My KAA-4-1

Olllotj wrote:Did they use Propress fittings? I didn't know that professional plumbers used those.

I noticed those Propress fittings too!

Big labor saver if one can justify the money spent for the tools and all the big fittings.
Much faster crimping the bigger fittings than everything that is entailed in going about sweating the bigger bore piping.

Hello McGiever and all,

The plumbers used several of the Rigid Pro Press Fittings to finish the job and to repair/replace the leaking solder joint in the boiler union.

They used a Pro Press T where the small triple gauge is located in the cooler water return line to the boiler sump.

The same fittings were used the DHW line to the 4 GPM coil in the KAA-4-1 and the Boiler bypass line just smaller size.

As long as it works and does not leak I can live with a bag of rice coal a day to heat the house and my domestic hot water.......

I lowered the dump zone temperature the other day to 180 Degrees Fahrenheit because the house was just too hot from the boiler idling and low heating demand.

Very happy to report no out fires and the idle fire is just where it is supposed to be in the scheme of things.
I will probably get three days burn from the same ash basket as I have been shaking the pile in the ash tub down every few hours.

I will not have a lot of rice coal ash to get rid of since the last visit to the transfer station with the ton of hand fed coal ash and wood ash.

lzaharis wrote: I lowered the dump zone temperature the other day to 180 Degrees Fahrenheit because the house was just too hot from the boiler idling and low heating demand.

Lowering that Dump set-point will cause MORE unwanted heat to be released rather than leaving that heat just remain in the boiler.

My apologies,

It has been very warm today so all we have been running is the hold fire on the 30 minute timer.

I double checked the L6006A and its set at 190 Degrees Fahrenheit for the dump zone
activation temperature.

Looking at the predicted low of 32 Degrees Fahrenheit for the overnight will mean that
I will be bringing in one more bag for the nights burn which is fine with me.
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I bought a Dust Deputy today from the local Ace Hardware retailer for $97 and change with the $10 dollar off coupon I had for a $75.00 plus purchase. The retail price for the Dust Deputy is $99.00 plus the 8% sin tax)

It seems to be very well built and can be used for sanding and scraping paint with the proper attachment being their hand held drag scraper.

I am going to hold off on bolting it to the Sears shop vacuum as its 17 years old now and I have plenty of hose to hook it up to the Dust Deputy so I can leave it set in the corner or outside with the shop vac as the space is a bit tight where the boiler is.

I expect to get plenty of use out of it for cleaning the boiler and the flue pipes as well as the ash cleanout in the chimney. I just have to remember to put a bit of water in it to keep the fly ash stuck to the bottom. I can always scrape it out into a garbage can liner.

My impression after reading all of this as it transpired Mcgiever is that he doesn't get it. I have the impression that he is trying to control the temperature in the house with the controls not the thermostat. And has the dump zone completely backwards. Just jacking with the feed rates and all willy nilly. ???? Not listening to what people are saying.......

Kevin

I do get it,

My house is small and narrow and on a single loop system that is
also the dump zone.

The house has very small rooms with a low ceiling height that are all on the
ground level. I do not have a full basement for the heat from the boilers shell
to dissipate in.

I don't lose a lot of heat from the wind due to the shelter belt on the north edge
of the property.

MY hand fed ran on 160 low to 180 high for over three decades using hardwood,
softwood and anthracite nut and stove coal.

The house will heat up quickly when the boiler dumps heat through the heating
loop and I have to open the widows and or doors. The chimney draft has never been
this good with the hand fired until we had a chimney extension installed raising it above
the peak of the roof a couple of years ago.

I also had the firebox reduced filling half full of firebrick which created a huge amount
of thermal mass which absorbed heat and shed it back in to the firebox.

This past winter and now spring has been a shakedown cruise and I was advised by
Don Snow to back the stokers throw off a thread if I thought it was getting
too hot for my liking as it will go way over the high limit before the unit purges to
shed heat through the dump zone which is the homes heating loop.

If I could afford a Zurn garage heater and a second loop to the garage for the
dump zone right now I would do it but I cannot do it now.

Much of the issue is both the four inch gauge which is defective and which will be changed
soon as well as the Hydrostat 3250 Plus for my piece of mind because the gauge was pegged at 260
degrees at least twice and the Hydrostat 3250 Plus registered failure modes several times at high temperatures.

I do get it, I do get it, I grew up with steam and I wish I had gravity hot water which requires
no pumps just simple Aquastat controls.

I never had a bit of trouble with the Honeywell controls that were just set and forgotten for
33 years so I do get it .

If the plumbers had called Keystoker this drama would not have occurred period and I would
not have had to live in a cold house for almost a week when the temperatures were in the teens with very low wind chill temperatures.

