New to Coal With Koker Lite

 
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ElCamMan515
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Posts: 306
Joined: Sat. May. 17, 2014 9:48 am
Location: North Norwich, NY
Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Keystoker K-Lite
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Surdiac Gotha 513
Coal Size/Type: Rice and Pea Anthracite

Post by ElCamMan515 » Thu. Jan. 07, 2016 5:47 am

Hello all,

Here is a small update.

It seems the change to lower the low setting has worked, the convection blower runs longer and temps in house are higher. OATs were 15°F last night with a 5 degree windchill, but tstat said 69 this morning compared to it saying 65 yesterday morning. I'll post an update early next week once the polar vortex settles in.

Thanks again Rob for your suggestion and help.

Tim


 
WNYRob
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Posts: 264
Joined: Thu. Apr. 14, 2011 12:13 pm
Location: Springville, NY
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Keystoker Koker controlled with CoalTrol

Post by WNYRob » Thu. Jan. 07, 2016 7:27 am

The other thing that helps with lowering my temp swings is by the stove being controlled by a coaltrol. When it turns cold outside, the coaltrol hardly ever drops down to the idle feed setting so there is always enough heat produced to keep the convection fan from turning off. Without the coaltrol, a regular thermostat would allow the stove to drop to idle automatically, every time the house heated up to satisfy the temp setting. This would cause the fan to turn off and on a number of times throughout the day, thus magnifying the on - off temp swing problem I mentioned in the earlier post.

One thing to watch, with the fan on so much, is the air filter. Obviously its life is reduced quicker with the fan on constantly.

 
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ElCamMan515
Member
Posts: 306
Joined: Sat. May. 17, 2014 9:48 am
Location: North Norwich, NY
Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Keystoker K-Lite
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Surdiac Gotha 513
Coal Size/Type: Rice and Pea Anthracite

Post by ElCamMan515 » Thu. Jan. 07, 2016 7:36 am

Rob,

With the K-lite in a dirt floor unfinished basement, the filters don't last very long, I change them the once a month to ensure the blower is moving as much air as possible with little restriction. Filters are cheap enough to easily replace frequently.

Tim

 
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ElCamMan515
Member
Posts: 306
Joined: Sat. May. 17, 2014 9:48 am
Location: North Norwich, NY
Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Keystoker K-Lite
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Surdiac Gotha 513
Coal Size/Type: Rice and Pea Anthracite

Post by ElCamMan515 » Wed. Apr. 20, 2016 7:10 am

Hello everyone,

Last night I officially shut down the K-lite. I used 4.5-5 tons of rice coal this year.

This summer I am going to remake a heat jacket out of 1/8 steel with a 1 inch air gap between the stove sides and jacket. Also going to attach a small blower to one side to be able to wash heat off sides of stove and into convection blower to be circulated to ducts.

Here's to the 2016-17 heating season.

Tim

 
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StokerDon
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Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Wed. Apr. 20, 2016 7:26 pm

Here, Here!!!

I can't wait!

-Don

 
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ElCamMan515
Member
Posts: 306
Joined: Sat. May. 17, 2014 9:48 am
Location: North Norwich, NY
Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Keystoker K-Lite
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Surdiac Gotha 513
Coal Size/Type: Rice and Pea Anthracite

Post by ElCamMan515 » Tue. Oct. 25, 2016 9:09 pm

Hello all,

With temps starting to dip into the 30s at night I lit up the K-lite this evening. I wasn't able to make a new heat jacket for the stove over the summer as planned, but hope to before end of heating season. I did rerun the manometer to read draft per Keystoker recommendations. It is run to see draft at firebox. Shall see if this makes any difference since the last 2 years I've been running mano off stove pipe draft.

Here's to a good heating season.

Tim

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freetown fred
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Posts: 30293
Joined: Thu. Dec. 31, 2009 12:33 pm
Location: Freetown,NY 13803
Hand Fed Coal Stove: HITZER 50-93
Coal Size/Type: BLASCHAK Nut

Post by freetown fred » Tue. Oct. 25, 2016 9:14 pm

Same back at ya E. :)


 
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ElCamMan515
Member
Posts: 306
Joined: Sat. May. 17, 2014 9:48 am
Location: North Norwich, NY
Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Keystoker K-Lite
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Surdiac Gotha 513
Coal Size/Type: Rice and Pea Anthracite

Post by ElCamMan515 » Wed. Oct. 26, 2016 10:51 am

All,

Woke up to a warm house and warm floors in the living room (wife loves having warm floors in winter). Both the K-lite and Surdiac will be working in unison to keep house warm til spring once again. Bring on winter, I'm ready!

