Fire in Coal Hopper - Keystoker KA6

Well here are some pics of the fire in the boiler , How do they look , is the fire to thiick ?? Is the fire to long or to short , Does anyone have any comments, Not having any issues that I am aware of but still a lil conecerned and longing for input and advice , Thanks everyone







Love in Christ Jesus

Jay Williams

Looks good, Jay. The fire does appear a little "thick" as it's almost even with the top of the side plates. On my Keystoker stove, I have about an inch of "free space", but it's also a different stoker mechanism than I have. I believe you can adjust the fire thickness on yours, correct?

Otherwise you're doing great. Keep warm!

Not that I am aware of ?? Does anyone know if there is one. ?? I will go and look but all in all it does look like a safe fire doesnt it ?? or should I be concerned about it.

Love in Christ Jesus

Jay Williams

Fire looks just fine, you have nothing to worry about. I think there is a bar that sits over the 'throat' of the stoker in front of the pusher that can be adjusted up and down. Is there a slot and nut on either side of the stoker at the back? If so, that's likely where you can adjust it.

I think your coal bed looks just fine. Nothing to worry about from the pictures you posted. Moving the throat strap up or down would influence the thickness as europachris has suggested but I would not do this because I see no need to. I am speculating that if you were to burn buckwheat or even mix buckwheat in with the rice the coal bed would thin a little. Your stoker will work with either buckwheat or rice or any mixture of the two. FYI, buckwheat is the next size larger than rice.
If you wish a bigger fire when it is stoking try giving it one more turn on the feed adjustment and see how it reacts to that. As long as your house is staying warm I see no issues.

where is your house staying temp wise ?? I backed off feed and do not see a size change on the grate and actually nothing has changed the water temp goes no higher then 140 , the house temp is staying at 67 deg, the fire size has not changed , the only change i see is in the thickness, Any thoughts

Hi Jay, your water temp won't go any higher if your aquastat low setting is set at 140. Change the LO setting to 160* and turn the feed in one turn, the fire should get longer, make more heat and raise the water temp in the boiler.

The only reason the water temp wouldn't rise is if the btu load from the house radiators equals or exceeds the btu capacity of the stoker. If you still have 3-4" of ash on the end of the grate, then you can increase the length of the fire by an inch or two.

Greg L

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I just hung up with gaw and I think he may have found my issue, The floow valve on my boiler was left wide open for gravity feed, thus my boiler wasnt able to build up any heat, I have shut it off and turned up the boiler to 150 and 170 and now I am waiting to see what happens it was almost at 135 then I went down and it was around 125 but it had only been a few minutes I am going to give it until 5:30 and see where it is and Will let you know. If it evens gets above 140 that will be a first. I will post back before 6 tonight

Love in Christ Jesus

OK here is my report , the boiler temp has gotten above 140 for the first time , I have it set on 160 and 180 the cycle pump kicked on at about 150 , I guess that is because of the differ thing which is set on 10 , ( by the way I had miss posted on that my differ is 10 - 25 not 0 - 25 sorry about that ) Pressuse seems to be between 15 - 20 PSI on the guage as well ( is this ok ? ) I now hope to see the house temp begin to move above 67 deg , Yet I will say this may take awhile but will see Its been about and hour. I have another question now that I have closed the flow valve how is the water getting through , ?? kinda hit me when I heard the cycle pump kick on at 150 deg ? fire still OK , just emptied ash pan so I think all in all I have found another lil issue that I hope will finally get this all figured out. Again thank to everyone !!! thanks for the check up call Greg & Glen !!

Love in Christ Jesus

Jay Willliams

jcw265 wrote:Pressuse seems to be between 15 - 20 PSI on the guage as well ( is this ok ? )

Its OK, a little high. Normally they run about 12#.

can I adjust the pressure ?? also any info on the flow valve ?? If I close it how water going through, The boiler temp last check was right below 150 I have it set to 165 - 185 and oh by the way the house is now on 68 It has begun to move up !!

Is this the valve?

http://www.statesupply.com/displayItem.do?sku=BI1960

Yes that is the valve ! How does it work ?? just for my knowledge

It is a vertical lift check valve. It prevents gravity flow when the pump does not run. Do you have two boilers and two of these valves? I have them in my system to isolate the oil from the coal. If they are in wrong, you have a problem.

It has arrows on it that show the flow direction it is made for. When you turn the handle all the way counterclockwise it allows gravity circulation in the event of power failure. All the way clockwise is checked flow.

coaledsweat wrote:It is a vertical lift check valve. It prevents gravity flow when the pump does not run. Do you have two boilers and two of these valves? I have them in my system to isolate the oil from the coal. If they are in wrong, you have a problem.

It has arrows on it that show the flow direction it is made for. When you turn the handle all the way counterclockwise it allows gravity circulation in the event of power failure. All the way clockwise is checked flow.

In the hot water system at my mother's house there is a vertical lift valve. Probably hasn't been set to gravity flow since it was new in 1951. Last time I tried to move the lever it was stuck solid. Probably be a good idea to leave it alone.