Switching From Chimney Temp Sensor to Idle Timer

DENNIS BAUER · Post by **DENNIS BAUER** » Tue. Jan. 13, 2015 8:58 am

Hello Everyone,

This fall I bought my first house and the house came with a coal stove. I've used this site a ton on liting it and using the stove and everything else and it's helped a lot.

The issue I'm having is keeping the fire going when the wall thermostat is not calling for heat. My stove has another Honeywell Temp thermostat in the chimney pipe that should keep the fire at a set tempature. This chimney thermostat is not doing this.

The wiring on this stove has been messed with pretty good over the years. My research on the stove found me that it is a Keystoker Ecno 70 built in March of 1993. The stove is a little to small for the house so I do plan on upgrading the stove in the future but not this year.

My question is with changing out the chimney temp sensor with a Idle timer set up. I like the idea of the timer being set and not having to deal with that chimney sensor any more. I know this has had to been done before but I've beens seaching all moring for something like this and can't seem to find it. Stove runs great when we stay cold because like I said it's a little small for the house so it's running wide open. It's when the outside temp reachs up into the 30-40*F range that if I'm not there to babysit the fire then it will go out for sure.

Any help would be great. Thank you very much. Again if I missed a thread aready about this I'm sorry and if someone can point me in the right direction that'd be great.

northernmainecoal · Post by **northernmainecoal** » Tue. Jan. 13, 2015 10:04 am

Have you contacted Keystoker about it?
keystoker a120 blower limit switch

DENNIS BAUER · Post by **DENNIS BAUER** » Tue. Jan. 13, 2015 10:16 am

I did contact them earlier this morning but haven't heard anything back yet. Just thought I'd touch base with the knowledge here to see what I can find out. See if this is even possible.

northernmainecoal · Post by **northernmainecoal** » Tue. Jan. 13, 2015 10:48 am

Here's another
Keystoker 90 missing timer

WNY · Post by **WNY** » Tue. Jan. 13, 2015 5:05 pm

My keystoker uses an Intermatic Repeat cycle time (30 mins) and you can set the pins (mine has 4 per every 10 mins) to maintain a good idle fire without having to worry about the chimney temps.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/INTERMATIC-C8835-Timer-Cy ... 33965dc145

DENNIS BAUER · Post by **DENNIS BAUER** » Tue. Jan. 13, 2015 5:21 pm

WNY wrote:My keystoker uses an Intermatic Repeat cycle time (30 mins) and you can set the pins (mine has 4 per every 10 mins) to maintain a good idle fire without having to worry about the chimney temps.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/INTERMATIC-C8835-Timer-Cy ... 33965dc145

This looks like what I should switch to. My only issue is the wiring. The temp sensor in the chimney stack is wired right in with my thermostat wiring on the wall. Will I be able to set this up the same way?

Sorry for the new guy questions. Getting a big learning lesson on this stuff today.
Thanks again.

WNY · Post by **WNY** » Tue. Jan. 13, 2015 5:33 pm

No problem at all!
Probalby just a couple wires that turn the stoker on for a certain period of time for the stack temp. switch. check it and see how many wires are run to the stack switch.

Not exactly sure of the wiring without looking at it, but the IDLE TIMER will just close contacts to the stoker motor to run every so many seconds/minutes every 10 mins or so. depending on your pin settings.

You would need power to the timer and the 2 wires to/from the stoker to turn on/off depending on how your wire it.

here's the manual, with a wiring diagram that might help!

http://www.keystoker.com/manuals/2012/90K-105K-St ... mostat.pdf

DENNIS BAUER · Post by **DENNIS BAUER** » Tue. Jan. 13, 2015 5:42 pm

WNY wrote:No problem at all!
Probalby just a couple wires that turn the stoker on for a certain period of time for the stack temp. switch. check it and see how many wires are run to the stack switch.

Not exactly sure of the wiring without looking at it, but the IDLE TIMER will just close contacts to the stoker motor to run every so many seconds/minutes every 10 mins or so. depending on your pin settings.

You would need power to the timer and the 2 wires to/from the stoker to turn on/off depending on how your wire it.

here's the manual, with a wiring diagram that might help!

http://www.keystoker.com/manuals/2012/90K-105K-St ... mostat.pdf

There is only two wires that come off from the stack temp sensor and go down and meet up with the thermostat that is mounted on the wall. All low voltage 24v stuff. When the thermostate calls for heat it turns everything on, combustion blower, coal feed, and heat blower. All at the same time and when it reaches heat it shuts them all off at the same time. Again this is an old unit that I have a feeling isn't wired perfectly anymore.

WNY · Post by **WNY** » Tue. Jan. 13, 2015 5:54 pm

Definitely room for improvements. A little bit of rewiring for the idle timer and blower maybe, put a temp switch on the convection blower so when the stove gets so hot, it turns the blower on. (adjustable Snap Switch works good!)
Wiring the combustion blower in directly to the wall so it runs all the time will also give a better burn, and keep it hotter, once you get the idle timer figured out.

If you wanted to spend the money, the CoalTrol is a good option that takes care of all the timing, thermostat, blowers, etc....