Frustrated New Owner of KC10 Keystoker.
- Carbon12
- Member
- Posts: 2226
- Joined: Tue. Oct. 11, 2011 6:53 pm
- Location: Harrisburg, PA
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KA-6
- Coal Size/Type: Rice/Anthracite
- Other Heating: Heat Pump/Forced Hot Air Oil Furnace
He said he had hydronic heating. Assuming baseboard hot water, I wonder how he's got it plumbed to keep a big slug of cold water from circulating to and from the house, from the garage when a zone calls for heat??? I doubt this volume of water would have too much of an effect on a large volume boiler but who knows???
- oliver power
- Member
- Posts: 2970
- Joined: Sun. Apr. 16, 2006 9:28 am
- Location: Near Dansville, NY
- Stoker Coal Boiler: KEYSTOKER Kaa-2
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 50-93 & 30-95, Vigilant (pre-2310), D.S. 1600 Circulator, Hitzer 254
I'm intentionally heating 1700 square feet of living space to 73*, and un-intentionally (no radiation) heating 1700 square feet of un-insulated basement to 64*. These temps are today ( -8* outside ). Little Kaa-2 in basement. Using about 90 pounds of buck per 24 hours. I would think you'd be going through about double the coal as I. Maybe even less, being one big heat source. Your boiler is 4 sizes bigger than mine. Without getting into calculations, I'm Guessing you may have gotten by easily with the next size down in boiler. Who knows, maybe the Ka-6 would have done the job. Having a boiler as big as the Kc-10, maybe your heating /maintaining way more water than needed. Just kind of thinking out loud here. EDIT: I see you had an earlier post saying house is 4,000 feet, plus garage, and shop. Maybe your coal consumption isn't that bad after all.
Last edited by oliver power on Tue. Jan. 07, 2014 9:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
- McGiever
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- Joined: Sun. May. 02, 2010 11:26 pm
- Location: Junction of PA-OH-WV
- Stoker Coal Boiler: AXEMAN-ANDERSON 130 "1959"
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: BUCKET A DAY water heater
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Warm Morning 414A
- Coal Size/Type: PEA,NUT,STOVE /ANTHRACITE
- Other Heating: Ground Source Heat Pump and some Solar
Thinking out loud...Axeman-Anderson says have mutiple units in tandem, only run one till more need, then fire the second one.
But, too late for this to happen here.
But, too late for this to happen here.
- Horace
- Member
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- Joined: Thu. Sep. 18, 2008 12:15 pm
- Location: Central PA
- Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Harman ST8-VF8 / Frankenstove
Could also be assimilation into burning coal. My previous house was oil and so it took nearly no energy to write a check for oil. It hurt, but it only took 30 seconds. When I moved here and had to hump 5,000 pounds of coal out of the bin, through the yard, through the house, into the hopper, then take out the ashes, clean out the stove, etc etc etc, I remember thinking "Is this really worth it?" When I realized how much warmer the house is, and how much cheaper (for me, anyway) it really was worth it. But there was a bit of the feeling of "I'm doing all this work, why isn't this free?"
I, too, wonder what it would have cost to heat his house for the same period of time with the former fuel.
I, too, wonder what it would have cost to heat his house for the same period of time with the former fuel.
- tomcat
- Member
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Sat. Nov. 30, 2013 10:47 pm
- Location: Pine Grove , PA
- Stoker Coal Boiler: k-4 keystoker
- Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: old magnum
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: 400 warm morning, sf250
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: sf3500
- Coal Size/Type: rice and buck mix, stove, nut
I am heating 1872 sq.ft. in two zones in a house built in 1961. The new Ka-4 was installed on 12/10/2013. My coal usage is 56.1 pounds per day. The coal is not great, (still using the free ton from Keystoker with the install) so I can't complain. The unit is in the basement so I am getting residual from the unit itself. Either the coal he is using is not very good or he is losing a lot of heat in the underground set up. Heating the space in the garage must also be considered.
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- Joined: Tue. Jan. 18, 2011 6:41 am
- Location: New Britain, PA
- Stoker Coal Boiler: WL 110
Ding!Carbon12 wrote:Yeah, I'm wondering how much of whatever fuel they were using before they would have used. 3 tons in one month seems like a lot but not impossible. The boiler is rated at up to almost a 1/4 ton per day!
It really doesn't matter how much coal he's using, per se, it matters how that relates to whatever he was using before.
If he's using more in coal than he was with whatever the other fuel source was, then he has a problem. If he's using the same amount (BTU wise) then he doesn't.
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- Member
- Posts: 247
- Joined: Fri. Jun. 18, 2010 8:57 am
- Location: Finger Lakes Region, NYS
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KA-6
- Coal Size/Type: Rice
- Other Heating: Oil- Off line
Yeah- he did not respond to a PM either. All I can say is WOW- A KC-10 for a residential application of 3000 square feet or so and a garage. Seems like a lot of heat going somewhere. 220# a day. Wonder if he keeps his house really hot or something? Big heated garage? A real head scratcher. Although these single degree temp days recently- I've been burning more than 120# with KA-6 on similar square footage with boiler in the basement. WOW- a KC-10!
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- Member
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Fri. Dec. 07, 2012 8:45 am
- Location: Falls Creek Pa
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KC10
- Coal Size/Type: Rice
- Contact:
I think I know why he hasnt chimed back in yet, he is busy filling that hungry K10 haha
With that said, I have a K10 in a unattached 30x56 pole garage, my work shop. Plus I heat 4200 sq ft house in addition to my shop. 157' underground run of insulated 1" pex to infloor heat concrete basement and subfloor upstairs.
My usage went from 100lbs a day to 150lbs during this last cold snap. My system is well engineered, laid out and installed. Buildings are well insulated and very efficient. I struggled with a good setup at first but came to realize my fuel was junk, now I have been burning much getter quality coal which has made my K10 really shine.
Every little thing you do helps, I found most tweeks, changes or improvements were 5% er's but several of them add up to big savings year over year.
I can say without a doubt these K10s will chew through 100s of pounds of coal if you let them
With that said, I have a K10 in a unattached 30x56 pole garage, my work shop. Plus I heat 4200 sq ft house in addition to my shop. 157' underground run of insulated 1" pex to infloor heat concrete basement and subfloor upstairs.
My usage went from 100lbs a day to 150lbs during this last cold snap. My system is well engineered, laid out and installed. Buildings are well insulated and very efficient. I struggled with a good setup at first but came to realize my fuel was junk, now I have been burning much getter quality coal which has made my K10 really shine.
Every little thing you do helps, I found most tweeks, changes or improvements were 5% er's but several of them add up to big savings year over year.
I can say without a doubt these K10s will chew through 100s of pounds of coal if you let them