Keystoker 90 Not Producing Much Heat, Bad Coal Trol?

gennylight01 · Post by **gennylight01** » Tue. Oct. 21, 2014 6:32 pm

Ok guys I've been reading this forum for awhile and decided I'd just ask my question. I have a keystoker 90 with 350 cfm blower, direct vent with 8" top cut ducted into existing duct work bought in 2008 with coal trol. Stove worked fine for three years. Since then I've had a hard time heating house. I keep thermostat set at 67 degrees all the time. The last two winters it basically never got there and when it did it would die down and dark would come and it would never catch up meaning fr was a constant 99 and it would get into the mid to high fifties. I lit stove Sunday at 3. It was 54 degrees in the house. At midnight it was 60 and at 6:00 the next morning it was at 64. I came home last night and it was finally up to temp. I turned my minimum up to twenty and max at 85. I had a tech come today to check stove and he said everything stove wise is perfect leading me to believe it's the coal troll. Now I don't want to get into changing settings bc as I stated it worked fine for three years. Any thoughts or input would be appreciated! Thanks

gennylight01 · Post by **gennylight01** » Tue. Oct. 21, 2014 8:24 pm

Tech said draft was perfect. I overrid the temp and turned it up to 85 and we watched for an hour. The fire started to crank but nothing spectacular. Also the feed motor seems to run for a couple minutes and then stop for about 30 seconds before it begins. Is this normal??

Rick 386 · Post by **Rick 386** » Tue. Oct. 21, 2014 8:31 pm

gennylight01 wrote:Tech said draft was perfect. I overrid the temp and turned it up to 85 and we watched for an hour. The fire started to crank but nothing spectacular. Also the feed motor seems to run for a couple minutes and then stop for about 30 seconds before it begins. Is this normal??

Yep that is normal. Did you check for fines under the grate. Seems to me like if it is not cranking, there might be an airflow issue not supplying enough air up through the grate. Setting the min to 20 seems way to high to me.

Another question is did you switch coal sources ??

Rick

gennylight01 · Post by **gennylight01** » Tue. Oct. 21, 2014 8:45 pm

No fines under grate. I cleaned entire stove Sunday before lighting it. I used to set the minimum at 6 but because it dies down and takes so long to heat back up I thought I'd bump it up some. As luck would have it it's warm today so it's not acting up. I just think that 18 hrs is a long time and most of the winter the fr is on 99 and it never gets up to temp. I've used the same coal since I've owned it..blaschak(spelling). The tech says everything is in order as far as stove components so we are leaning toward a bad thermostat or control module. I'm hoping to contact them by phone for some troubleshooting before shelling out cash for a new one and like I said I don't want to change settings to much as it heated house fine for three years. Also last year was extremely cold and it didn't use anymore coal than normal. I'm heating 1400 sq ft.

Rick 386 · Post by **Rick 386** » Tue. Oct. 21, 2014 8:54 pm

Yep, give them a call.

I upgraded mine. Had to send it to them and was pleased with the turn around time. Real quick if you ask me.

And feed rate at 99 all the time is not good. They will get you straightened out.

Rick

gennylight01 · Post by **gennylight01** » Tue. Oct. 21, 2014 8:57 pm

Thanks Rick. I'm near Syracuse so if that's the case I should only be down a day

2001Sierra · Post by **2001Sierra** » Tue. Oct. 21, 2014 9:54 pm

I would check the on time of the feeder. Possibly hook up a lamp in parallel withe the feed motor to truly see on time and time them. The older Coal-trol used a 100 second interval, the newer ones I believe are 120 second intervals. So if your max is set at 85 the feed should run 85 seconds out of 100 on a FR of 99.

gennylight01 · Post by **gennylight01** » Tue. Oct. 21, 2014 10:05 pm

I'll check that. I watched it the other day and it seemed to run like 120 sec and then off for about twenty seconds

2001Sierra · Post by **2001Sierra** » Tue. Oct. 21, 2014 10:18 pm

If you are on a 120 second cycle then 85 is a percentage of 120 seconds. Which would be an on time of 102 seconds. Realize we are just seeing if the Coal-trol is behaving properly, before we go on.

gennylight01 · Post by **gennylight01** » Tue. Oct. 21, 2014 10:26 pm

Oh I understand. I thought with a fr of 99 it would run constant so is there not a correlation with the fr and more with max setting? I know when I checked it Sunday my fr was 99. Stayed that way for close to 24 hrs

2001Sierra · Post by **2001Sierra** » Tue. Oct. 21, 2014 10:44 pm

So basically on max you should be off for almost 20 seconds every 2 minutes. You also should have about 1.5 inches of ash on the end of your grate when running at max for a period of time.

gennylight01 · Post by **gennylight01** » Tue. Oct. 21, 2014 10:56 pm

Yes that sounds correct.

BigJohn · Post by **BigJohn** » Wed. Oct. 22, 2014 12:50 pm

Make sure the grate is on correct. I just had the same problem with my sons keystoker. The grate wasn't back far enough where it meets the hopper. Seal both sides and the top with furnace cement. Working perfect now. Min 20 max 95 burning buckwheat.

Post by **pvolcko** » Wed. Oct. 22, 2014 9:30 pm

Follow the advice above as far as timing the stoker on/off time to make sure it is working as expected. The FR is a percentage of the time range specified by the MIN/MAX settings. So, MIN 6 and MAX 85 with a FR of 75 would mean: On Time = (((MAX - MIN) x FR / 100) + MIN) x 120 / 100 = (((85-6) x 75/100) + 6) x 120/100 = 78 sec on and 42 sec off. FR 99 means 101sec on and 19 sec off.

Also, run the TEST mode to make sure you have the right motors plugged into the right plugs on the Coal-trol. Press and hold MENU until you see "FEED" then tap MENU until it says "TEST". Then tap UP or DOWN to start it. MAke sure the motor indicated on the display matches with the motor that is on.

Assuming the Coal-trol is operating properly. Check for seals and bad fits on the grate. MAke sure the combustion blower is clean and is properly fitted to the stove (no gaps or backed out bolts). Make sure the walls inside and the insides of any venting channels are clear of fly ash (it will tend to insulate from proper heat exchange).

Lastly, do not hesitate to call us, 315-299-3589, to discuss your issue and get some help on troubleshooting. If you can run the TEST mode first and do the timing test on stoker output that would be useful.

Rick 386 · Post by **Rick 386** » Thu. Oct. 23, 2014 9:52 am

pvolcko wrote:.......................................

Lastly, do not hesitate to call us, 315-299-3589, to discuss your issue and get some help on troubleshooting. If you can run the TEST mode first and do the timing test on stoker output that would be useful.

And there you have it. Straight from the owner's mouth.

C'mon Paul. That took you a little over 24 hour to answer. You're slipping up a little here......

BTW both my and my sister in law's units are both still performing perfectly.....

Rick