thermostat. The rest of the house stays within 1-2 degress of the thermostat setting.

I've also "plumbed" in a fresh air supply for my combusion fan. This source of oxygen rich air definitely helped.

Unfortunately, I haven't set the barometric damper accurately with a manometer; however, by "eye balling" the damper settings based on outside temp, wind, and furnace temp, the damper seems to be working fine.

I have my stoker mechanism totally maxxed out. I have a full fire bed with a minimum amount of ash. I'm pushing a few buring coals off the end every now and then; but, nothing major. My ashes look fully burned 98% of the time.

I'm burning Blaschak bagged rice. I've really had good luck with this coal so far this heating season (2007-2008). I bought 8.4 tons of coal; and, I'm on track to burn about 8 tons this winter.

My savings for this winter will be significant. Last year I burned $3300 worth of propane and froze my A$$ off; and, cringed every time the propane furnace came on. This year I'm on track to burn ~$2000 worth of coal; and, my house is warm and comfortable---even my basement feels great at ~70 degrees. Any time I remotely feel cold, I just crank up the thermostat and let the Koker go to work.

The Keystoker Koker is an outstanding air furnace. I'd recommend this unit to anyone looking for a quality hot air furnace. My only gripe with the unit is the lack of mechanical clearance to plumb in an air tight cold air return box around the convection fan. For that you need a Keystoker A90, A120, A200, etc. And I'm seriously thinking about upgrading to an A-200, keeping the Koker to heat my new barn.

If 'yer not getting any heat out of a Koker, there's something dead wrong. Either get your dealer to help you out; or, call Keystoker and get some help from them---that baby should be rockin' with tons of hot air.

Timdaviszap · Post by **Timdaviszap** » Mon. Feb. 11, 2008 6:18 pm

Well I bought a manometer today, didn't like paying 70.00 for it. Went to check the furnace, and where is the hole in the ash door they are talking about in the directions? LOL
On top the furnace is the sliding door, is it used to adjust the draft or just for cleaning out the flue? I checked the flue temp just before it goes out the wall. It was 200 deg.
when I opened the draft on top of the furnace just a bit it cooled right down. The fire is covering a lot more of the grate, once I adjusted the feed rate. I hope I'm learning something.

WNY · Post by **WNY** » Mon. Feb. 11, 2008 6:54 pm

Which Manometer did you get?
Dwyer Manometers are only around $30+. There are many links on here to order them online or get on the loaner program.

On some of the Keystokers, there is a little HEX/Allen Head Screw in the corner of the ash door to check the draft.
If not, you can check it in the exhaust pipe just behind the stove in a screw hole or something. Depending on the adapters you might have to put into the pipe.

Scroll thru this thread, a lot of good info on the Manometer setup and what/how to measure it
Manometer Install

Keep adjusting the feed screw in (Clockwise) while it's calling for heat until you have 1" or so of ash and that would be max feed rate. You have to check it after an hour or so, it will take a while to FINE Tune it.

Do you have a thermostat hooked up and how far away is it? If you have it turned up too far, it may never be satisfied with the amount of heat loss you have having or you are not feeding enough to get it hot enough.

Plus, you are probably loosing a lot of heat out the chimney without a baro damper, the hotter the exhaust, the more it will draw the heat out of the stove without it.