Alaska Channing Stove Help Needed

Hello Everyone,
I'm an obvious newbie to this forum and to running a stoker stove. I can use all of the help I can get from you guys.
I bought my Alaska Channing III stoker stove brand new a month ago. The electrical connections seemed straight forward enough so I don't think that is my problem. My barometric damper seems to operate correctly. My exhaust temp located just above the damper reads between 150°F-160°F and 180°F when I turn it up a bit. My problem is even on low heat settings of "1+1/2" to "2" on the factory dial I use almost a full hopper load in just 1 day. I also get a full ash pan full with chunky ash- not powdered. If I run the stove on "1" it will last only 1+1/2 days but almost no heat output. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong but I just can't figure it out.
My old Franco Belge hand fired put out this much heat using 1/2 as much coal.
Any and all advice or tuning tips will be greatly appreciated.Attachments

Have you measured your draft with a manometer? Are there adjustments to the feed beyond the stoker motor rheostat?

A friend just put the same stove in. He's heating approximately 2500 sq ft. Stove is in the basement, stairs are open and he has one hole in the floor with a fan pulling up warm air. His basement is around 80 and that keeps the upstairs around 65-67. He has been burning 50 pounds a day give or take.

I'm taking it for granted that you are using a chimney and not a power or directvent. First of all the numbers on alaska's auto heat and the their thermo system which I use very greatly from stove to stove. The knobs can be adjusted and don't seem to be calibrated at all. It looks from the picture you are burning at a mid burn rate. The exhaust temps seem a little high compared to my bottom vent but alaska top vents do run higher. Is the brick in the correct position inside the stove? With the colder outside temps it should be over the port. What speed do you have the convection fan on. If you have it running full tilt it wil fell as if the stove is blowing cool air. Post some pictures of your ash so we can see if it buring it properly.

Joe,

If you are burning an entire hopper in a day, something is either wrong, or you are producing a ton of heat. If the coal in the ash bucket is all burned (the ash should be predominantly tannish in color), then you are producing tons of heat. Try turning the feed rate down lower until you can get down to a maintenance fire (about 1" of fire across the grate) and see where that fall on the dial of the rheostat (feed rate controller) and then make adjustments from there. I have a Liberty running at the store (2,000 sq. ft.) and I burn less than a bag a day there. I had the stove burn for 2 days on about three 1 gallon scoops of coal, I was impressed.

Mike

To begin with thanks to all that have given some input. Where to start.
av8r,
I have not measure the draft I don't have the means. I have the manual weighted type of damper. I started the fire on a nice cool day (around 30°F) let it heat up and set the damper to where it just wanted to open up. My exhaust temps where at about 200°. Knowing this was too much I lightened the weight out some more to maintain it around 150°F. The adjustment is just about all of the way out and hangs open about 1/4"-3/8" until the wind blows out side. This seemed to get a little more heat but still not as much as I expected. Still goes through way to much coal in a given day. These settings are with the dial on about 1.5 - 2 and the blower fan on high speed.
jpen1,
I do have my stove running directly into a chimney, no forced draft inducer or vent setup. The picture was taken with the dial set around 2. What brick are you talking about? What port? The only thing inside the stove is the very heavy grate seated all the way in against the stop of the shelf and of course the ash pan. I'm new and am not sure about some terminology. The main blower fan is almost always on high speed. It sounds terrible when I take it off of high! The stove is in the main part of our house and is noiseier when not wide open. Does that blower fan effect the fire at all? I thought it just blows across the outside of the stove? I will post a pic later today of the ashes. I don't think it looks like they are burnt completely.
Complete Heat,
I'm not producing a whole lot of heat. Don't get me wrong, the stove is putting out some heat but I would think at a burn rate of 100lbs a day I would be sweating my butt off which just isn't the case. I only wish I was burning about 50lbs a day. That's what I would expect with the amount of heat I'm making.
If anybody know the exact wirning configuration I would certainly love to see it. And thanks again to everybody for their thoughts and ideas......Joe

A coal-trol unit would make things much easier for you & a manometer to measure draft. I think in developing the digital coal stove control they used an alaska.

Something is not right. I've never had my stove (channing) burn more than 40lbs in a 24hr cycle and thats burning a mid range fire. Keeping a 1650 SQ ft home at 65/67* degrees. ( it was 13* last night and just broke 21* at 1:20 this afternoon. I wonder about what kind of Coal you use. I'm not sure about your noise level either, at low you blower noise should not exist at all, at high it should be not much more than a humm + the Air blowing thru.

Sorry, I have to go.
Good luck, your in good hands though, It'll get worked out.

joecool62 wrote:To begin with thanks to all that have given some input. Where to start.
av8r,
I have not measure the draft I don't have the means. I have the manual weighted type of damper. I started the fire on a nice cool day (around 30°F) let it heat up and set the damper to where it just wanted to open up. My exhaust temps where at about 200°. Knowing this was too much I lightened the weight out some more to maintain it around 150°F. The adjustment is just about all of the way out and hangs open about 1/4"-3/8" until the wind blows out side. This seemed to get a little more heat but still not as much as I expected. Still goes through way to much coal in a given day. These settings are with the dial on about 1.5 - 2 and the blower fan on high speed.

