Koker Owners Question

 
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SWPaDon
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Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Clayton 1600M
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Post by SWPaDon » Wed. Mar. 18, 2015 6:35 pm

ChrisS wrote:I pulled out my manual, and it said pulled out is automatic and pushed in is manual. I did both and confirmed.
Ut oh, I goofed on that. But the biggest thing is, there is no middle position.


 
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McGiever
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Stoker Coal Boiler: AXEMAN-ANDERSON 130 "1959"
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Coal Size/Type: PEA,NUT,STOVE /ANTHRACITE
Other Heating: Ground Source Heat Pump and some Solar

Post by McGiever » Wed. Mar. 18, 2015 7:11 pm

Half way would cause the symptoms you first described.
Hopefully no permanent damage was done to the switch!

 
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ChrisS
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Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Keystoker Koker
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Other Heating: Heat Pump (set to "OFF" now), Propane FP insert

Post by ChrisS » Wed. Mar. 18, 2015 10:37 pm

Blower seems to be functioning as normal now. I had a neighbor tending to it while we were gone a few days, so I'll blame him for accidentally bumping the button. No way it could have been me. ;)

Thanks, guys! This is why I joined this forum...

 
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SWPaDon
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Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Clayton 1600M
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Post by SWPaDon » Thu. Mar. 19, 2015 6:51 am

Thanks for the update. Glad to hear it is working correctly now.

 
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ChrisS
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Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Keystoker Koker
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Other Heating: Heat Pump (set to "OFF" now), Propane FP insert

Post by ChrisS » Fri. May. 01, 2015 8:20 am

How do you typically shut down your Koker? That is, do you just turn it off and let it go out? Or do you let it burn through whatever coal is there and let is go out that way? I should check my manual, maybe it tells me. This weekend will be the last of the burning for this season, so I was wondering how others let the Koker go out.

 
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blrman07
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Post by blrman07 » Fri. May. 01, 2015 8:29 am

If you let it use up all the coal you don't have to clean out the hopper to summerize it.

 
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Billg
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Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Key Stoker Koker
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Post by Billg » Fri. May. 01, 2015 2:26 pm

You have to be careful if you read the manual I believe it states that you should have the hopper at least 1/2 full at all times. Once the coal gets below there it could create a draft through the hopper and pull the fire back causing a hopper fire which will melt the nylon cam that feeds the coal in. I unplug it when the hopper is about 1/2 full then unplug the stoker and let it go out and then empty the hopper to start cleaning out the stoker for the season.


 
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ChrisS
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Post by ChrisS » Wed. May. 13, 2015 7:43 am

Has anyone with a Koker used the standard thermostat that came with it, and then switched to the Coal-Trol later? I am wondering if it is worth the switch. The website says to estimate maybe a 10-15% reduction in coal usage, which does not seem like much. Our Koker worked fine this first year in use with just the Honeywell, but then again, I have no history to compare, being our first year into coal. Just wondering what others have experienced with their Koker and thermostats.

Our set up:

Koker in basement, connected to first floor ductwork. Thermostat in living room, across the room from the floor vent. Second floor relies on heat rising through one floor vent and up some stairs. Basically, it worked very well, just looking for second-year tweaks and optimization now, but don't want to go crazy with it, either.

 
jrn8265
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Post by jrn8265 » Fri. May. 15, 2015 12:53 pm

I have a koker and use a good honeywell tstat in our living room as well. Has worked awesome since day onegoing on 7 years now keeping within a degree of set point. I looked at the coaltrol for it and for me it's just too complex for the little gain. There were also overheating issues early on with koker blowers with the colatrol. Probably resolved now but I still wonder. I stick with what is simple and works. Works for me just the tstat and full bore blower!

