Old Alaska Kodiak Stoker II Rebuild

Matt, Why not put another rheostat on the fan so you can control it separately from the rest of the stove?

^ I thought about that. I was trying to figure out when I would need that functionality.

The triburner thing makes sense. When I turn the dial down, everything turns down. I don't know why I would want the stoker on low, and that fan on top on high.

The fan on top could be two times as fast, I hope when I lube it up it performs much better.

I plan on firing this up Friday night or saturday morning and letting it run for 3 days as a test.

What other things do I need to do to set this up. From what I read I need a manometer to set up my barometric dampner. Here is a link to some http://shop.ebay.com/items/__manometer_W0QQ_nkwZm ... 38Q2el1313 what one do I want? They look expensive

Did u keep the switch?

^ The junk one? Yes. But its next to the garbage can

Oh.. you mean the switch I installed to shut off the blower so I can fill the hopper without blowing dust around... Yep, and it works! Amazing how that happens when wired correctly.

I am eyeballing the fan I seen at home depot to add air to the intake of this unit when the stove is turned on low (better efficiency). Problem with this unit is the exhaust to chimney is right below that fan. Crap!
Here is an old picture from earlier in this thread


I want to do this (picture from woodncoal)

Wood'nCoal wrote:Newest modification is the separate combustion fan. This allows me to regulate the burn rate without changing the combustion air or changing the adjustment on the feed linkage from the motor gearbox to the carpet. Other options include variable speed convection fan.

ALASKA CONTROLS 03-16-08.JPG

Edit- crap, it won't let me put in his picture. Its the white square $13 dollar fan you can hook to a rheostat. The foil heat duct tube connects to his intake, I don't know how I am going to fit that in mine.

Matt you need to fab up a piece of duct that will fit between the air intake on the bottom of the stoker and the smoke pipe. The Depot sells a rectangular narrow duct that is used for a dryer vent in tight places. Maybe you could use that to connect the external combustion fan. I don't know how much room you have between the stoker and the outlet. On my Alaska the outlet is off to the side, not in the center of the back of the stove.

Another approach

^ Holy crap, is that my stove on steroids?
I can't do that attachment with the location of my chimney. That looks like my stove with two additional blowers on top, removed top fan, and coal trol installed.

Wood'nCoal wrote:Matt you need to fab up a piece of duct that will fit between the air intake on the bottom of the stoker and the smoke pipe. The Depot sells a rectangular narrow duct that is used for a dryer vent in tight places. Maybe you could use that to connect the external combustion fan. I don't know how much room you have between the stoker and the outlet. On my Alaska the outlet is off to the side, not in the center of the back of the stove.

I am liking that idea. I will have to look in the store next time I am there and see what I can figure out. Its pretty tight down there.

http://www.appliancerepair.homedepot.com/SmartSea ... &PPStack=1

or

http://www.appliancerepair.homedepot.com/SmartSea ... &PPStack=1

^ Awesome. Thanks for that. I will check those out.

I picked up another ton of coal last night (100 lb bags of course) and got that down into my basement. I still need to lube up that top fan I have removed.

I was going to fire it up this weekend but now I don't know, its supposed to be warm out, I don't want my house at 90

Does this stove should have firebricks? I got nothing inside of mine.
Also did anyone installed hot water coil in this thing? looks like there is a lot of room,
so I'm thinking to put maybe 2 largest coils and use it as a boiler.
Any problem with that?

Dan

^ No firebricks in mine either. What are the purpose of them in a coal stove?

I put some screws in my vent pipe this weekend. I also oiled the fan in the top at both ends. It didn't seem to help. When I turn the rheostat down to low, the top blower fan barley goes around. I am going to just plug that directly into the wall (just as someone else stated) when the unit is in operation. That way thats always blowing full speed regardless if the stove is on low or high.

I also installed two registers in my house. One in the dining room and one in my bedroom.

^ No firebricks in mine either. What are the purpose of them in a coal stove?

To insulate the steel of the stove from the intense heat of burning coal. You'll find firebrick in the hand-feds, where the fire is stationary and the entire width and depth of the stove. Stokers confine the burn to the grate or firepot area, there's no contact with the walls of the stove.

The exception, of course is the AA, but in the case of the Anthratube-conventional rules don't apply.

Can anyone else with this stove tell me how their top blower fan works? When you turn your dial down does your fan hardly move? I am wondering if my fan is not performing as it should or if the fan is fine and everyones stove does this.

I am talking about the fan that blows across the top of the stove of course.

I have mine on a separate rheostat since I run the heat into the hot air plenum for the house. On warm days when there is no need for heat I slow the fan down. Alaska indicates the fan should never be completely off.

A Coal-Trol controls all aspects of your stove, it's a good investment. I don't have one because I heat DHW, so I need a higher fire where there is no call for heating the house, I ramp up the fire manually as needed. Someday I'll figure out a control system for the stove, just takes my pea-like brain awhile to work...