Tim

 
Jfreethy
Member
Posts: 47
Joined: Thu. Jan. 09, 2014 5:41 am
Location: Tunkhannock, pa
Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Keystone Koker Lite
Coal Size/Type: Oiled Rice
Other Heating: propane, and electric

Post by Jfreethy » Thu. Oct. 27, 2016 11:05 am

I had also planned on making a jacket for my koker but I went in a different direction. I wrapped my stove in ceramic fiber insulation. the same stuff they use for a kilm. I'll snap some pics when I get home from work.

Here's the basic backstory. I have a bi-level the furnace is mounted in the basement. The room the furnace is in is an extra room which we've since turned into a workout space. When the furnace was running that room would be around 95 degrees. After installing the ceramic fiber insulation on the furnace the temperature of that room and drop to around 73 degrees. My initial concerns was that too much heat would be retained in the unit causing warping or some sort of damage to the nylon components.

So I began by wrapping the sides and top of the unit leaving the face on wrapped. Using a digital infrared thermometer I was able to monitor the temperature of the Furnace both on the on wrapped service, the back of the unit, and on top of the insulation. What is determined running the unit for almost a month is that no significant heat is being transferred to the area where the Nylon gear set is. In that area I'm seeing a peek temperature of around a hundred and ten degrees. The surface of the insulation when the units in full run gets to around a hundred and fifteen hundred and twenty degrees max.

I then wrapped the front and noticed no change to the temperature in the back of the unit. I left no insulation over the doors. Much to my surprise the internal operating temperature of the Furnace also has not increased drastically it still runs around 400 450 degrees. This was very similar to what I've seen over the last two years with my Koker.

A little bit about the insulation I purchased it from a seller on Amazon. It came in a roll so it's like a fiberglass blanket but made out of ceramic. The roll was 2 feet in width by 50 feet in length and 1 inch in thickness. This was more than enough material to cover the unit. I believe the price was around 60- $80 shipped. Installation was a very quick and easy.

 
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ElCamMan515
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Posts: 306
Joined: Sat. May. 17, 2014 9:48 am
Location: North Norwich, NY
Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Keystoker K-Lite
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Surdiac Gotha 513
Coal Size/Type: Rice and Pea Anthracite

Post by ElCamMan515 » Thu. Oct. 27, 2016 11:51 am

Jfreethy,

I'd like to see pictures of your set up. How much sq ft are you heating with your K-lite and what is your yearly coal usage?

Tim

 
Jfreethy
Member
Posts: 47
Joined: Thu. Jan. 09, 2014 5:41 am
Location: Tunkhannock, pa
Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Keystone Koker Lite
Coal Size/Type: Oiled Rice
Other Heating: propane, and electric

Post by Jfreethy » Thu. Oct. 27, 2016 11:56 am

Heating approximately 1700sf. Of a 70s bi-level. I have a 24x24 addition that is over a un heated crawlspace too. I would has 5-6 tons ... but I burn from end of September to about April or May. we keep ther thermostat set to 74-75*

 
Olllotj
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Posts: 558
Joined: Thu. Sep. 04, 2014 10:01 am
Location: Western NY 14141
Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KB-8
Coal Size/Type: Buckwheat
Other Heating: Utica Propane Hot Water

Post by Olllotj » Thu. Oct. 27, 2016 12:01 pm

I really like the Kokers, BUT always wish that keystoker would build them with one of their non nylon stoker units.

Sounds like all went great on the insulation project, good idea. And you could always still wrap the sides in sheet metal to make it look pretty :D

 
Jfreethy
Member
Posts: 47
Joined: Thu. Jan. 09, 2014 5:41 am
Location: Tunkhannock, pa
Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Keystone Koker Lite
Coal Size/Type: Oiled Rice
Other Heating: propane, and electric

Post by Jfreethy » Thu. Oct. 27, 2016 4:21 pm

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Definitely not a professional job but it tuned out great. I used one peice for the sides and top cut to fit. Then I u used to separate pieces to make up the front. Until I can get skins made for it I I'm keeping everything in place with two pieces of wire that I just wrapped around the entire unit. The fiberglass blank it is pretty stiff but to keep it from sagging over time I thought it was a good addition.

 
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freetown fred
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Posts: 30293
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Location: Freetown,NY 13803
Hand Fed Coal Stove: HITZER 50-93
Coal Size/Type: BLASCHAK Nut

Post by freetown fred » Thu. Oct. 27, 2016 4:25 pm

Ya done good J. :)

 
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ElCamMan515
Member
Posts: 306
Joined: Sat. May. 17, 2014 9:48 am
Location: North Norwich, NY
Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Keystoker K-Lite
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Surdiac Gotha 513
Coal Size/Type: Rice and Pea Anthracite

Post by ElCamMan515 » Thu. Oct. 27, 2016 4:26 pm

What is the fire rating of insulation??

Very interesting to see.


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