Keystoker KA-6 Adjustments

 
eea101
New Member
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed. Oct. 08, 2008 2:45 pm

Post by eea101 » Wed. Oct. 08, 2008 2:55 pm

Hello all,
I just installed my Keystoker KA-6 and fired it last weekend. I'm looking for information on setting its adjustments for coal and air feed. It works well but there is a fair amount of charded half-burned coal in the ash bucket. so I think something is off abit. I adjusted the coal feed back until it seems to fire at just the right rate without overheating. The timer is set for 1 min on and 15 min off. There is a continuous blower with an air shutter that I opened just a bit to keep the fire from going out. The main burner air adjustment is still at its factory preset position. Any thoughts on how to set it up for best operation?

Thanks!
Edward


 
User avatar
WNY
Member
Posts: 6307
Joined: Mon. Nov. 14, 2005 8:40 am
Location: Cuba, NY
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Keystoker 90K, Leisure Line Hyfire I
Coal Size/Type: Rice
Contact:

Post by WNY » Wed. Oct. 08, 2008 7:11 pm

First on full burn, there should be about 1" of ash at the end without pushing hot coals off the grate.

The Air supply shouldnt' be changed, unless necessary, that will will also affect your draft.
have you checked/set your draft (baro damper) with a manometer (draft gauge), if it's really warm outside, there may be very little draft, so it may look like the fires going out, but it may be just very small.

The Timer 1min on/15 off is your idle/pilot time to keep it running when not calling for heat. you can add a pin or two if so equipped? (15 secs per pin) to the timer. Maybe run it 1-1/2 mins every 15 mins.

 
eea101
New Member
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed. Oct. 08, 2008 2:45 pm

Post by eea101 » Thu. Oct. 09, 2008 11:56 am

Hello WNY,
No, I haven't set draft or mover the air supply adjustment yet. There is a baro damper on the flue that was set to 0.03 inches by the guy who sold the boiler to me. He runs a stove shope and knew nothing about adjustments, plumbing, or wiring, so he just set the Keystoker in place and connected the flue, I did the rest. To check the draft, I purchased a Dwyer Magnehelic gauge with 0.25 inch water full scale on Ebay, but I haven't checked it yet. I assume I have to have the boiler running full tilt and the flue has to be good an hot to get an accurate reading? Thanks for your help.
Edward

 
User avatar
WNY
Member
Posts: 6307
Joined: Mon. Nov. 14, 2005 8:40 am
Location: Cuba, NY
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Keystoker 90K, Leisure Line Hyfire I
Coal Size/Type: Rice
Contact:

Post by WNY » Thu. Oct. 09, 2008 12:07 pm

Yup, you got it. I am not exactly sure on the KA6 setting, but most stoves are .02-.04, yours might be .06. The settings on the baro may not be real accurate, but at least get you started.

 
User avatar
FingerLakesStoker
Member
Posts: 89
Joined: Tue. May. 20, 2008 8:30 am
Location: Bloomfield, NY Southeast of Rochester

Post by FingerLakesStoker » Fri. Oct. 10, 2008 6:13 am

Edward,
Timely subject!!! I just fired up my KA-6 direct vent on Monday 10/6 for the first time. I had to adjust it also. I am finding the same situation as you in the ash pan. I cut my pins back from 1 1/2 minute feed every ten minutes to 1 1/4 minute or 5 pins every ten minutes. My coal feed has been drawn back on the adjustment quite a bit from the factory preset and it seems like it needs to be adjusted further. We are hitting Indian Summer here in the Finger Lakes of New York where the temps are in the 70's during the day. My house was up to 79°F yesterday and I had to shut down my boiler. We are going to keep it off until it cools into the 40's or 50's again. I checked my draft and found it was at -.13 from the factory and had to adjust the direct vent unit down to the recommended -.02 to -.04. that seemed to help, but the KA-6 is putting out so much heat that my house sits at about 73° with none of the heat zones calling for heat.
I did not see any adjustment to the plate on the combustion fan on my stoker unit, only the coal feed on the stoker unit and the direct vent on the stack can be adjusted. By the way, my house is a newer home, 1994, but it is still a 2400 sq ft home with a full 8 ft deep basement which is where my KA-6 is located. I believe that the efficiency of my house contributes some to the excessive heat.
I would think a variable speed control on the combustion fan would give the KA-6 more flexability where the aquastat would control the amount of draft blowing on the fire to slow or accellerate it.