 
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ChrisS
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Other Heating: Heat Pump (set to "OFF" now), Propane FP insert

Post by ChrisS » Fri. May. 15, 2015 1:33 pm

I called and spoke to Neal, who sells the Coal-Trol. I gotta tell you, there is some credibility with him. Before talking about the Coal-Trol, we asked a bunch of questions about my setup. He's happy to sell me one, but he is first suggesting I change some things up regarding my return air to the Koker, making it more efficient and not wasting heat to surrounding air. Then, he said, come back to him afterwards and we'll talk about that change. But he agreed that making that change now would result in minimal efficiency improvements. I appreciated that from him. And to be honest, given that this is just my first year into coal, I have no real complaints, this is much better than the heat pumps we've used all the years before.

 
WNYRob
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Post by WNYRob » Sun. May. 17, 2015 6:11 am

ChrisS wrote:The blower on my Koker 160 makes a sound about every 15 seconds, sounding like it is trying to turn on, but then does not. I have only noticed this recently, after the recent run of really cold weather, not that the blower is not running as much, with milder temperatures outside. I just don't recall this during past "idle" times. Eventually, the blower does fully activate and run for a few minutes or for whatever time needed according to its settings. Just wondered if anyone had input on whether or not this sounds normal. This Koker was new, just installed this past November.
Friday night I noticed my convection fan was turning on for a minute or so at a time then turning off, every so often. When I went to check it Saturday morning, low and behold, I found my push button pulled out half way. I must have bumped it sometime Friday into a half way position, resulting in the exact same operating condition you were experiencing. And this was occurring during idle conditions, the stove temp was no where near high enough to trigger the limit switch to turn on the fan.

 
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ChrisS
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Other Heating: Heat Pump (set to "OFF" now), Propane FP insert

Post by ChrisS » Mon. Oct. 05, 2015 8:16 am

OK, so, firing up the Koker, and ready to implement some changes the rep from Coal-Trol recommended. Last year I used surrounding basement floor air to provide for my "return" air. My Koker is connected to both the supply and return ducts of my HVAC system, so I do not have a dedicated circulation or re-circulation of house air. This was an acceptable installation method done by our installer, according to Keystoker.

I have a window directly behind my Koker, and Larry recommended running a dryer vent hose or similar from that window down to the convection fan, to use fresh air from outside as a return air supply. I cut some plywood and have this ready to go. My question is, why specifically do I need to do this? Can someone explain why this makes for a more efficient system?

My set up, to review:
Two story house, with a basement.
Koker 160 in the basement, connected to first floor ductwork (first floor toasty warm, second floor not so much, but really only for sleeping).
Ductwork connections to both supply and return trunks of the HVAC.
Basement door usually left open for air supply and convention heat rising up the stairs.

 
titleist1
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Post by titleist1 » Mon. Oct. 05, 2015 8:37 am

I just want to make sure our terms are consistent, but I think a convection fan is what I call my distribution fan. I use outside air to my combustion fan not my distribution fan. Then I am not taking inside the house air and blowing it up the chimney creating a pressure difference and sucking more cold outside air through any cracks in the house.

Doing this I noticed a difference with less draftiness in my basement.

 
jrn8265
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Post by jrn8265 » Mon. Oct. 05, 2015 8:47 am

I just leave a window cracked near my koker. Why would you need to put a hose from outside to the combustion fan? Seems it will not do much!

 
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ChrisS
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Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Keystoker Koker
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Other Heating: Heat Pump (set to "OFF" now), Propane FP insert

Post by ChrisS » Mon. Oct. 05, 2015 9:01 am

To titleist, sorry, needed more coffee and to proofread my post. ;)
Yes, combustion fan, not convection fan. The suggestion was air to my combustion fan.

jrn8265, I could also leave this window cracked. I dunno, the guy I talked to just recommended dropping a dryer vent hose to that area. My window would make the area subject to invading critters, so I could screen it off, I suppose.

I guess I am just making sure this is a better setup, and I'm always curious to know why. So I come here. When my wife asks "why?" I can say, "Well, these guys on this coal forum, they're smarter than I am on these things, and, well, they think its a good idea." House is warm, she's fine, so I just now look to tweak and get better at efficiency with this system.


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