Coalpail.com Forum

Hello All,
Let me start off by saying I grew up with a hand fired coal insert stove as a kid and although I loved the heat I hated the work involved with keeping that stove going and clean!

I recently moved into a new (new to me) home and completely renovated it. It had electric heat and I thought nothing of it at the time. Went through winter last season and my $500+ electric bills and decided I needed a coal stove.

The stoker stove appealed due tot he more automatic operation. I have a three story (including basement) old 1890's solid brick farmhouse. No ductwork (yet). So my plan was to get the Econo 90 and just let it front vent into the basement and melt the basement and let that heat the first floor radiant. As time allows I can easily add duct for the first floor since the ceiling in the basement is open to the first floor, and i can create a few chases to get ducting up to second floor, if i even need it. I like the second floor cooler anyway for sleeping.

I go to my local stove shop and decide on the Econo 90. I get all the stuff I need to hook it up and get it all setup last night. I was too excited that I didnt hook up the thermostat I just set it for manual mode and wanted to run it full bore and see how much heat I got.

I have not adjusted anything. This is straight from factory settings. So I make the starter fire and pile some coal on it and it starts to rage. Wahoo! I close the door and sit back for 10-15 minutes. I used an infrared thermometer and the side of the stove was getting in the 500's and the blower was pushing some HOT air. I am a happy camper. I was told to check on the initial fire after 10-15 min to make sure its draft well and its still lit. Open the door to the firebox and the rope seal falls off!!! Apparently its stuck on using double sided scotch tape. Not happy! Ok that aside I look and see there is no indication of smoke in the chamber looks like i am drafting well and the fire still seems to get going well.

I go to bed and check it first thing this morning. Open the door to the basement and instantly notice the absence of face melting heat. I run down there and throw open the door to the firebox and the fire is still lit. COLD air is blowing out the front of the unit.

I suspect I need to adjust the feed amount because the grill is full of ash about 70-80% and then there is about 10% of fire and about 10% of new coal. So i am happy the stove kept running all night, tells me its at least functional. So i have to dial it in. Is this a correct assumption? what have you all done about the seal falling off if it has happened to you?

Thanks

I have used high heat RTV (copper type) to glue on gaskets with success.

The gasket is an easy fix.

The manual for your stove should have three recommended feed and air settings, and you can tweak it from there.

What is 'manual mode'?
Still no thermostat wired in? Doesn't stove just idle w/o one?

well given that I had the stove for only a few days I may not be explaining myself correctly. There is a box attached to the side of the stove on the top right that simply says push for manual pull for automatic. so i assumed it meant it would override any thermostat input (or lack thereof) and just keep running at default rate. Maybe I am wrong.

I did speak with the stove store and they said the seal falling off is apparently so common that they "usually" give a tube of adhesive with the sale of the stove because they expect it to fall off. Why the heck wouldn't Keystoker just use that adhesive instead of the cheap double stick tape.

I did also discuss the stoves performance and was just suggested to turn up the feed. I was told 2 inches of ash near the end of the grate is ideal and I clearly have probably 3-4 times that. So i suspect I am not feeding it enough to burn hotter.

Another question I would like to pose, the place i bought it told me dont put the damper in yet the instructions state its required. Thoughts?

That manual mode is for the fan only. You need to install your thermostat and put the fan in automatic mode

AH! ok makes perfect sense then!

The switch on the side is for the heat blower. With out the thermostat then you are only running at idle. you need the thermostat in there to keep it running hot and wide open. The switch on the side when turned to auto will turn the blower to move the heat around only when it hits a correct temp. Then shuts down after it cools down the stove.
Switch it back to auto and hook up the thermostat. even if you leave the thermostat sitting on the floor set to 90 if you want the stove to run wide open.

Thanks for your feedback that is exactly what i needed to do!

Works perfectly, other then the seal falling off after 10 minutes.