hopper question

hello everybody i just got my keystoker kaa-2 upp and running and it seems to be running great. when i odered the unit i requested the extended hopper wich hold 160 pouns of coal 4 bags of blaschak rice coal. what i have noticed is it will burn 2 bags with no problem but the rest of the coal sticks to the sides of the hopper.does anybody else have this problem and if so has anybody come up with a solution. right now i keep a small garden shovel next tot he unit and when i check the ash i smooth it out and level off the hopper.

If the bottom of the hopper is flat, and the sides vertical, then you are going to lose the bottom 1/3 of the coal in the corners. By 'lose' I mean that the coal will be stuck there because it won't move sideways or downhill any more. The coal in the corners ends up making a 'funnel' at the angle that the rice coal will flow at.

So the square hopper may hold 160# but it may only have 80-100# usable coal in it. It's capacity is not all usable. You can make sloped sides to make the % usable higher, but the max capacity of the hopper will be less. If you really need more capacity, you could make a 6:-8" raised wall to add to the top of the existing hopper and screw it in place, this should hold another 40-50#.

Hope this helps. Greg

1975gt750 wrote:hello everybody i just got my keystoker kaa-2 upp and running and it seems to be running great. when i odered the unit i requested the extended hopper wich hold 160 pouns of coal 4 bags of blaschak rice coal. what i have noticed is it will burn 2 bags with no problem but the rest of the coal sticks to the sides of the hopper.does anybody else have this problem and if so has anybody come up with a solution. right now i keep a small garden shovel next tot he unit and when i check the ash i smooth it out and level off the hopper.

Perhaps one of those Large heavy duty personal vibrators sold in many adult stores and mail order in the more risque mens publications mounted strategically in the hopper and plugged in to a timer to go off every 4 or 5 hours would do the trick.
Me I give her a quick stir once sometimes twice a day if I'm up to it .

I think my L.L. stove holds 110 Lb and I have put 85 lb in my hopper to refill. When I looked in the hopper it was down quite far but the stoker shovel was covered. My coal is dry but if your bagged coal is wet I can see where it would want to stick and not flow.

Seems to be a common problem. Like you, I take the simplest remedy and just push the coal around once a day.

I have a keystoker KA6 and I have the same issue , the coal wants to make a funnel type hole and feed down to the stoker, I see you are smoothing it over when you check on it, I take my coal and mound it up to the front of the hopper, kinda like a hill, as the coal begins to form the funnel toward the front of the hopper the coal because it is mounded tends to fall forward and has really helped me get more coal to feed, Yet even with this i also get some coal to hang around the sides but it is way better then it was, might give it a try and see what happens, PS love my Keystoker also !!

Love in Christ Jesus

Jay Williams