Urgent Assistance Needed!!!

Hey guys I just turned my stove down about for his ago.When I had it turned up it was burning fine.now it's burning like this and I have never seen one do this.I have been burning with these types of stove now for four years. This is my first year with this particular stove.Its a Alaska kast conceal fire place insert.what's causing this.I'm afraid it might lead to a hopper fire? The fire is at the bottom and then goes up in the shape of a smile face towards the back of the stove..should I put the stove out

I'm not familiar w/ the stove BUT---when in doubt--shut er down. I'm sure people will chime in--let's avoid---

The Alaska paddle feeders I've had always look like that. I doesn't have a strait pusher in it so when it idles for a while you get this "Smile" shaped fire. If you have a good chine draft you shouldn't have to worry about a hopper fire.
-Don

I have nothing to add other than "that's pretty cool looking".

That's no idle fire he's showing...fire should get straighter as fire leaves idle.

Usually, the "smiley face" is caused by air flow disruptions under the grate blowing around a pile of coal fines accumulated there.

I don't know about the Alaska, but on a Keystoker the crescent shaped fire means the fines beneath the grate have been blown forward by the combustion motor and over time, have accumulated enough to block off some of the air holes feeding the fire. I would have to shut my Koker down and vacuum out the fines while the weather is still relatively warm.
Good luck
-Len

StokerDon wrote:The Alaska paddle feeders I've had always look like that. I doesn't have a strait pusher in it so when it idles for a while you get this "Smile" shaped fire. If you have a good chine draft you shouldn't have to worry about a hopper fire.

x2. There's no harm in checking for fines buildup in the air chamber, but that crescent happens even when the unit has just been cleaned, for the reason Don mentions. The older Alaskas with the carpet feeders didn't do that.

Mike

hey thanks guys I had shut it down and tonight ill clean it off and check out the air chamber. I had the stove lit for about two full weeks just running it to make sure it worked properly. I had it on full output the enitre time and when it got warm around here I killed her back. what causes that stuff to get down there? now I don't know if this has anything to do with it but I removed the adjuster for the combustion feed motor and carpet feeder and pluged it straight into the outlit. I have been adjusting my coal feed manual so my combustion fan is at full operating speed at all time. thanks again for the input guys

I've got an Alaska Channing and while I get 'sort of' a smile, I've never seen it like yours.

As indicated in a previous reply, it could be the fines have dropped through the holes in the grate and are now plugging it up a bit. I'd shut it down and take a look. I typically remove the combustion blower and have a small vacuum hose I stick in under the grate to get those fines each year at shutdown. That seems to be sufficient for my stove. Also, before I fire up, I run a 1/8 drill in each hole, perhaps reaming it out a tad in the process. I've even 'souped up' my stove by enlarging the outer holes 1/64 to feed more air to the sides. Whether it improved performance is only a guess.

well tonight ill take the grate out run a drill down through it and clean it out really good with the shop vac. another question is I guess. do u use that reostat to adjust the combustion fan and feed speed. like I stated earlier I removed this and has it pluged straight into the outlit. I adjust my feed rate by the all thead on the carpet feed and this allows my combustion fan to run at full speed at all times (my combustion fan and feed motor are one unit). my fear was using the reostat was that when I would go to turn the stove down it slows down the combustion fan. I wasnt sure if that was safe to do.

Tri-Burner needs rheostat. This in NOT a "paddle"...but is a "carpet", so "smiley face" is a sign of trouble.
Don't you have a way to run with a room thermostat?

ok it is a tri-burner and I don't have a room thermostat I was going to buy a coal-trol but decided to wait till next year cause of the cost...so what would your recommendations be. I have the rheostat that came with it I could plug that back in but how do I set it up and is there any other cheaper thermostat that are cheaper that guys use?

and is the smile face caused by the faults that the others where talking about.

BrandonCampbell wrote:and is the smile face caused by the faults that the others where talking about.

McGiever wrote:Tri-Burner needs rheostat. This in NOT a "paddle"...but is a "carpet", so "smiley face" is a sign of trouble.
Don't you have a way to run with a room thermostat?

yes

You are lacking any control other than using the rheostat for now.

You will need to study up about using an additional, separate combustion fan.
It is a good improvement to the Tri-Burner and is a requirement if adding the Coal-trol next year as you mentioned.