Difference between a Keystoker KA6 and KFA

 
memco man
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Stoker Coal Boiler: 1981 KA-6 Keystoker
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: jotul NR 507, crane coal cooker 44, crane 404, chubby w/blower, chubby w/out blower, franco blege 10-475 Montgomery ward laundry stove Moore's Brother seventeen circulator stove
Coal Size/Type: nut/anthracite/pea
Other Heating: harman p68, elmtree,harthstone,new mack

Post by memco man » Wed. Nov. 15, 2017 2:23 pm

I guess heating up the water in the boiler and circulating it around was not a good Ideal nobody had an opinion on it so I guess that I will try flushing it a couple more times and see what happens hopefully I got it all out last Sunday my dhw tunnels should be here today or tomorrow and I can get them on this weekend then maybe I can get the boiler down into the basement I was hoping for last weekend. Oh well **** happens!!! And you Know what McGiever says slow and steady wins the race


Have a good afternoon all
Bill


 
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StokerDon
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Wed. Nov. 15, 2017 7:46 pm

memco man wrote:
Mon. Nov. 13, 2017 11:15 pm
Don I forgot to mention how much I liked your setup on the back of your truck that look pretty handy makes me want to do the same thing with my eng. hoist that was pretty neat how you flipped that boiler over how much did that thing weigh the hoist looked like it was handling it ok

Thanks again
Bill
Thanks Bill. The Hill Billy truck boom setup can pick up 1000 pounds with no problem. That boiler in the pics only weighs 400 or 500 pounds, but it has picked up heavier boilers to.
That little boiler was badly neglected but it pressure tested good so it's hooked up in the garage right now. Most of the crap in the pic is metal, either from inside the boiler from the original plumbing.

-Don

 
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StokerDon
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Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Wed. Nov. 15, 2017 7:50 pm

memco man wrote:
Wed. Nov. 15, 2017 2:23 pm
I guess heating up the water in the boiler and circulating it around was not a good Ideal nobody had an opinion on it so I guess that I will try flushing it a couple more times
It may be tempting, but it's not a good idea to fire up the stoker without the boiler hooked up to a heat load. You risk damaging the pressure vessel.

-Don

 
memco man
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Posts: 217
Joined: Mon. Oct. 24, 2011 10:18 pm
Location: vermont
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1981 KA-6 Keystoker
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Tarms 504
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: alaska liberty
Hand Fed Coal Stove: jotul NR 507, crane coal cooker 44, crane 404, chubby w/blower, chubby w/out blower, franco blege 10-475 Montgomery ward laundry stove Moore's Brother seventeen circulator stove
Coal Size/Type: nut/anthracite/pea
Other Heating: harman p68, elmtree,harthstone,new mack

Post by memco man » Wed. Nov. 15, 2017 9:39 pm

Thank you Don I will defiantly not do that I will fill her up a few more times and call it good enough my tunnels did not come in today should be in tomorrow
I don't know what happen but my thread changed from Ka 6 I think to difference between a ka6 and KFA almost didn't find it :?


Thanks again
Bill

 
memco man
Member
Posts: 217
Joined: Mon. Oct. 24, 2011 10:18 pm
Location: vermont
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1981 KA-6 Keystoker
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Tarms 504
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: alaska liberty
Hand Fed Coal Stove: jotul NR 507, crane coal cooker 44, crane 404, chubby w/blower, chubby w/out blower, franco blege 10-475 Montgomery ward laundry stove Moore's Brother seventeen circulator stove
Coal Size/Type: nut/anthracite/pea
Other Heating: harman p68, elmtree,harthstone,new mack

Post by memco man » Fri. Nov. 17, 2017 8:14 pm

Good evening everyone, well I waited patiently for my dwh tunnels this week when I came home this afternoon and still no tunnels so I called Keystokers to see what was going on, so they tracked it down for me, and come to find out that ups some how damage them :x so are sending the back to Keystokers Brian and I could not imagine how they could have damage them but they did :annoyed: I wonder what they could do with an anvil ? I was hoping to get the Boiler down into the basement this weekend but that is not going to happen now. there is still plenty left to do though I can work on the stoker and get that ready and start on the tin work so all is not lost

Hope that every body has a good weekend
Memco man

 
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gaw
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Post by gaw » Sat. Nov. 18, 2017 9:23 am

memco man wrote:
Fri. Nov. 17, 2017 8:14 pm
Good evening everyone, well I waited patiently for my dwh tunnels this week when I came home this afternoon and still no tunnels so I called Keystokers to see what was going on, so they tracked it down for me, and come to find out that ups some how damage them :x so are sending the back to Keystokers Brian and I could not imagine how they could have damage them but they did :annoyed: I wonder what they could do with an anvil ? I was hoping to get the Boiler down into the basement this weekend but that is not going to happen now. there is still plenty left to do though I can work on the stoker and get that ready and start on the tin work so all is not lost

Hope that every body has a good weekend
Memco man
That's why it's pronounced "oops"

A good upgrade, did you order the gaskets too, I'm sure you did or Keystoker would have told you.

My cousin did the modification to his EFM after an EFM dealer wanted to scrap it and install a system 2000. I wouldn't let that SOB plunge my toilet.

 
memco man
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Posts: 217
Joined: Mon. Oct. 24, 2011 10:18 pm
Location: vermont
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1981 KA-6 Keystoker
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Tarms 504
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: alaska liberty
Hand Fed Coal Stove: jotul NR 507, crane coal cooker 44, crane 404, chubby w/blower, chubby w/out blower, franco blege 10-475 Montgomery ward laundry stove Moore's Brother seventeen circulator stove
Coal Size/Type: nut/anthracite/pea
Other Heating: harman p68, elmtree,harthstone,new mack

Post by memco man » Sat. Nov. 18, 2017 8:37 pm

Good evening gaw sounds like the guy really did not want to sell EFM parts or boilers I don't know that much about the systems 2000's but what I have heard has not been good. Why anyone want someone to get rid of there coal boiler is beyond me :? :D
I ended up going over to my daughters house today and did some plumbing and wiring for her and did not get anything done on the boiler hopefully I will get the burner done tomorrow.

