Koker Not Throwing Off Enough Heat! House Is Cold!!!

Lanc Coal Burner · Post by **Lanc Coal Burner** » Sat. Jan. 04, 2014 8:00 pm

Keystoker Koker -

Three days ago my fire went out. I restarted and noticed that the propeller on the back was not spinning. I cleaned it, greased it, and got it going. The fire hasn't gone out since. Coal seems to be feeding without a problem.

This morning when I woke up the house was 62. I thought it went out again, but it didn't. The Honeywell thermostat was set to 70 and calling for heat. Inside the fire was going, but it was not a roaring fire with 12 inch flames that I would expect. It wasn't even trying to keep up with the call for heat.

I added many more pins to the the timer thinking it may help, but that didn't make sense because the thermostat was calling for heat.

I called two Keystoker dealers. Both said they could come out in 2-3 weeks... thanks guys. They both suggested that I clean under the burner grate to make sure air was circulating. I pulled out the combustion fan and vacuumed every piece of dirt out from under it and vacuumed the top. I restarted the fire about 2 hours ago...nothing is different.

Next, I'm checking the the thermostat. Any other ideas? My house won't budge above 62, and I can't get a service person. The lows have been 0 here in Lancaster. Thanks for any suggestions!

Lanc Coal Burner · Post by **Lanc Coal Burner** » Sat. Jan. 04, 2014 8:54 pm

Tried a different thermostat. Not making a difference. On the back of the Koker the green and red light are both lit on the green "taco" box. What would be causing the red light to be lit?

titleist1 · Post by **titleist1** » Sat. Jan. 04, 2014 9:03 pm

Two things to verify to get the normal high flames...coal feed rate and combustion air.

Another very recent thread had a similar issue and it turned out to be a coal feed issue.

Keystoker Too Cold

I am not familiar with the koker's to know the control lights but I am sure somebody will be commenting very soon to help with that.

Welcome to the forum by the way!

Hambden Bob · Post by **Hambden Bob** » Sat. Jan. 04, 2014 9:29 pm

Greetings,Lanc and Welcome to the Coal Board ! I don't have your unit,but for starters,lets have you read your stove manual. I'm sure that Wise Folks who know Kokers will be along! Probably best thing to do is open the link below. That's their Stove Manual Page. Select #18-Koker with Thermostat. Seems like page 7 of that manual starts to deal with your problem. They should also have a legend on what value your LED's represent. This oughta be a good start !

http://www.keystoker.com/service-manuals.php

Hambden Bob · Post by **Hambden Bob** » Sat. Jan. 04, 2014 9:54 pm

Oh,I forgot to also suggest checking your combustion fan inlet screen for anything clogging it along with the air shutter position. See that it's atleast half open,and if inlet screen's clear,open shutter more and see if Flame responds higher. Also,did you clean your grate air holes when you had it shut down?

Lanc Coal Burner · Post by **Lanc Coal Burner** » Sat. Jan. 04, 2014 10:14 pm

No. I am learning a lot by reading the related post since we have the same stove and the same problem. Misery loves company...I guess! I didn't know about cleaning the holes. In the meantime I adjusted the feeder adjustment. If that doesn't help, I will shut down again tomorrow and do another cleaning. Too cold to shut down tonight.

Hambden Bob · Post by **Hambden Bob** » Sat. Jan. 04, 2014 10:26 pm

Correct. As a matter of fact we should all be in the Deep Freeze for a while. Unless I misunderstood,did you say that you also haven't checked the combustion fan inlet screen(Per manual) and can you try checking the combustion air inlet shutter for position. See if the Flame reacts if you open the shutter more. Do you have a backup heat source to work with this limpin' along Koker to keep you Guys warm ?

Lanc Coal Burner · Post by **Lanc Coal Burner** » Sat. Jan. 04, 2014 10:31 pm

I vacuumed the combustion fan inlet screen and opened the shutter some more. It is responding to the feeder adjustment. The bed of burning coals is nearly falling of the grate. It is throwing a lot of heat now. That may have done it. I will keep watching it.

Hambden Bob · Post by **Hambden Bob** » Sat. Jan. 04, 2014 10:41 pm

Well,you may end up having a better Saturday Night than You Planned ! If you start pushing hot coals off the end of the grate,gently back the feed off. Stay with it,get through the Subzero Temps and then you'll have more time to troubleshoot and Tune. Great Job and Stay Warm!

titleist1 · Post by **titleist1** » Sat. Jan. 04, 2014 10:43 pm

Good to hear you are seeing some positive results. You should have about 1" of ash at the end of the grates when burning full out and the feed rate and air are adjusted properly. If you make a change give it about an hour to see the effect, don't make changes too quickly.

Hambden Bob · Post by **Hambden Bob** » Sat. Jan. 04, 2014 10:47 pm

Tag Team Advice and hopefully we've got him moving toward heating that House Titleist ! Great Advice on adjusting in small amounts and waiting an hour. My Alzheimers musta surfaced ! Good Advice !

LiftedAWDAstro · Post by **LiftedAWDAstro** » Tue. Jan. 07, 2014 1:36 pm

Lanc Coal Burner wrote:Tried a different thermostat. Not making a difference. On the back of the Koker the green and red light are both lit on the green "taco" box. What would be causing the red light to be lit?

The green is power and the red is when the feeder is being told to run. When the red light is on the little feeder motor should be running.

Lanc Coal Burner · Post by **Lanc Coal Burner** » Tue. Jan. 07, 2014 4:18 pm

Thanks it was running great and had a hot fire going. However, today the feed motor (with the propeller) stopped again causing the fire to go out. Since it has happened twice, I'm thinking I should put a new one on? Any advice?

Carbon12 · Post by **Carbon12** » Tue. Jan. 07, 2014 4:26 pm

Sounds reasonable. If they're not too expensive, get 2. Having a spare is never a bad thing,...especially if you have to wait a couple of weeks for a service call!

JoeD · Post by **JoeD** » Tue. Jan. 07, 2014 6:15 pm

I have a KeyStroker Furnace and an earlier thread posted today on a similar problem as yours note had to really increase the coal feed knob 3 to 4 turns to keep up with the cold weather this past week. Was having same problem and now seems fixed..