Alaska Stoker Not Doing as Good of Job as Old Hand Fed

Hello all,
I'm not new to coal, but am new to stokers. I just got an Alaska Channing II for this year. Previously I ran and stil have a Hitzer 82 hand fed. I was hoping this stoker would come close to the same performance as the Hitzer, but it don't seem like it even comes close. It's sitting in the same spot with the same flue hook up as the Hitzer had. I took the cast top off and built a sheet metal top for it to run heat straight above the stove about 4 ft of duct into my kitchen. The same way the Hitzer was. But it hasn't got cold here in central pa yet and normally the Hitzer would have us run out of the house trying to run it cool enough. I'm quite concerned that when it gets cold the stoker isn't gonna be up for the job. Seems that I'm running through about 80lb a day right now running that 400*. The fire right now is about 2 in wide. I know that's not as big as I can get it but being this warm out I wouldn't think I would have to run it harder than this.

How many sq ft are you heating, 80# a day seems like a lot, I have the stove and only burning about 40# a day in a 2400 sq ft ranch and I only heat the stove to 400F maybe 2 times a day the rest it idles around 150F in this weather.

Are you running the convection blower? Is the sheet metal top catching the heat from the blower?

The stove is in the basement and I'm heating less then 2000 sqft. Including the basement. It runs at 400 pretty much 24 hrs a day right now. I do not have the original convection blowers the stove didn't have them when I bought it. I have a small fan that I grew together duct work to fit into where the blowers were supposed to go that I am using for now

Right now the paddle feed cycles on for about 4 min and then off for 12

I suspect your not blowing the hot air off the stove and into the duct, if I run my stove at 400 for more than a hour in this weather it would heat us outa here, I have the standard Alaska steel top with a 6" duct ring cut in it and 6" stove pipe from the duct ring to a register in the floor, turn the convection blower on and lots of heat

I must add my stove is also I the basement

You do have a barometric damper installed?

Yes I do have a baro, it is in the same spot and everything as I used with the hand fed, do you know of a place to get the blowers other then Alaska? I have a dealer here in lancaster I can call. I'm a little Leary about buying 2 $100 blowers with the way the stove has been performing so far... I'm running two 6" flexible insulated ducts (because it was stuff I had here, rather then going to get metal duct) off the top

Your Hitzer is a radiant stove, and a big one at that. I'm sure it kept the basement very warm and the floors in the house felt great. A stoker stove with a hot air jacket produces much less radiant heat, and depends on fans to move the heated air. If you don't have the right fans, I am not surprised that the performance is poor. With that said, I don't think you will ever be happy with the performance compared to that Hitzer.

That used to be the case with the Hitzer, then I built a cabinet around it and left the bottom open. And it would push air up through 8" duct straight up about 4-5' into the kitchen without a fan and easily heat the house. On single digit windy days it ran really hard and struggled. But the cabinet helped keep the basement at a reasonable temp and got heat upstairs much faster and efficiently. I believe the stoker is rated for 2000 or 2500 sqft., which I have less then 2000. Including the basement I'm at 1800. But the stove room is closed off, so if I'm ducting the heat up to the kitchen I'm only really heating 1200 sqft or so. I'll Loose a little off the stove in the basement I know.

What are you doing for a cold air return?

The same as the hand fed. I have a vent at bottom of the steps that got to second floor pulling cold air into the basement. Air flowing and moving through the house isn't the problem as it worked great with other stove with out any fan pushing the hot air. I realize this stoker is set up with a fan and I'm thinking that is part of the problem, just not 100% sure. I'm new to this stoker thing.

As Rob said, that stoker will not outperform the Hitzer.
Firstly, the Hitzer is a 100,000 BTU stove, your stoker is rated lower than that.
Second, the Hitzer is a radiant stove, it supplies heat continuously 24X7 as long as you keep coal in it. The stoker is designed to cycle on and off(so to speak), just like an oil or gas furnace.

It sounds like you're not getting the hot air off the stove, I have a keystoker 90 and heat 1200 main floor and 1200 in the basement where the stove is located. In this weather it only comes up off idle maybe twice a day, temp set at 72 and by the time it makes it back down to idle the house is usually 74-75 since it's been so mild here.

I'll be honest and share my stoker stove story.

I replaced a good size wood stove (comparable to the size of your Hitzer) with a Keystoker 90. Which is the Keystoker equivalent to your Channing.

The woodstove, (if you kept it fed) would radiate heat throughout the house without fans or anything. Even on the coldest days in Western NY. The Keystoker 90 on the other hand ran flat out for most of January, and all of February 2015. By flat out I mean I left the Honeywell thermostat at 90, and the house stayed about 65*

I got tired of trying to move air around the house and tied in a coal stoker boiler into my existing hydronic system.

I'm sorry this isn't helpfull, and im sure it's not what you wanted to hear.

Here is my Keystoker 90 install photos, the old woodburner is in the begining going out. Keystoker 90 Install

Olllotj wrote:I'll be honest and share my stoker stove story.

I replaced a good size wood stove (comparable to the size of your Hitzer) with a Keystoker 90. Which is the Keystoker equivalent to your Channing.

The woodstove, (if you kept it fed) would radiate heat throughout the house without fans or anything. Even on the coldest days in Western NY. The Keystoker 90 on the other hand ran flat out for most of January, and all of February 2015. By flat out I mean I left the Honeywell thermostat at 90, and the house stayed about 65*

I got tired of trying to move air around the house and tied in a coal stoker boiler into my existing hydronic system.

I'm sorry this isn't helpfull, and im sure it's not what you wanted to hear.

Here is my Keystoker 90 install photos, the old woodburner is in the begining going out. Keystoker 90 Install

My keystoker is tied right into my duct work, it had an 8" take off installed by keystoker. It was down in the 20s last night and it used maybe a bucket full of coal, thermostat set at 72 and it was 74.

It sounds like your keystoker wasn't burning at its full capacity. Also being tied into the ductwork vs it being essentially a space heater in your case makes a big difference.

The guy I bought it off of used it to heat a house bigger than mine and he had no issue.

Then again I do live in South Central PA and you live in New York so temps are different ad well.