New guy with an Alaska.

 
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WNY
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Post by WNY » Fri. Jan. 15, 2021 8:13 pm

thats looks like its burning back too far....

also, have you set you draft (with a gauge) correctly with the power venter? it could be pulling too much draft and making it burn back farther than it should. drawing air from the hopper. especially when you said you left the power venter on when you said you shut it down and it burned back towards the hopper.

Maybe gasket on back of grate needs fixed or replaced. ?

On idle should be about 1-2" of burning coal, preferably somewhere towards the middle of the grate.

 
xracer390
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Post by xracer390 » Fri. Jan. 15, 2021 8:23 pm

I need to look into that. Local heating place here says good to go. As is. They sold this one new. 🤨
nepacoal wrote:
Fri. Jan. 15, 2021 7:54 pm
As mentioned in previous posts, you should be setting your power vent with a manometer and then setting your over fire air also using a manometer. Hopper fires are much more common when using power vents and using a manometer to adjust air settings helps prevent them

 
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Post by WNY » Sat. Jan. 16, 2021 5:43 am

every setup is different, you really should have the draft checked and power venter adjusted accordingly.

I have a draft gauge on both my stoves, the Keystoker is a direct vent, also tells me when it needs some ash cleaning, when the draft starts dropping off a little. usually about 2 months or so of running it will be build ash in the pipe and vent and needs vacuumed out.

 
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Post by BostonBob » Sat. Jan. 16, 2021 8:21 am

Hi, sounds like you have made great progress so far ! I have an Alaska Gnome 40 in my garage to keep the temperature about 45-50 so I burn at a very low temperature, on my stove (there is a draft adjustment) it has to be set or the fire goes out or burns back toward the hopper (very bad)
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Hope the pictures help, I use a large bin to empty my bags of coal into so it drys some and then put it in 5 gal buckets for my inside stove. Have always had an issue with the direct vent motor always being noisy (since new) have taken it completely apart and adjusted, cleaned and lubed it, has been condemned to the garage for the noise issues 🤣 but has put out good heat !


 
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Post by xracer390 » Sat. Jan. 16, 2021 11:40 am

I'd like to see the set up and procedure for adjusting. Thanks for the help.
WNY wrote:
Sat. Jan. 16, 2021 5:43 am
every setup is different, you really should have the draft checked and power venter adjusted accordingly.

I have a draft gauge on both my stoves, the Keystoker is a direct vent, also tells me when it needs some ash cleaning, when the draft starts dropping off a little. usually about 2 months or so of running it will be build ash in the pipe and vent and needs vacuumed out.

 
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Post by WNY » Sat. Jan. 16, 2021 12:44 pm

Not sure exactly on your power vent how to adjust it, mine has a small slider plate and set screw for adjustment.
Do you have a baro damper between power vent and stove? that can also be adjusted for correct draft too.

the MANOMETER (Draft gauge) has to be hooked to the stove pipe close to the stove before the power venter, some stoves have a small allen screw in the door for checking draft. many of us have permanent draft gauges installed to monitor the draft.

There are many good threads/posts on the Manometer/Draft gauge install and setup on here.

Here's a good one with many installs.
Post by mina678 - Manometer Install

 
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Post by xracer390 » Sat. Jan. 16, 2021 5:32 pm

Here is the back of my direct vent. Nothing to adjust. Maybe just with fan speed? My brother in law did say the speed controller was hooked up to the exhaust fan but several people said no that's for the room fan. The other night when it got hot I was instructed to just pull the plug. Now I have a melted burner fan. Also after just a few hours of burning this pile of ash and coal was under the burner and I get ash out the back of the stove littering the floor. I think I'm done. 🤷
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Post by Spacecadet » Sun. Jan. 17, 2021 7:49 am

xracer390 wrote:
Fri. Jan. 15, 2021 7:17 pm
20210115_181123.jpgI guess a better question is does this look like the flame is to far back? I have it turned down quite a bit. Doesn't even look like the coals are burning over the holes??
That does look like it’s burning back to far. The fire shouldn’t burn back farther than the holes in the grate. And it shouldn’t burn back under the body of the stove inner wall that far. It will burn back a hair on the grate - But not that far.
I’ve had 3 stokers. An Alaska Channing I a Hitzer 608 and the Channing III that I presently have. The Channing 1 is a square box. There is a half inch box that’s welded to the box. The grate assembly bolts directly to it and there is several inches of exposed grate that doesn’t have holes sticking inside the firebox. The Channing III is different. There is 3” box that’s built into the unit and the grate bolts to that. The holes in the grate are almost even with the back wall inside the stove.

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Channing III it has vent holes inside the box seen in the picture above the fire. I have it turned down low and could probably get it a little lower.

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The back of the Channing III. The stove itself has a 3” box built into it which puts the grate not out so far in the box. The air holes in the grate are almost inline with the box and the fire burns close to the box

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This is the Channing I fire box picture. There’s ribs built inside the box for structural integrity. The fire burns farther into the box because the grate assembly is farther in the box.