Mike

 
eea101
New Member
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed. Oct. 08, 2008 2:45 pm

Post by eea101 » Fri. Oct. 10, 2008 3:54 pm

Hi Mike,
It looks like the controls on the KA-6 go back a few decades. Things like a variable-speed feed motor and a flame detector of some sort to keep the fire at a low level without letting it go out would be a great improvement. The good news is no fuel oil needed.
Thanks!
Edward

 
User avatar
gaw
Member
Posts: 4437
Joined: Fri. Jan. 26, 2007 2:51 am
Location: Parts Unknown
Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KA-6
Coal Size/Type: Rice from Schuylkill County

Post by gaw » Fri. Oct. 10, 2008 8:11 pm

This is the text from an older Keystoker installation instruction.
IX. Initial start up.

1. Fill system by opening boiler feed valve. Open air vents on radiation one at a time until air is removed from system. 10 lb of pressure in your system when it is cold should be enough, as pressure will naturally rise as water is heated. Check for leaks.

2. Set timer to operate approximately 1 minute ever 15 minutes. This is a starting setting and may have to be changed in final adjustment. Set triple aquastat at Hi - 180 Lo - 160 - differential at 10. Set hi limit in loop at 2200. Set thermostat higher than room temperature.

3. It works best when starting a new fire to fill the lower half of the grates with ash and top of course with coal. Place kindling, granulated hardwood charcoal works best, on top of coal and then partially fill hopper. Trip out feed bolt on stoker to left (part22) so unit does not feed coal, light kindling and turn on switch. When kindling is well lit, throw a few hand fulls of coal onto fire and when coal has ignited return feed bolt to its engaged position. Turn coal feed adjusting nut down the shaft (toward floor) 10 turns. Coal will feed onto grate and stoker will run continuously to build boiler tempera¬ture. After stoker has run for 20 minutes, turn off switch. It is now time to adjust barometric draft control. Remove one 1/4" bolt from firedoor that holds insulation in place and insert draft gauge tube thru firedoor. Adjust draft control for a maximum of .02 draft. Turn stoker switch on and adjust air shutter on stoker unit, (Under stoker next to gear reducer mounting pad) by loosening screw and moving air shutter until draft gauge reads on the draft side of 0. In no case may this reading approach a positive or pressure reading. There is no substitute for a draft gauge in making these settings. A draft gauge is an essential instrument on any heating installation.
If you have a good drafting chimney you can open the air shutter more. With poor draft you have to close it more, sometimes completely. When I added the small fan that runs constantly the folks at Keystoker suggested setting the air restriction plate at about 1/3 to 1/2 open and leave the main air shutter as it was. This works well for me. Remember that at no time should you have positive pressure inside the firebox area of the boiler as this could lead to leaking exhaust gasses into the home.

When the fire is just idling along at a low rate it is not uncommon to see some partially burnt pieces of coal that make it by on the side of the grate. The air flow is not as good on the sides. This will go away as heat demands create a bigger fire. If you see unburnt coal throughout the grate you could have just gotten some poor coal.


 
eea101
New Member
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed. Oct. 08, 2008 2:45 pm

Post by eea101 » Mon. Oct. 20, 2008 1:15 pm

Hi Gaw,

Thanks! Your information is very helpful. The KA-6 seems to be running very well now that the temp is lower. I had trouble trying to idle it down when I didn't need the heat. I checked the draft this weekend and it was running 0.03 inches over the fire and seems to be determined by the barametric draft regulator. I now need to adjust the air setting per your advice. This KA-6 is a dual fuel with the optional oil burner. Instructions say to remove the oil burner head from the fire tube when burning coal and then reassemble the oil burner to switch back to coal. Any idea why the oil burner can't be left assembled when burning coal?

