Koker 160 - Fire Not Staying Light

xpress23 · Post by **xpress23** » Thu. Dec. 04, 2014 8:49 am

I've been running my koker 160 for a month now with zero issues. Last year was my first year with it and had zero issues. No changes have been made to this setup.

My problem now is the fire keeps going out. I have good draft when I start the fire (.03) and fire burns great when I first light it. So that tells me the combustion fan is working as it should. I can feel plenty of air and checked for blockages in the grate but all looks good. It does not appear to be pushing new coal into the stove. Has anyone else experienced a problem with the pusher bar and/or motor? How easy is this replaced and what is the cost of a new pusher motor/bar?

Thanks for any help.
Xpress23

titleist1 · Post by **titleist1** » Thu. Dec. 04, 2014 9:09 am

Since you mention it is not moving coal it could be similar to this thread where someone had a feed issue with their koker that turned out to be a gear mechanism that had loosened up.

Check to see if the pusher is moving at all and if the gear mechanism is loose as suggested in this thread.

Keystoker Too Cold

WNY · Post by **WNY** » Thu. Dec. 04, 2014 10:28 am

Are you running a CoalTrol Thermostat on it?

Check the feeder motor, plug it it directly into the wall and see if it works.

Also, I assumed you cleanded it out good from last year? removed all the fines, vacuumed grates, under the grates, check the motors/blowers, etc....

xpress23 · Post by **xpress23** » Thu. Dec. 04, 2014 1:13 pm

I'm running a thermostat but not a coalTrol. Just a cheap honeywell. Haven't had issues with this before.

Everything was cleaned after last season. It was running nice and smooth until now. I'm fairly certain it is the feed motor. I'll be checking the push bar tonight and make sure that is free and all screws on the motor are tight. I guess its possible that the push bar is jammed.

What's the cost of a new feed motor?

I'll report back with my findings.

Thanks

titleist1 · Post by **titleist1** » Thu. Dec. 04, 2014 2:31 pm

I am not a Koker owner, but from reading on here I believe these stoves have the nylon cam which can melt if too much heat gets to them from other issues. That could be another cause for feed issues. Can any Koker owners chime in to verify / correct regarding the nylon cam?

WNY · Post by **WNY** » Thu. Dec. 04, 2014 4:47 pm

If you have a rear gasket leak on the burn grates, the fire can burn back towards the hopper and melt or deform the pusher nylon wheel mounted on the feeder motor.

Try cleaning it out first and checking everything and plugging it in to see if the motor runs, if it does and the feeder itself doesn't move, it's probably the nylon cam.

xpress23 · Post by **xpress23** » Thu. Dec. 04, 2014 7:28 pm

Update:

I pulled the feeder motor and push bar out. I found that the pin that holds the nylon cam on the feeder motor shaft was broken. This explains why the feeder motor itself was running but not pushing coal out. The motor shaft just spun while the cam did not move. Placed a new pin in place to hold the cam to the shaft. So far so good.

Where can I buy a replacement nylon cam?

Thanks for all the input.

Post by **StokerDon** » Thu. Dec. 04, 2014 7:58 pm

Glad to hear you are back up and running!

If you don't have a Keystoker dealer near by, I would just call Keystoker 570-385-3873. They will have it and they are great at getting things out.

-Don