Keystoker K6 Hot water / Steam differences

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Townsend
Member
Posts: 573
Joined: Tue. Nov. 21, 2006 7:38 pm
Location: Connecticut
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 50-93 & Harman Mark I
Coal Size/Type: Pea / Nut

Post by Townsend » Thu. Nov. 03, 2022 2:02 pm

Hello all,

I moved to a much smaller house since I had the AA260 in my large Victorian. The new house, and I use the term new lightly as the house was built in the mid 1700s has one pipe steam just like the previous home did. I have again begun to think of coal to heat with and have been looking at EFMs, Van Werts, AAs, and Keystokers to name a few. I have a much smaller radiation load here.

I found a Keystoker here in Connecticut for sale and inquired on it. The new homeowner where the stoker was in when he and his wife bought the house decided to change over to gas so they had the coal burner pulled out and wasn’t exactly sure which model it was. I decided to check with Keystoker and provided them the number on the stoker mechanism for reference. I have to say, every time I’ve called Keystoker they’ve been great at spending time with me and answering questions (Don, Harriet and Brian). Anyway, they quickly identified the boiler in their records as a K6 and it was built in 2008. I asked if I can easily transition it to steam figuring I would just need the controls etc. However, Keystoker advised that with hot water applications they ship the boilers with 3 grates on the burn bed and that on steam they use 4 grates (like on a K8) as to the need to quickly get the water up to steam temps and recover from cooler return condensate. A few other items to change would be enlarging the supply fittings on top of the boiler and adding sight glass mounting holes.

However, since my house and rad load are small, Brian said I could probably get away with the 3 grate setup and be fine with it for my steam application.

Just thought it was interesting and wanted to share with the forum.


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