Keystoker KA-6 Boiler Spring Operation

I have a brand new Keystoker KA-6 Boiler that just finished it's first heating season.
The boiler is fantastic and I recommend it to anyone looking to switch to coal.

As the weather has been warming up I haven't noticed any problems with operation, but I definitely may have missed some
symptoms. Yesterday I found the fire out and tried to relight it....for about 3 hours. I checked the flue pipe and the chimney and cleaned out a little bit of ash that had built up...but it was not enough to restrict the airflow very much. That made no difference.
I tried adjusting the round damper on the auxiliary blower a couple times but no luck.

Can someone post a list of adjustments to try. Maybe what needs to be adjusted on a "Normal stove" for warm weather operation.

I haven't adjusted the coal feed yet because I was convinced that it was a draft problem, but it looks like that's all there is left to try.

The coal never really gets burning. Either the coal is "pushing the fire into the ash bucket...or the draft is just not strong enough.
Any ideas would really be appreciated.

Thanks much
Steve

Welcome steve and I agree with you it does sound draft related. First thing to check is did you clean out the fines under the grates. You would be surprised how much stuff accumulates in just one year of use. Do you have a manometer to check the draft at the boiler? That will tell you a lot.

Start with making sure the fines have been removed and then get someone to check your draft if you don't have a manometer.

As was said, if flue is clear look for fines under the grate.
Whenever getting nearer to the bottom of the coal bin or after many bags the amount of fines will effect the proper amount and pattern that the air comes through the grate holes.

What you describe sure fits this.

You can vacuum without removing the grate by going in by pulling off the small blower fan.

Making fire when it is warm out can be challenging. Do you know how to disengage the coal feed when the big motor and blower are running? This is important when making a fire. Ash on the bottom half of the grate also helps to keep the coal from sliding down.

A spring cleaning never hurts. Measuring draft is important, I like a draft gauge because it is quick and easy to use and is smaller than a deck of cards but they are expensive little tools. A manometer would be a more economical option. Bottom line; Know your draft.

Assuming that your small blower is running constantly and there are no problems there I would want to be certain your timer is set properly. The basic setting would be to run 1 minute every 15 minutes. If you were to run the stoker motor and time the feed mechanism you will find that it takes about 60 seconds for a complete cycle so you need to run it for about 60 seconds to be sure to feed fresh coal to the fire. This needs to occur every 15 minutes to maintain a fire. This is a time tested setting in fact the old Keystoker timers ran on a 15 minute cycle and the only adjustment was the run time within that 15 minute cycle. If your current timer settings deviate drastically from this consider changing them.
If you were heating a house with this boiler all winter I would assume the feed rate is enough.

Some coal is piss poor to keep burning in the summer. If after trying and checking everything else and you still can’t keep a fire I would consider getting a couple hundred pounds of different coal to check that out.

Hey Steve, welcome to the forum.. Get ready to learn a lot about burning coal. It sounds to me that you have a buildup of fines under the grates that is probably choking your fire.

At a minimum, I would clean the fines out from underneath the grates. It's a tight squeeze but it can be done. I use a small shop vac, 1.5 gal with an "A" bag in it along with small attachments.

I shut the unit down at the breaker and let it cool for a while. Remove the primary fan motor and fan and you should be able to get the hose with attachments on it into the area with no problem. When I started having the same problem last week, I popped my grates out, I don't suggest you do that since the unit is brand new and the grates need to be cemented back in place, and found that from it running all season, the fines were so high, the grates left impressions in the fines.

Once you have the fines out, reassemble the fan and motor to the unit, power it up and light your fire. You may need to make a few minor adjustments once she gets going, but you should be good to go after that.

There will probably be more people jumping in with other ideas but that's where I would start.
Good Luck, Stay Warm!
Barry