Joe:

You should request to borrow the manometer from the loan program a few of the guys on here are offering. Matthaus is one of the users here that has offered one of his manometers to loan out to folks here that don't have one. It's free and would give some good information. You say you have a manual, weighted damper. I'm not that familar with these, but could you be referring to a barometric damper like this one below?
Also, I'm not sure about this, but it would seem logical (to me) that slower fan speeds may allow the air to pickup more heat off the stove and carry it out into the room. I know with my AC install, I got cooler air temps and less humidty in the air when I reduced the fan speed on my air handler.

Lastly, my friend has a 6 week old Channing III and at high fan speed, the convection fan makes very little noise. More of the sound of air being pushed. At lower speeds it's pretty much silent.

Just something to think about. I agree that if you're burning 100 pounds a day, you should be getting some serious heat off that thing. I assume the basement doesn't have doors/windows open (thats a joke)

Hello joecool, welcome to the forum. Take a look at this thread: Manometer Loaner Program It is about a loaner manometer program we have set up for the forum members. Just PM Matthaus and get on the mailing list for the manometer.

As for your stove, how tall, and what size is your chimney?? If it is real tall, and you have a lot of draft, you may still be pulling a majority of your heat out of the stove, and up the chimney. What is the temperature of the stove body, just above the door and on the sides near the top and on the top??

Once you set the draft you should retain more heat in the stove for the fan to 'wash' off the stove body into the room. As for the noisy fan, check it's mountings to see if it is loose, and also check in the fan itself, some packing may be jammed in the fan and cause it to be noisy

Let us know what you find.

Greg L

I thank everybody that has replied to my help request. I've gotten alot of very helpful advice. I also called the factory and asked them directly since it is a brand new stove. I didn't want to foul up any warranty or anything. I'll begin with saying how helpful they are. I spoke with a guy named Brian and he explained what he thought might be at least part of my problem. He concurs that the dial needs to be calibrated. At the stop (fully CCW) the alignment mark should be perfectly horizontal and align with the #1. Mine is not there yet ! He also concurs with another member about the fire brick in the top is probably wide open. Seeing how the stove road home in a friends truck laying on it's side this is very likely. I feel pretty stupid for not looking up inside the combustion area and seeing everything. Just took it for granted I guess. I'm not at home now, but I'm going to try all of these things and what everybody has said to look at. I'm going to try and find locally a manometer and check that too. I'll post my findings later tonight and submit a pic of the ashes too. Thanks again to everyone for their help and concern. You guys "ROCK"

Joe

Well I have some updates from the lessons learned department.
The brick is unfortunately covering the opening completely.
I did figure out the fans problem is an out of balance issue and may need to be replaced, just not when it's this cold. I played with it and made it a bit quieter at slower speeds but certainly not almost silent. Just my luck!
The adjustment of the thermostat dial is done and it was way off. So I was running it alot harder than I thought. That would explain the usage being way up there but not the lower heat output.
I've attached pics of the ash on the burner and the damper I have installed. It is open a lot more today than previously but it is 15° outside.
I'm starting to believe it's the coal I'm burning because these stoves have such a good reputation. I'm hoping for a miracle here. Any more advice? How important to heat output is my draft? Can you actually have too much? I've got the baro damper adjusted all of the way out and outlet temp just above damper is 130°F. I'm burning it at 2.5 on the dial now and about 1/2 speed on the blower fan. I'm just worried about the 100 lbs a day though.

I'm not an Alaska expert, but that looks like a low to mid burn to me High burn is supposed to be about 1-1.5" of ash....you have a lot more ash there.

Too much draft can allow too much heat to go up and out the exhaust. Without an manometer you won't know for sure.

This picture is of a low burn rate. I had it turned way down to investigate the brick/hole alignment and to take a picture of the ash for a few guys to look at. I forgot to take a picture of the ash in the pan before I dumped it so this I hope will do. How could I lower the draft any more than wide open on the baro damper? I''m cold a miserable and getting a bit discouraged about this.

joecool62 wrote:This picture is of a low burn rate. I had it turned way down to investigate the brick/hole alignment and to take a picture of the ash for a few guys to look at. I forgot to take a picture of the ash in the pan before I dumped it so this I hope will do. How could I lower the draft any more than wide open on the baro damper? I''m cold a miserable and getting a bit discouraged about this.

I understand now regarding the burn pictures. Makes perfect sense.

Someone other than me is going to have to speak up and assist with this. I'm too green with coal to do anything more here!

Hi joecool, Don't get discouraged, you have a good stove. It just has to be dialed in. Get a manometer & set draft to stove specs when running at a full burn. Don't give up & good luck.