New Stove Is Home!!! Keystoker 90K

well here is some pics of my new stove, well new to me anyways. I have no idea of the vintage but its not in bad shape. everything works as the guy had it firing for me before I bought it. I spend several hours today using a dual action sander, I ALL of the rust off and scuffed down the rest of the paint pretty good. I cleaned it out throughly although it wasnt a real mess it did need some inside cleaning. the stove has a newer blower motor and it should be ready to through out some real BTU's. im really impressed at the build quality seems to be a very solid robust heating stove. I like the way all of the controls are solid, industry standard honeywell controls. from the looks of things I should get many years out of this unit. I paid $900 and that included delivery, the guy had to bring the stove over an hour to bring it to me.

i also am including some pictures of my chimney. I had him look at it while he was here and he said while he never would suggest burning wood with that chimney that burning coal is not going to be a worry at all. I checked the stove with a mirror and I could see all the way through, I could see daylight.

the only question I have is how is draft created? is it from gases rising? I know the previous owners burned many years with this chimney and its it has allot of height so it should have a good draft but how do you really know?

if you see that pic of the cresoate running down the side of the chimney (previous owner had some nasty chimney fires) yeah I would never use this for wood but from what I have learned of coal burning I am confident that there's nothing to worry about when it comes to coal. my boss told me he came across someone once that was burning coal in a stove that was vented using PVC, not that is a wise choice, it none the less did not melt plastic pipe. I don't see a chimney fire ever being an issue. now what about fly ash, do you guys have to clean your chimney's to eliminate the fly ash?

Fly ash? Just the horizontal runs of stovepipe need it. Usually, a mid season cleaning keeps the mistress happy. The chimney should need nothing unless it has problems.

First congrats on your new stove I'm sure your going to be very happy.

So thats the chimney your so worried about, I doubt thats creosote you see looks more like rust dripping from something above. Where are these cracks you speak of? Try and get a pic closer and show us better.

As discussed in another thread open them clean outs and look for broken tile, put a mirror and light in there. Open that thimble and have a good look you should be able to tell visually just how bad it is if at all. This ain't rocket science

I am running the same stove. I bought mine new in 2009. I am not a Keystoker historian, but I think it has the style of the newer ones. I run mine with a Coal-trol and could not be happier after 27 years with a hand fed. I think you will be very happy.

the cracks are more like small hairline fractures not large cracks. they deferentially got this thing hot but burning coal which has ZERO risk of a chimney fire I don't think im going to worry about it anymore

2001Sierra wrote:I am running the same stove. I bought mine new in 2009. I am not a Keystoker historian, but I think it has the style of the newer ones. I run mine with a Coal-trol and could not be happier after 27 years with a hand fed. I think you will be very happy.

coal-trol, why is that necessary? these stoves run a wall thermostat. just curious. I am not entirely sure how all of the controls are setup but they look pretty simple like something a furnace would have had 30 some years ago.

With coal, I wouldn't worry about that chimney at all. Do not use wood at all though............that would scare me.

It appears that the terra cotta tile has been comprimised, according to the pictures, but the chimney is seperated from the house which is good and bad both. You will see lower exhaust temps with coal, but I see no danger of burning the house down (via the pics) .

Please have the chimney inspection done though, because the pictures don't show everything

And just to add...............you should not have started a new thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There were lot's of people following your other thread, waiting for pictures............now they don't know where to find your information

coal-trol, why is that necessary? these stoves run a wall thermostat. just curious. I am not entirely sure how all of the controls are setup but they look pretty simple like something a furnace would have had 30 some years ago.[/quote]

I am not saying Coal-trol is necessary. But after 27 years of savings with coal I felt those savings should afford me some "Coal Bling" so I optioned the stove up, with the Coal-trol and brass accents. There are some features the Coal-trol gives me that electro-mechanical controls cannot. Kind of like the old days when my Dads pinball business when into solid state logic. It was not for him but I fit right in.

ad356 wrote:the only question I have is how is draft created? is it from gases rising? I know the previous owners burned many years with this chimney and its it has allot of height so it should have a good draft but how do you really know?

Congrats!!!!

I recommend getting a manometer and connect it to the flue pipe to measure your draft. Most here use either a magnahelic gauge or a dwyer Mark II Model 25. Either will work, it is just personal preference. Both can be found on fleabay for short $.

Also, please get a couple CO monitors, the digital readout kind. The non display kind are programmed to alarm at a specific level, but the numeric display type will show you the level while it is below the alarm set point. (Hopefully it always reads 0!!)

A couple temp gauges are also useful. A barbeque probe in the flue pipe and a magnetic for the stoker body or get a laser temp reader and drive the cat nuts when you are bored and not taking temps.

The thermostat should work fine for you. I have our 'stat on the first floor wired to the stoker in the basement.

what does a coal-trol do that factory controls do not. I am not entirely sure how everything works anyways. I know that the box mounted to the side of the stove is the automatic fan control and the timer mounted to the back conrtols the feedrate when the stove is at an idle state. I think I looked on the coal-trol website and it says something about boosting the efficiency of the stove. how?

The Coal-trol minimizes temperature overshoots, and is much more precise than just timed controls for both calls for heat as well as idle feed rates. I would just use the stove as configured and it can be optioned up at anytime with a Coal-trol.

You are a lucky guy and made a great choice on a great stove. you will be fine with it. Keystoker provides great support . I have that same stove
and I would not worry at all about changing controls on it. Run it for a year or two and get the hang of it. The factory controls work just fine.

i have read both here and elsewhere that these stoves are very well liked and among the best. when I found out that I could grab one up for less then 1/3 of the price of a new unit, one that worked and wasnt in bad shape I grabbed it up. I also called several dealers and found out parts are extremely easy to get, something that is of upmost importance when you need to heat your home. I didnt buy some odd-ball that requires ordering parts online, if something were to break I need it now. it also seems like the controls are much simpler and mechanical then the controls my pellet stove has. I have to admit that im not entirely familiar with the way everything operates. do stokers have an auger feed like a pellet stove?

ad356 wrote:do stokers have an auger feed like a pellet stove?

Some do. Yours does not.