Koker Cleaning

Heya folks,
Just a quick two questions for those of you who own Kokers. I shut er' down just a few days ago from what was a very suce$$ful burning season and began my first ever "Summerizing," clean-out.

1) My coal hopper seems to have a fair amount of rust on it from two tons of wet Reading that went through it. I do not want to paint the inside of my stove, though, would it be appropriate to paint the hopper? I used a wire brush and steel wool to get some of the rust away and put some LP3 down.

2) I cleaned out the three grates (plates?) where the coal sits inside the stove. Along the sides of the grates I removed a lot of what seemed like a white stucco-like substance. Is this some type of high-temp adhesive that I'll have to replace once I put the grates back or is this compacted coal? I've attached a picture.

Thanks again for all your continued help!

Respectfully,
Mike.

PS: Any Koker specific cleaning tips beyond my two questions are always welcome.

Just shut mine down yesterday! Been burning with my koker for 6 years now. Love it!

I have painted my hopper once and touch it up end of season.

That white stucco substance is supposed to be there, it is cement to make sure you have the grates sealed properly.

Make sure your three grates are sealed on both sides and in the back or you risk hopper fires.

I just replaced a gear motor that sounded like it was getting tired.

I replaced a combustion fan last year that was making noise.

Also be sure to remove the combustion blower and vacumme under the grates to remove fines...found a bunch this year.

Also do not keep any coal in your hopper off season.

DO NOT paint the inside of the koker....I did one year and it alol flaked off and I used the best hi temp paint I could get.

Do not spray the inside with baking soda or anything....just vacumme it well with a dry vac and put a lightbulb in it.

Good advice jrn, about the only thing I can add is that with mine I spray the hopper & inside the furnace as well (naturally after a good cleaning) with some PAM cooking spray & so far my hopper is good. Also I have a direct vent so after cleaning I remove the T from the outside & seal off the exhaust from outside humidity & it also keeps from sucking the heat & dryness that the light bulb provides.

You may want to re-paint your coal hopper with a more abrasive resistant paint. I used spray-on bed liner, but some people don't like using it because it doesn't provide a smooth surface for the coal to slide on. I, myself, have no problem with it since I am checking the stove every day anyways.

Also, as the others have mentioned, it is imperative that you re-cement the grates exactly the way they originally came from Keystoker. Not having them sealed properly will guarantee you a hopper fire next year. In my case, I don't see the need to remove my grates. The surface vacuums cleanly at clean out time, I hand-insert a drill bit in each of the vent holes to make sure they are clear then vacuum out under the grates by taking the combustion blower off and going through that hole.

You can order a smaller hose that connects to a dry vac and fits right in that hole under the grates. I did and it's great for removing the fines!

All great advice guys. I think I'm just about done with the cleaning as of today. I spent about four hours going over all the surfaces with a putty knife followed up with some medium/course steel wool.

The tough spots / rust spots got the wire brush attached to my cordless drill. All was vacuumed out (Inclusive of the tight spot underneath the grate) and I put a liberal amount of LPS3 on the interior surfaces. Finished it off with the bronze heat rod and a 4lbs bucket of DampRid. Hygrometer is reading "LL" for lower limit. Seems as if all is well.

Do you folks know what kind of cement would be appropriate for those grates? I'm mildly regretting that I took them out being that it was only the first season and that it was spotless underneath the grates.

Has anyone here ever replaced their cement? I'm assuming a liberal amount on all sides except for the one closest to the door?

Thanks again for all the input, much appreciated.

-Mike.

You want to use furnace cement, to withstand the high temps. I would go easy on the "liberal" amount of cement. You want to seal all the seams that were originally sealed, but you also need to make sure you maintain a nice smooth surface for the coal to slide over. Yes the sides need to be sealed but the two slots between each of the grates also need to be sealed starting at the back and coming forward up to the burn area (where the holes are drilled out). I will try to find a digital picture of my grates as they originally looked when I get home. I took a picture of them prior to starting my stove up, after my dealer warned me about removing the existing cement.

Properly sealing the grates ensures the combustion air is forced to only flow through the portion of the grates that are drilled out. Any wayward air that blows behind (toward the hopper) the burn area of the grates will allow the coal to ignite further back on the grates and possibly up into the hopper.

Great response from all, nice having a supportive forum Good information from members with the same unit.

Here are the pictures I took of my grates prior to using the koker. The cemented areas don't really show up too well because the cement color is the same as the steel. But you can still kind of tell where the cement goes. Basically all seams between the drilled out holes and the back of the steel plates.

WNYRob,
That's fantastic that you've retained those pictures. Thanks a ton for taking the time to post them.

I did some research on the forum and found the stove cement from "Lehman's," was well recommended. I picked up a tube and a new caulking gun and will post some pics this week after I get my hands on it.

The factory cement they used on my stove dried an off white so even after cleaning the plates I can still see reminants of where it was applied. I'll do my best to follow the existing marks.

Thanks again for the help!

-Mike

Got the stove cement from Lehmans today and applied it to the grates. Not as clean as the factory job, but, I think its air-tight around the seal for sure. Do you folks foresee any issues with uneven/improper feeding?

The middle seams look good, just make sure they are nice and smooth and even with the top of the grates. The sides look like they may be a little thick. It probably isn't worth worrying about right now, but when you start it up this fall, pay attention to how the burn pattern looks. If the coal along the sides of the rails are getting hung up by the cement, you won't have a nice straight burn line running across your bed. If this happens, you may want to shut down and shave some of the cement off. Better to be mindful of it early on and take care of it before you really need the heat later on.

While you are at it. Did you notice an accumulation of raw coal under the stoker when you cleaned out? This is also a common problem. If you look at the back of the grates from the back of the stove (where the hopper sits), you may see a gap between the grate side walls and where the stoker mechanism is inserted into the stove. This is not a defect and many folks (including me) have just filled that gap with cement. Again, keep it nice and smooth and in line with the inside of the walls so coal doesn't get hung up on it. Not a big deal, but that gap does let small pieces of coal fall below the stoker into the stove.