Keystoker Glowing Coals No Heat

bunchesofun · Post by **bunchesofun** » Thu. Jan. 21, 2016 8:34 pm

We have a Keystoker 90. This is our third season with it. First two seasons no problems except the occasional clinker stuck in the shaker grates. We burned nut coal. This season, through an error we got a delivery of pea coal by mistake. Stove was fine when lit in November, but the past week I can't get any heat out of it. The thermostat is set at the highest. The stovepipe regulator is closed as recommended by Keystoker. No difference. I've been sitting here with the ash door open for two hours. Temp has gone up 1 degree. We are at our wits end. Is it the coal? Our supplier has the same stove and prefers pea size. Any suggestions from anyone?

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Thu. Jan. 21, 2016 9:06 pm

Are you cleaning out the stove and starting all new...or are you only nursing it along while trying to bring it back from the brink of dying out?

titleist1 · Post by **titleist1** » Thu. Jan. 21, 2016 9:09 pm

Ash bound bed of coal? You wouldn't be the first that had to scrape with a poker because shaking alone didn't clear out the ash well enough. Especially with pea coal packing tighter than nut.

bunchesofun · Post by **bunchesofun** » Thu. Jan. 21, 2016 9:20 pm

McGiever wrote:Are you cleaning out the stove and starting all new...or are you only nursing it along while trying to bring it back from the brink of dying out?

We let the fire go out Tuesday, and started fresh yesterday morning. The stove was working fine and the temp got up to 98 in the living room. Had to open the window. By morning it was 75 degrees. It is currently 67. Yesterday it was burning beautifully, nice flames, lots of heat. but now it is merely glowing, I see no flames.

bunchesofun · Post by **bunchesofun** » Thu. Jan. 21, 2016 9:21 pm

titleist1 wrote:Ash bound bed of coal? You wouldn't be the first that had to scrape with a poker because shaking alone didn't clear out the ash well enough. Especially with pea coal packing tighter than nut.

What do you mean, "scrape with a poker"? Do you mean run the poker down through the coals to the shaker grates? Or what?

bunchesofun · Post by **bunchesofun** » Thu. Jan. 21, 2016 9:57 pm

Also when I shake down, I shake till live "coals" (orange "ash") start dropping into the ashpan.

titleist1 · Post by **titleist1** » Thu. Jan. 21, 2016 10:15 pm

bunchesofun wrote:What do you mean, "scrape with a poker"? Do you mean run the poker down through the coals to the shaker grates? Or what?

What you may need to do is take a fireplace poker and run it along the sides, front and back of the stove edges to effectively clear the ash.

You may also need to use an L shaped piece of rebar that is pushed into the middle part of the coal bed and heave the coal up a little..."fluff" it to get ash to drop through the pea coal.

It seems you will need to experiment a little to see what clears out the ash so the pea coal gets enough air.

CapeCoaler · Post by **CapeCoaler** » Thu. Jan. 21, 2016 10:18 pm

Get nut back in the Stove...

We burned nut coal. This season, through an error we got a delivery of pea coal by mistake. Stove was fine when lit in November, but the past week I can't get any heat out of it

Then all will be back to normal...
And back to the way it was when last working properly...
KISS...

bunchesofun · Post by **bunchesofun** » Thu. Jan. 21, 2016 10:29 pm

CapeCoaler wrote:Get nut back in the Stove...
We burned nut coal. This season, through an error we got a delivery of pea coal by mistake. Stove was fine when lit in November, but the past week I can't get any heat out of it
Then all will be back to normal...
And back to the way it was when last working properly...
KISS...

? You mean if we go back to nut size? Impossible as we got our seasons worth at one time, 3 skids. It got completely unloaded (not on the skids) and days went by before the error was discovered back in October.

bunchesofun · Post by **bunchesofun** » Thu. Jan. 21, 2016 10:32 pm

titleist1 wrote:
bunchesofun wrote:What do you mean, "scrape with a poker"? Do you mean run the poker down through the coals to the shaker grates? Or what?
What you may need to do is take a fireplace poker and run it along the sides, front and back of the stove edges to effectively clear the ash.

You may also need to use an L shaped piece of rebar that is pushed into the middle part of the coal bed and heave the coal up a little..."fluff" it to get ash to drop through the pea coal.

It seems you will need to experiment a little to see what clears out the ash so the pea coal gets enough air.

Ok, we will give that a try. Will let everyone knows what happens.

CapeCoaler · Post by **CapeCoaler** » Thu. Jan. 21, 2016 10:40 pm

Nothing is impossible...

Just have them swap 20 bags out and see if you have a cure...
Who made the error in coal size you or them...
Heating in cold weather with pea coal will cause these issues...
One way or the other you will pay...

bunchesofun · Post by **bunchesofun** » Fri. Jan. 22, 2016 7:08 am

CapeCoaler wrote:Nothing is impossible...
Just have them swap 20 bags out and see if you have a cure...
Who made the error in coal size you or them...
Heating in cold weather with pea coal will cause these issues...
One way or the other you will pay...

Tried running the poker down the sides but the sides are wider than the opening so not very effective.

We ordered our coal in September and said we'd pick it up in October. He called and told us it was there and we said it would be a couple of weeks before we could get it. Had to arrange for our son to come and help. So after son travels to our place to help they go over there and he'd not home.Can't get hold of him. So they look around and there is only one place with three pallets of coal so they load it (not checking because they are sure it is our coal). After moving 3 skids all the way to our house, the next day we get a call telling us that it was pea coal. He had other customers need the nut so he sold it. Yes, exchanging coal was my next step. He said he burned pea coal so we didn't worry about it. And it hasn't been a problem until this week, which is why it seems weird, although someone else said when the temp gets below 20 is the problem which it has been, which echoes what you are saying. I do appreciate the comments here as at least I don't feel as alone in this.

Came down this morning and it was 66, BUT we keep the furnace set on 65 as a backup so that doesn't prove anything. The "top" layer of coals was black but glowing underneath. I shook it and live coals immediately dropped. I used the poker down to the shaker grates a few times, I few flames shot up as I did that, but died down. Right now, as I am not going anywhere, I have the ash door open AND the loading door as well. I am getting a little glow going. Maybe I can do that to revive it periodically until we can get the coal swapped.

It's just frustrating as we've never had a problem before.

By the way whats the life of a coal stove that's not been abused?

CapeCoaler · Post by **CapeCoaler** » Fri. Jan. 22, 2016 8:58 am

Pea is great when not pushing the stove hard...
But will do exactly what you see when you open up the stove...
Just to calm your nerves see if you can get swapping over to nut...
Modern steel stoves should last a very long time...
25+ years...
if not abused, warping and busting welds from over heating is most common issue...

titleist1 · Post by **titleist1** » Fri. Jan. 22, 2016 10:06 am

If you take care of it I agree 25+ years....

Without swapping the pea for nut you may be able to get some bags of nut and mix it in with the pea.

Or really aggressive shake & scrape may be necessary.....Lightning really goes at it in this video...

Post by **franco b** » Fri. Jan. 22, 2016 11:01 am

Run the pea with a shallower bed so it can breath(6 inch). Go to 8 hour tending times if necessary.