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Post by Spacecadet » Sun. Jan. 17, 2021 8:21 am

xracer390 wrote:
Sat. Jan. 16, 2021 5:32 pm
Here is the back of my direct vent. Nothing to adjust. Maybe just with fan speed? My brother in law did say the speed controller was hooked up to the exhaust fan but several people said no that's for the room fan. The other night when it got hot I was instructed to just pull the plug. Now I have a melted burner fan. Also after just a few hours of burning this pile of ash and coal was under the burner and I get ash out the back of the stove littering the floor. I think I'm done. 🤷20210116_162505.jpg20210116_162211.jpg
Sorry. Just saw this post. Obviously that’s not supposed to happen. I and the others that have tried to help are truly sorry for your unpleasant experience. I went back over the entire thread. Viewed all the pictures. I’ll explain the Alaska stoves that I know. The Channing I has carpet feed. Where a plate slides back and forth and the coal slides off into the grate.it has internal webbing built into the box for structural support. The feeder assembly has about a 1/2 box welded to the back of the stove.
The Channing III has a puck feeder. A 3” box is built into the stove which pushes the grate farther back and moves the fire closer to the stove box. That box has diamond shape holes inside the firebox where the exhaust flow through and the room fan blower has channels through it also for better heat dissipation.
Your initial pics indicate you have a Channing III which has a puck feed.
I haven’t had a Channing II so I don’t know how that box was constructed.
I do know - The fire shouldn’t be burning into the 3” box like you have pictured.
Unfortunately you’ll have to replace the blower squirrel cage. eBay has one for $25. You’ll need to get a manometer to figure out what air pressures/vacuum you have in your stove.
In my shop, when I had the 50/93 nut burning stove, if I put the oil furnace on when the nut burner was on it would create a negative draft and suck the air through the stove and the exhaust would come out the air inlet. Idk if you have another device in your shop that would be pulling air like that. The pic of the melted squirrel cages definitely shows the air was flowing the wrong way.

 
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Post by xracer390 » Sun. Jan. 17, 2021 6:26 pm

Spacecadet wrote:
Sun. Jan. 17, 2021 8:21 am
Idk if you have another device in your shop that would be pulling air like that. The pic of the melted squirrel cages definitely shows the air was flowing the wrong way.
There is nothing else in the shop that moves air in or out. I think if I would have left the burner fan on and pulled the hot coals into my ash bucket the fan would not have melted.

 
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Post by Spacecadet » Sun. Jan. 17, 2021 9:43 pm

xracer390 wrote:
Sun. Jan. 17, 2021 6:26 pm
There is nothing else in the shop that moves air in or out. I think if I would have left the burner fan on and pulled the hot coals into my ash bucket the fan would not have melted.
I’ve been thinking about this all day. Back and forth between several pics. 2 things I think I’ve come up with.
First. The fire is too far back - which we know. Ok. I see. The fire is not above the holes in the grate. The fire is inside the box mounting. The fire is actually where above where the grate seats to the back body of the stove. - the strong back gasket isn’t working/doing it’s job. The blower is pushing the air past the sting back gasket between the plate and the grate. That’s why the plate is warped. Fire isn’t supposed to be there.
On mine - I put a new strong back gasket and put the tape gasket all the way around for the seal on the grate. Air will only go through the holes in the grate.
2nd. This is the one that’s really got me thinking. All day thinking. Then reading your post - having no other source to draw air out of the room. Ok. Thinking out loud. What would make the heat of a burning fire go backwards through the fresh cold air feed. Well I think I may have gotten it. Aka cold air.. Hot air rises.I seen a pic of your building. I didn’t see the chimney or an exhaust vent. So I’m shooting from the hip here. If your direct vent pipe only goes straight out the wall and doesn’t have a bend up wards that more than likley is the reason why the cage melted. I think I read a post where you said you have a pipe that goes straight out the wall. I’ll explain. Hot air rises. If the blower fan module is higher than the exhaust pipe sticking out the wall the cold air is flowing backwards in to the firebox. The cold air is flowing past the direct vent into the firebox. The air is then being pushed behind the grate past the strong back gasket. And out the past the squirrel cage blower fan.
Now onto the next thought. If in fact I’m correct about the straight out pipe drawing air backwards through the system, the defective strong back gasket could have actually been your savior. If the strong back gasket was good and the box was sealed properly the air would not gone through the squirrel cage but instead through the hopper. The burning coal fire could have continued back further and caught the hopper on fire.
I’ve been thinking about this all day. Walking into my house tonight, I stopped and starred at my wood pellet stove chimney. And remembered ‘thinking I read ‘pipe straight out the back’.
So, there’s got to be a logical explanation and I think that could be it.
I’ve attached blow ups of your pics.
Ohh and for their investigation- your stove is the Channing II.

Attachments

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Look at the top left corner. You can see the edge of the grate against the wall and the fire is farther back than the grate is.

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With air going past the strong back gasket the fire is burning on the plate and not the grate.

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There’s 2-3” of no hole on the back of the grate and the fire is burning near the top seal location.

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