Thanks!
Edward

 
User avatar
gaw
Member
Posts: 4437
Joined: Fri. Jan. 26, 2007 2:51 am
Location: Parts Unknown
Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KA-6
Coal Size/Type: Rice from Schuylkill County

Post by gaw » Mon. Oct. 20, 2008 5:35 pm

My guess would be to keep it clean. The Oil burner would get full of fly ash. And/or maybe the heat of the coal fire could damage it. I don't know where the oil burner goes relative to the coal fire. If it were to be right above it I think the heat of the coal fire could do damage to the nozzle and electrodes.

I am just guessing as to their reasons, but I would follow their advice.

 
User avatar
Hollyfeld
Member
Posts: 465
Joined: Thu. May. 22, 2008 3:06 pm
Location: Byram, New Jersey
Contact:

Post by Hollyfeld » Wed. Oct. 22, 2008 2:50 pm

I used a Bacharach Draftrite instrument to sent my Baro Damper to .02 at idle. The instrument is similar to this one http://www.bacharach-inc.com/draft-gauges.htm and it was very easy to use. I'm curious about how much the baro damper is open though. With the oil boiler the damper barely moved, but this one is quite open at idle and it seems like it will be wide open when the stoker is going.

Anyone notice how "open" their damper is at idle?

 
User avatar
Hollyfeld
Member
Posts: 465
Joined: Thu. May. 22, 2008 3:06 pm
Location: Byram, New Jersey
Contact:

Post by Hollyfeld » Thu. Oct. 23, 2008 6:08 am

Since this is a good thread for adjusting the KA6 I'll make posts here from now on regarding my issues.
Hollyfeld wrote:i haven't changed anything on the boiler and the temp is at 195F at the moment. Circulator is off and no zones calling for heat.
This morning at 6am the temp in the boiler was 145F. I increased the feed nut from 17 turns to 15 and left the timer at 3/15 (3 pins every 15 minutes or roughly 1 minute every 15). I had the bypass loop all the way open last night after I saw the rising to 195. This morning I throttled it down to about 75% closed.

The Hi/Lo is set to 180/160.

One thermostat set at 65F.

Why is there so much fluctuation in the temps in the boiler?

 
User avatar
218Bee
Member
Posts: 118
Joined: Wed. May. 07, 2008 10:19 pm
Location: Central, NY

Post by 218Bee » Thu. Oct. 23, 2008 6:38 am

What is your differential?

20, 15 or 10?

 
User avatar
Hollyfeld
Member
Posts: 465
Joined: Thu. May. 22, 2008 3:06 pm
Location: Byram, New Jersey
Contact:

Post by Hollyfeld » Thu. Oct. 23, 2008 6:43 am

Diff is set to 15

 
User avatar
FingerLakesStoker
Member
Posts: 89
Joined: Tue. May. 20, 2008 8:30 am
Location: Bloomfield, NY Southeast of Rochester

Post by FingerLakesStoker » Thu. Oct. 23, 2008 7:37 am

My KA-6 was running at 190-195° when I first fired up. I kept adjusting my feed rod back a turn until I got it where it is running at about 180°, but I see mine drops to 145° like yours in the morning when idle. As soon as I shower, it fires up and raises the temperature. I've got my hi set to 180°, low at 160°, and the differential at 10°. I've also changed the pins in the timer to 5/15 from the original 6/10 set up Keystoker recommended. I have a ball valve between the Hi-Limit switch in the feedback loop and the supply out of the boiler also and I have it set about 75% open and leave it there.
With temps in the 40-50° range outside, my boiler has only been heating the indirect hot water heater, the rest of the house is sitting around 70-72°just from the heat the KA-6 is throwing off. It's nice, but I have to shut down when it gets over 65° outside, but I can't wait for it to get colder. We already had 2" of snow on Wednesday morning and I hear we may get more next week.

Mike

 
User avatar
Hollyfeld
Member
Posts: 465
Joined: Thu. May. 22, 2008 3:06 pm
Location: Byram, New Jersey
Contact:

Post by Hollyfeld » Thu. Oct. 23, 2008 8:34 am

I'm a little nervous at the moment because today is the first day I have gone to work and not stayed at home to monitor the boiler temps. Tonight I'm going to wire the Hi-Limit to open the zone valves if the boiler ever overheats. This will give me peace of mind.. or at least a little more.


Post Reply

Return to “Stoker Coal Furnaces & Stoves Using Anthracite (Hot Air)”