Coalpail.com Forum

Hello every one it has been awhile since I have been on the forum last year I cooked my charpee boiler I had two ways for my dump zones to work one was with a circulator it would dump it into the main loop of the house and the other was if we lost power long story short the circulator failed on the dump zone and the power did not go off so the other dump valve did not open and the boiler got really hot and boiled out all the water not good
But the bright side of this is I did not lose my oil boiler which was tied into the charpee but it did make for a long winter last year
I started shopping for a stocker last summer and found one for really cheep money the guy that I bought was really a nice guy we had to pull it of his basement and he helped with that and also helped load it onto my truck it either a keystoker KFA or a KA 6 not sure I was wonder if someone could tell me how to tell the difference I have to buy a new gear box for it the fellow that I bought it from told me that it was bad so it was no surprise also I was wondering what they go for or can you get the parts to rebuild them .

Thanks
Bill (memco man)

Can you post some pictures of it? Your boiler should have a plate on it with the model info, serial number, etc.

Keystoker's part prices are generally very reasonable.

Like Rob said source thru keystoker. Give them a call and they will get you what you need. They will ask you for the stoker number. This can be found on the back of the silver stoker unit. It's a small name plate about 1.5"x3/4" with numbers stamped on it.

The folks at Keystoker know the ins and outs of their product more than anyone. They are both helpful and reasonable, plus if we that have these green units use Keystoker for parts it will help them stay right where they are when we need them in the future. Mike

Hi Bill,
KA 6 w/ a gearbox has 3 vertical grate sections each about 3 inch wide.

Better have been REAL Cheep, those gearboxes are $$$.

Mac

Here is some pictures I have taken the tin off so I can clean it up and paint it I also need the gaskets on the back I pressurized to 60 psi for 5 hours and it held but they look really dry and should be changed before I fire it up I got the unit for 700.00 dollars he was asking 800.00 but when I got there to pick it up he said I could have it for 700.00 this guy like I said was a really good guy and just a really neat individual well so much for that here is the pictures

Looks like an older KA6. Call Keystoker, they may be able to rebuild your gearbox instead of buying a new one.

Consider adding the small auxiliary blower if you plan on burning year round. If only during heating season you can get by without.

gaw wrote: ↑

Fri. Oct. 13, 2017 10:13 pm

Consider adding the small auxiliary blower if you plan on burning year round. If only during heating season you can get by without.

I disagree. AFAIK KA-6's were made without those blowers for decades and worked fine year-round. The little blowers add air unneeded for the functioning of the boiler, cooling the combustion chamber, pushing btu's up the stack and slowing the response of the boiler to actual calls for heat. What's the supposed benefit? Per the Keystoker manual, it is "(t)o obtain a more complete burn out of coal". In other words, the ash from summer operation visibly appears to contain some unburned coal, so the blower was added to create an impression of greater "efficiency". This is ironic, since the addition of the blower almost certainly increases the amount of coal needed to satisfy the actual load.

Other threads have discussed the need to refrain from obsessing about unburned coal in the ash. Some amount is normal, and reflects an efficient fuel/air mixture (analogous to the presence of unburned gasoline in car exhaust). In summer the unburned proportion may be higher, but that doesn't make it a good idea to load the combustion chamber with a bunch of cooling air, esp. given that the amount of coal actually used in the summer for most people is a very small portion of their total annual burn.

I think Keystoker boilers in general are excellent, heavy-duty units, and like many other members I've been highly impressed by the skill and helpfulness of the people who answer their phone. However, for the reasons outlined, I'm not a "fan" of those blowers.

Mike

I got ahold of keystokers today and had a good talk with them and like you said the were very helpful they had all the parts that I needed and what I would call reasonable prices with the numbers that I had they were able to tell me that I had a 1981 ka 6 and that after I get it fixed up it should last me for years that sure made me feel good after last year I don't ever want to go through that again the next decision I have to make is what kind of coal I will need rice or buck any body have any thought about that .

Thanks

MM

I have burned rice, buck, and a mix of both. I settled on the rice-buck mix. I would use whatever is easiest to get. If both are equally available experiment to see what you prefer.

right now the best choice for me is rice TSC has it for $289.00 per ton I think that I can get buck wheat from Agway for 235.00

thank you
MM

I just got in from the garage I have been working on the gear box I got it freed up and working but it sounds loud to me, like a differential that the ring and pinion are to loose not sure if that is normal I would thing that being in a oil bath that it should not make that much noise.
If some one could let me know about the noise I would appreciate it I don't think that it is right, maybe it might be quieter with a load on it also for some reason someone had taken some wood and shimmed between the motor and the fan housing would that be to try to line up the drive shaft from the motor and the gearbox?

Thank you
Bill

The gearbox should be very quiet. Having to shim the gearbox doesn't sound right either.

oops posted in wrong thread

memco man wrote: ↑

Wed. Oct. 18, 2017 11:35 pm

I just got in from the garage I have been working on the gear box I got it freed up and working but it sounds loud to me, like a differential that the ring and pinion are to loose not sure if that is normal I would thing that being in a oil bath that it should not make that much noise.
If some one could let me know about the noise I would appreciate it I don't think that it is right, maybe it might be quieter with a load on it also for some reason someone had taken some wood and shimmed between the motor and the fan housing would that be to try to line up the drive shaft from the motor and the gearbox?

Thank you
Bill

Gearbox runs quiet, no more noise than the motor & fan. Motor should be flush against blower housing. Gearbox coupling is made of a fibrous hard rubber type of material.