Just Installed a Keystoker KAA-2

just installed a keystoker kaa-2 up and running since sunday at 6pm. everything seems to be running good need to make some adjustments but other tthan that seems to be ok. I was wondering if somebody has one of these boilers up and running and can give some advice I am running the boiler in series with my oil burner I am heating a 1200 square foot ranch in new hampshire temperatue is about 20-30 degrees. the aqua stat is set at 160 on the low and the high is set at 180 I have the stoker ajustment at 12 turns in with a maxium of 17 turns for full stoker. I think I may back it off to 10 turns. boiler is running about 170. I also have a hot water coil which I am debating on hooking up I seem to have enough hot water just running my hotwater tank of the boiler loop. I will be posting some pic this weekend . any help is greatly appricated.

I don't have a Keystoker but I do have a coal stoker boiler. I know where you are at emotionally right now; happy, relieved, but still anxious, waiting for "the other shoe to drop". I was there just about two months ago. It was tough to get any rest because I was waiting for trouble, ready to spring into action. I was second guessing all of my workmanship and waiting for the CO detector to go off. But nothing ever happened. My family didn't miss a beat in their routine. The hot water flowed and the rooms heated up on call. I was the only one losing sleep.

My advice: Wait for problems to actually happen before fixing them. Try not to worry; Your house will be warm!

Congratulations on a job well done!

Happy New Year!

I have the KA-6 but my advice should be true for all Keystoker boilers. Be patient! Make minimal adjustments and give it time, like a day or two to see the results. I would back my feed off a turn at a time and wait a day or more to see the results. I spent a week or two after I Installed mine making little adjustments and "playing" to see how it would perform. In the end the feed rate that worked best was a turn or two from factory start point recommendations. The only adjusting I do is set my LOW limit on the aquastat to 140 after the heating season. This may save a little coal and it keeps some heat out of the basement. For the heating season I set the aquastat to LOW 160, HIGH 180.

Congratulations! I think you will like your coal heat.

here are some pics of the keystoker kaa-2 boiler just installed on sunday and just in time it is 2 degrees outside and only buning 3/4 of a bag a day

Wow, that's just the prettiest little boiler! Nice job!

How large is your house? Age? Insulation? I burn half a bag a day in my Keystoker, 2800 sq.ft. including finished basement, new construction, well insulated, but the furnace still runs a bit when it's very windy or after coming out of setbacks on the thermostat. No big deal as our natural gas cost is still rather reasonable out here.

my house is 2000 square feet built in 1969 preety well insulated with a finished basment I seem to be burning about 3/4 to a full bag a day inn 24 hours. last night was extreamly cold -11 had a little trouble keeping up with demand but I only have my stoker adjust at the half way point I can still turn in 9 more turns in for more coal.

chris

That's pretty impressive coal consumption, and I assume you have 4" walls?

yes I do have 2x4 walls with r13 insulation and r39 in the attic. do you think I am burning too much coal or not. how long do you think a bad should last me

chris

I'd say you are doing real well. I have a new home, 2800 sq.ft. including finished basement, 6" walls, R39 or so (14" of glass in the ceiling) in the attic, pretty tight construction. I burn 20# a day heating the basement and part of the updstairs. The furnace still runs a decent amount depending on outside temp and wind. I estimate that I'd burn at least a bag a day if I was heating the entire house. I have a 80K BTU input (72K BTU output) natural gas furnace, and if it's below zero or really windy, it will JUST keep up with the house demand. So, if I was lucky and had hot water, a KAA-2 would be a good match, and likely I'd be running it pretty hard on the cold nights.

Sounds like you're not even running your unit that hard if you have 9 turns left on the adjuster.

Just a question - how big are your bags? 40#, 50#, 100#? 40# a day is only 21K BTU input, which is very little heat for your size home on a cold day. Frankly, I would expect something between 80 and 100# a day in really cold weather.

the bags I use are 40# blaschak rice coal. I think I might have to turn my feed up the last two day it had been about 7 during the day and -10 at night and with all three zones it seems to have a little trouble . I let you know wht the out come is

chris

I burn the same stuff. I run my feed out 3 turns from fully in. Idle timer box is 5 pins every 10 minutes. That gets me a nice low idle fire. The stove never runs long enough on the call for heat to ever build up a full grate fire, so I really don't know what I would have at the end of the grate for ash. You want about 2" of ash at the end of the grate at full fire. Basically, the fire needs to burn out by the last row of holes on the grate. Otherwise you'll push off partially burnt coal.

But, you can turn the feed rate in as required to get the heat you need. That will also increase your idle fire size, so you may have to compensate with less pins in the timer for warmer weather.

does anyone have the overall dimenisions of a KAA-2 boiler.

Keystoker does.

**Broken Link(s) Removed**

yes, I saw those specs, it says L=27" but I don't think that includes the hopper.
Thats why I asked if someone could post the actual length boiler+hopper
If you look at the pictures above and assume the wall studs are 16 on center
the length is close to 3x16"=48"

the total lenght with hopper is 41 inches

chris