Keystoker fine tuning for max burn

You may have read the troubles I have had with my Keystoker convection blower. I replaced the motor and everything is running fine.. except:

During the blower shut down, I moved my two pins on my fan limit switch and also adjusted the feed real slow until I was back up and running. Now I can't seem to get my basement above 70 or 72. Before the break down my basement was at 76 or slightly better.

Also, I am getting more than I would like of black coal in my ashes. My fan limit switch is set to high temp of 165 and a low temp of around 115. My feed screw has been played with over the last couple days and I think it is set at about 4 turns counter clock from tight.

My Draft seems fine and the air is hot coming off the stove. I guess I am looking for some fine tuning tips. I have a daylight basement, block and the house is 6 years old. I suppose the reason I want my basement warmer is to heat the floors above and we just opened an addition to the house which is consuming some heat as well.

I can deal with the heat transfer from my basement into the house and the new addition. With temps up and down I am bound to see fluctuation in the basement temp. But I would like to get the most out of the coal and get that burning better.

Hows the burn look on the grate at FULL burn, do you have the around 1" of ash at the end? As long as you are not pushing hot coals off the grate, you can alway increase the feed rate a bit at a time.

You could always turn the fan HI Limit down to 150-155, that will cycle a bit more of the heat off the stove, that is what I did. Even on idle, my fan will regulate on/off every so often.

4 Turns seems pretty good, you might turn it in 1/2 turn at a time to increase the feed rate and give it a bit more temp. Wait an hour or so and see what it does.

When you say your draft seems fine? Have you actually measured it? A slight variation in draft can affect the temp of the stove by 50-100 degrees. Do you have a Baro or Direct Vent?

WNY wrote:Hows the burn look on the grate at FULL burn, do you have the around 1" of ash at the end? As long as you are not pushing hot coals off the grate, you can alway increase the feed rate a bit at a time.

You could always turn the fan HI Limit down to 150-155, that will cycle a bit more of the heat off the stove, that is what I did. Even on idle, my fan will regulate on/off every so often.

4 Turns seems pretty good, you might turn it in 1/2 turn at a time to increase the feed rate and give it a bit more temp. Wait an hour or so and see what it does.

When you say your draft seems fine? Have you actually measured it? A slight variation in draft can affect the temp of the stove by 50-100 degrees. Do you have a Baro or Direct Vent?

The burn looks fine, flames are where they need to be and the ash looks to be about 1 1/2 to 2/12 inches near the end.

I have not actually measured the draft. I simply go by the flutter in the baro. Mostly closed and with good wind gusts it will open and bounce.

If the baro/Draft is not setup correctly, you could loose heat up the chimney. A slight change (ash build up, etc..) in the setting can affect the draft and temperatures. Mine will open 1/4-1/3 when fulling burning and stay that way for extended periods of time. My stove can get 400-450+ on the sides.

There is a draft (manometer) loaner program on here, you could get it and check everything to make sure, my baro was off by a bit and after checking it with a draft gauge (which I have one now hooked up all the time), the stove runs much hotter now with cooler pipe temps!

Your keystoker may have a little hex head screw in the ash door, that is where the draft can be checked or in the pipe prior to the baro damper.

Did you pull the grates off ? If so did you seal them again . If you didnt remove the grates did you at least clean the holes and get the ash out from under them? Dave

Naw.. I did not remove the grate, but I also have not cleaned it either. It could be a mix of a few variables that is causing a problem. the draft, The 3 ways to adjust the stove and the fact that I need to do a good cleaning on it.

We are getting colder weather coming in, so I might wait for a warm up day and then shut it down for a good cleaning.