Take care
Bill


 
memco man
Member
Posts: 217
Joined: Mon. Oct. 24, 2011 10:18 pm
Location: vermont
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1981 KA-6 Keystoker
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Tarms 504
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: alaska liberty
Hand Fed Coal Stove: jotul NR 507, crane coal cooker 44, crane 404, chubby w/blower, chubby w/out blower, franco blege 10-475 Montgomery ward laundry stove Moore's Brother seventeen circulator stove
Coal Size/Type: nut/anthracite/pea
Other Heating: harman p68, elmtree,harthstone,new mack

Post by memco man » Tue. Nov. 21, 2017 9:15 pm

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Hi all it warmed up today and I was able to work on flushing out the boiler again I think that I got it all I was able to rock the boiler back and forth with it full of water by the time I was done there was no rust coming out and no more debris I called keystoker this morning and they said that the tunnels should be here tomorrow evening so life is good I might get it down into the basement this week end :D here is some pictures of me rocking the boat
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gaw
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Post by gaw » Tue. Nov. 21, 2017 10:32 pm

Does that have the 8" or 9" stack? Older units had the 9" I don't know when they changed.

 
memco man
Member
Posts: 217
Joined: Mon. Oct. 24, 2011 10:18 pm
Location: vermont
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1981 KA-6 Keystoker
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Tarms 504
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: alaska liberty
Hand Fed Coal Stove: jotul NR 507, crane coal cooker 44, crane 404, chubby w/blower, chubby w/out blower, franco blege 10-475 Montgomery ward laundry stove Moore's Brother seventeen circulator stove
Coal Size/Type: nut/anthracite/pea
Other Heating: harman p68, elmtree,harthstone,new mack

Post by memco man » Tue. Nov. 21, 2017 11:16 pm

Good evening gaw this one has a nine inch exhaust it measures 8-1/2 inside and nine on the outside. I am going to take my greats I to work tomorrow and glass bead them (there is a lot of rust on them) I think that I might need to get new greats as well up on the top of the greats have eroded in pretty good shape I will post some pictures and maybe you could give me your opinion they may be ok I was reading on other ka 6 rebuilds that the greats need to be smooth

Take care
Bill

 
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Post by MINO » Wed. Nov. 22, 2017 10:47 pm

I did same thing as you with the tunnels... I added blower fan but don't use it.... and the grates.... just get new ones... the older grates have holes all the way to the top of the grate... the new grates give you about 3 inches or more of solid grate before the air holes start.... with that said it keeps the fire further down the grate and helps aliviate the possibility of a hopper fire.... when I ran old grates the fire sat back too far in my opinion towards the stoker throat....

 
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gaw
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Post by gaw » Wed. Nov. 22, 2017 11:33 pm

MINO wrote:
Wed. Nov. 22, 2017 10:47 pm
with that said it keeps the fire further down the grate and helps aliviate the possibility of a hopper fire
Been there, done that. :o

I missed my chance to do the tunnels. I’ll do it if the need arises. For now I won’t fix what ain’t broken.

 
memco man
Member
Posts: 217
Joined: Mon. Oct. 24, 2011 10:18 pm
Location: vermont
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1981 KA-6 Keystoker
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Tarms 504
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: alaska liberty
Hand Fed Coal Stove: jotul NR 507, crane coal cooker 44, crane 404, chubby w/blower, chubby w/out blower, franco blege 10-475 Montgomery ward laundry stove Moore's Brother seventeen circulator stove
Coal Size/Type: nut/anthracite/pea
Other Heating: harman p68, elmtree,harthstone,new mack

Post by memco man » Fri. Nov. 24, 2017 10:33 pm

Hello all my tunnels came Wed. night :D I was going to weld them on today but other things came up I did get the greats cleaned up but listening to you and MIMO maybe I should go ahead and get the new grates really don't want a hopper fire down in the basement this is the time to do it if I am going to do it then I wont have to worry about down the road here is some pictures of my greats
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memco man
Member
Posts: 217
Joined: Mon. Oct. 24, 2011 10:18 pm
Location: vermont
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1981 KA-6 Keystoker
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Tarms 504
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: alaska liberty
Hand Fed Coal Stove: jotul NR 507, crane coal cooker 44, crane 404, chubby w/blower, chubby w/out blower, franco blege 10-475 Montgomery ward laundry stove Moore's Brother seventeen circulator stove
Coal Size/Type: nut/anthracite/pea
Other Heating: harman p68, elmtree,harthstone,new mack

Post by memco man » Fri. Nov. 24, 2017 10:45 pm

I submitted it to quick take a look at the top the greats are eroded about half way through and you are right the holes are about an 11/2 inches away from the hopper

Thanks again
Bill

 
Qtown1835
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Other Heating: EFM SPK600

Post by Qtown1835 » Sat. Nov. 25, 2017 7:19 am

By looking at the pics, they look plenty serviceable to me. As long as they are not warped and cracked you will be fine. I replaced 1 of my grates that was cracked and the just blocked the last 4 rows of air ports to match the new casting. I used furnace cement and then sanded it smooth. Save yourself $200


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