I do get it, and I spent seven years examining coal stokers before I made the decision to invest in this one and if had invested in the AHS S130 it would have been much less plumbing and much less electrical work and simpler controls and I would have simply tied in the oil boiler as needed but as I could not find a dealer that would install one and the price with the sin tax was almost $8,000.00 I settled on the KAA-4-1 as it was dual fuel unit.

I settled on the KAA-4-1 and the plumbers reputation for good work. If they had simply made a phone call or two or even ran the stoker out side before they dragged it in and they tied in the plumbing to it we would not be discussing this, if ever, nor would I be dealing with a plumbers bill of 4 figures for 52 hours labor for the work, extra fittings and trouble calls-this does not include the fittings and pipe and parts I bought to save money or the cost plus interest of the 8 tons of rice coal I bought or the cost of debt service for the boiler loan.

I get it, I really do. When you mention coal boilers or furnaces around here plumbers want nothing to do with them. The dealer recommended installer wanted 8K to install a coal only KAA-4 with a second chimney for the oil boiler and I passed on his doing the job for that reason after receiving the estimate.

The system I have is a dumb as dirt dual fuel set up with no bladder tank or air scoop and no automatic air vents and it works and will continue to work because of its simple plumbing.

I do not need a very hot boiler to heat the house for the above reasons just a reliable one. That is all I ever wanted, and with Waldos help last week we will be fine from now on.

With oil prices climbing it is just one more reason I did this.

No further comments, time will tell.

Kevin

13, May 2016 oh, its that day again.

We shut the KAA-4-1 down yesterday afternoon for the season.

I will clean it and give it a good vacuuming when I feel better-I went
all winter without getting sick and now I have a virus of some type
of virus and not the flu after they checked the swab culture stick they inserted into my nose. GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A few minor repairs-replacing The fire door gasket, flipping the fire door right side up for the Dwyer Mark II Manomometer probe, coal bin removal, stoker cleaning, examining the stokers nylon screws and replacing them if needed, sealing the grates with furnace cement and oiling the gearbox and properly placing(pulling back) the oil burner and fire tube flush with the boiler wall is all that is needed for next year- I will probably do that and let it run for a few minutes before I remove the burner completely and set it on the floor under the hopper then I will do the rest of the work.

I just hope the high temperature sealant they put on the stoker and the fire door will not put up a fight.

Greetings fellow board members,

I was wondering if any of you might have the part number
for the KAA-4 fire door gasket? Mine looks pretty ratty upon inspection
and I would like to replace it before I start the heating season with the oil burner.
The KAA-4 manual has no part number for the fire door gasket that I could see
in the manual.

Is this a standard fire resistant rope gasket that is glued into place when it needs to
be replaced? If it is I can get the rope gasket locally.

Thanks much.

I called The Keystoker folks this morning.
I learned that they use a length of rope gasket and
secure it with rubber cement so I will go from there.

Keeping up with my KAA-4-1 project,

I have all my new parts now and I am waiting on a sheet of fiberglass boiler insulation
from Mcmaster Carr for the top of the boiler and I have to purchase a new Tripp Lite Surge
Protector and a 2 gang electrical box for a new switch and outlet to further protect the
KAA-4-1 boilers electrical system.

Leon, I hope you don't mind that I merged your July update with your previous KAA-4 thread. I think it is beneficial to have the entire story all together.

I don't think the rope gasket on the door is anything special, a standard gasket for a wood stove should work as long as it is the right size.

Good idea on the insulation for the boiler top.

Hello Rob,

I don't mind your doing that at all Rob, I still for the life of me cannot figure out why Keystoker does not want fiberglass insulation on the top of the water jacket as the fiber glass is essentially porous allowing heat to escape over time and thus "Breath" to quote Don Snow.

The 28 year old 145K BTU Buderus I have sitting outside waiting on the trip the scrapper is fully covered with fiberglass insulation undeer the shell SO I fail to understand his reasoning (the old boiler and the old tractor are my secret DCC N Gauge railroad piggy bank$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

MY high temperature insulation sheet arrived from
Mcmaster Carr this morning as promised.

Depending on how things go tomorrow I will be
upgrading the boiler with the new parts on Thursday.

I am back to hoarding tools and repair parts. and I now have a
3/4 NPT male pipe tape and a new adjustable wrench to fit it in
the tool box.

I needed the tap to clean out the 3/4" threads on the pipe tapping's for
the new triple triple aquastat, low water cut off and the L6006A as they
used Teflon tape for all the tapping's.

I learn more about what not to do with this boiler every day I work on
it as I have found and understand that teflon tape is no no for most of
these electrical components and their probe wells/male threaded bronze components
as it can and will create conductivity problems in the probe wells and or the
brass male fittings used on the Mcdonnel & Miller Bull Dog RB-122-E Low
Water Cut Off.

Live and learn.
resulting in false readings and or incorrect temperatures.

I have a big bottle of pipe dope so I will be all set. I just have to be sure to
use only a little as it goes a long way.