Koker Lite

Just purchased a new Koker Lite furnace, been running since January 21st, 2015. Have thermostat set @ 78 degrees, furnace thermometer burning at around 300-350 degrees but cannot get house temperature past 72 degrees. When the furnace is calling for heat, it is just not doing it. House well insulated and in 2014 had new windows installed. Very frustrated and disappointed in this furnace.

Need lots more details to be of any help...we could make guesses all day.

How was the cold air return connected to existing?

Pictures are worth a thousand words.

What does your fire bed look like? I had to adjust the feedrate up when I first installed my Koker Lite and often see 650-700* on front of stove with 1/2" of ash at the end of the grate. I also opened up the cover on the combustion fan slightly to allow some more air to blow into the grates.

My house is a 2500 farm house and it has kept it between 65-70*+ depending on outside temps. I keep my T-stat around 70-72*. The cold spell last week made the Lite work really hard and will be getting a handfed stove this summer to install in the second chimney I have in my house to supplement the heat from the Koker so it does not have to work as hard to heat the house. This is my first year at coal burning, it has been a learning curve, but once you get your K-Lite dialed in you will love it.

Tim

First, they need to be adjusted properly, give us more details of your setup?

Chimney? baro damper? power vent?

Are you using a coaltrol (whats the settings min/max/etc) or standard thermostat?

also read something on this website yesterday that possibly the idle timer was running backwards and that involved some of the new 2014 models of the Koker Lite. not sure if ours is doing this

kokerlitemadness wrote:also read something on this website yesterday that possibly the idle timer was running backwards and that involved some of the new 2014 models of the Koker Lite. not sure if ours is doing this

Would not running backwards cause an "out-fire"?

kokerlitemadness , how much coal are you burning per day vs. the outside temperatures you have been seeing?

Even if the timer was running backwards, there is no way for that to cause "LESS" heat, it would only cause an outfire.

It is important to remeber that the Koker Lite is a stove. It only has a heat jacket on the back and top. sides and front of the firebox are single wall.

That being said,
How do you have it plumbed into your ductwork?

Do you have it plumbed into the return duct, or the supply?

These are important things to know in giving advise. There are people on this site that heat similar sized houses with Koker Lites with no problem. I don't think the Koker Lite is the problem.

By the way, 72 degrees sounds quite warm, How high do you want it to be?

-Don

kokerlitemadness wrote:Just purchased a new Koker Lite furnace, been running since January 21st, 2015. Have thermostat set @ 78 degrees, furnace thermometer burning at around 300-350 degrees but cannot get house temperature past 72 degrees. When the furnace is calling for heat, it is just not doing it. House well insulated and in 2014 had new windows installed. Very frustrated and disappointed in this furnace.

Some setting most not be correct. My koker lit normal runs around 550* when its calling for heat, which isnt even making the stove work. They can be dialed up to 700+. At idle I think im around 150-200*. Like others have said me need more info to help. Such as;

when the unit is running wide open what does the flame height look like?
how much ash is on the edge of the grates.

same for when the unit is at idle?

what your ducting looks like

and what the settings for when your blower turns on and off.