Alaska Channing III Need Help Very Nervous

Dave,

No problem. That's what we are all here for. To help each other out.


Glad to see that you finally have your problem resolved. Now tonight you can just gather the family and all sit in front of the stove and be warm.

Then maybe put the kids to bed early and get rewarded for your accomplishment ???????




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Rick

Heh he he

Well, the bin started catching on fire after 3 days of perfect running. I don't think it was from sucking too much air. I thinks it's because I had the cumbustion fan on high and the feed down on very low, creating too much ash. Am I supposed to put a little more feed to keep that from happening?

Dave,

That would be my guess. The coal being fed down the grate wasn't moving fast enough so it burned the coal uphill.

But I thought you finally had that thing fixed.


Perhaps your stove is posessed ???




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Rick

It'could also be the strong back gasket needs replaced

Ok, after a few weeks of perfect operation, the fire creeping up to the coal bin has returned yet again! This is getting frustrtating toi say the least. I have replaced EVERY gasket on this thing. What next?

You should only get a hopper fire if the hopper gets really low and the coal doesn't cover the hole that leads into the grate. Are u getting a fire with a full or even a 1/2 full hopper? Do u have a DV or PV?

Update on Dave's (crochunisclan) situation:

He warped the carpet plate again.

He talked to Alaska and they suspect that he has too much draft. The original owner had wired all of the controls on his triburner through a single rheostat including the PV. He separated the PV from that wiring and has been running the PV full throttle by plugging it directly into a wall outlet. He does have a baro but it is a type "N." The baro only has the single knurled knob that I suspect moves in and out from the baro plate for its adjustment.

After consulting with Matthaus he said that Dave definitely needs to put a rheostat on the PV. Dave will be looking to hook one up capable of controlling shaded pole motors.

My suggestion to Dave was to run the rheostat at 50% and then adjust the baro to just slightly open at that speed. And he should verify the draft with a match to make sure that the baro was indeed drawing the smoke into the chimney through it.

Does this sound proper without Dave having a manometer to assist his setting ????


I also urged him to either get on the loaner list or to purchase a manometer for himself.



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Rick

I would adjust the weight on the baro to 4 (is equivalent to -.04" WC give or take) and then adjust the rheostat to achieve a slight flutter in the baro. This way he will know that he is on the edge of -.04" WC, which will eliminate excessive draft from the hopper fire equation.

Just remember with a proper draft and a sealed grate (at the back where it joins the plenum) a hopper fire is virtually impossible, regardless of whether you are burning rice or buck.

My baro does not have any markings on it to tell me whether or not I'm at .04 WC. It has a single knurled knob that you turn to adjust the flap. There is a large round counter weight on the inside of the flap that moves in and out. I know I don't have a rheostat or a manometer yet, but if I adjust this, will I be able to operate the stove safely? I was messing withit last night without the stove running. If I am over drafting the stove, would increasing the ammount the baro opens when the Power vent is on full blast? When the stove was installed, the guy who installed it
the baro set it to be open about 1/2" at the bottom. (It is a 6" baro) Should it be opening more than that? Or should the Power Vent just be drawn down?



traderfjp:
The fire starts creeping even when the hopper is full. The stove is power Vented

Type M or RC are for coal use, any other type is not approved to my knowledge. Get rid of that thing and get a type RC, in the long run you won't be sorry.

This is the Baro that the Alaska Dealer gave me. How do I approach him with this?

UPDATE:

Called the wife. She looked at the paperwork and the model they gave us is a Field Controls B-34TJ.

Dave,

They sold you this :

http://www.fieldcontrols.com/cart/index ... ucts_id=14



What you really need is this :

http://www.fieldcontrols.com/draftcontrol.php



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Rick

Well, I'm burning coal..again---and it seems to be working right. Thanks again for all your help, especially Mathaus and Rick. You guys are great.
I installed my manometer and Mathaus walked me through setting up the vent and damper using the manometer. When I turned on the power vent, it shot up to over .3 on the manometer! After getting it down to .04, it started burning great. I'm even getting red ash now, but I'm still tweaking it to get a full burn. It's almost burning completely, but not quite there yet. I can't believe how much heat was being sucked out the vent. I'm burning less coal, getting way more heat and burning better. I had to replace the threaded rod on the stoker mechanism because it was binding up. Here are some pics.