First fire of season switched to RICE tweaking....

 
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CoalisCoolxWarm
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Location: Western PA
Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KA-6
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: old Sears rebuilt, bituminous- offline as of winter 2014
Coal Size/Type: Anthracite Buckwheat
Other Heating: Oil Boiler

Post by CoalisCoolxWarm » Sun. Dec. 18, 2022 9:34 pm

lzaharis wrote:
Sun. Dec. 18, 2022 9:15 pm
Was this image at the end of a heat call?? Its looks lop sided almost as if you have fly ash/coal dust under the fire grate.
It's been one long continuous heat call since lighting from scratch. I cleaned out the entire stoker, including vacuuming and shaking out all the fly ash.

 
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CoalisCoolxWarm
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KA-6
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Coal Size/Type: Anthracite Buckwheat
Other Heating: Oil Boiler

Post by CoalisCoolxWarm » Sun. Dec. 18, 2022 9:37 pm

Retro_Origin wrote:
Sun. Dec. 18, 2022 9:16 pm
If you're using it for domestic over the summer
I only burn during heating season.
Honestly, I disconnected the secondary blower for winter and I don't think I'll ever put it back on...it allows TOO much air in and let the fire burn out premature, I had to run it shut till it was beneficial. One of the main dislikes of this boiler is the outfires (that's with buck mind you). I won't disconnect the timer until it stays below 30's all the time. I just don't trust it, nor like relighting the boiler!
I'm thinking of a switch on that extra fan. Been hearing it isn't needed in winter for quite some time.

Worst part about outfires is all the unburnt coal feeding through the stoker....

 
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CoalisCoolxWarm
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Joined: Wed. Jan. 19, 2011 11:41 am
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KA-6
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Coal Size/Type: Anthracite Buckwheat
Other Heating: Oil Boiler

Post by CoalisCoolxWarm » Sun. Dec. 18, 2022 9:59 pm

That's better!
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Getting up to temp now:
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Here are my combustion and secondary fan settings:
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...and the draft results:
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Now to wait for all calls for heat to quit so I can work on the timer adjustment.

Going to wait another 45 mins to make sure the current burning settings hold.

 
lzaharis
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KAA-4-1 dual fuel boiler
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: former switzer CWW100-sold
Coal Size/Type: rice
Other Heating: kerosene for dual fuel Keystoker/unused

Post by lzaharis » Sun. Dec. 18, 2022 11:00 pm

Was the barometric damper open when the boiler was firing or when the boiler heat
call was shut down and the primary combustion blower shut off??


 
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CoalisCoolxWarm
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Posts: 2323
Joined: Wed. Jan. 19, 2011 11:41 am
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KA-6
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: old Sears rebuilt, bituminous- offline as of winter 2014
Coal Size/Type: Anthracite Buckwheat
Other Heating: Oil Boiler

Post by CoalisCoolxWarm » Sun. Dec. 18, 2022 11:11 pm

lzaharis wrote:
Sun. Dec. 18, 2022 11:00 pm
Was the barometric damper open when the boiler was firing or when the boiler heat
call was shut down and the primary combustion blower shut off??
Still at full burn. It hasn't shut down yet, but previously it would be either closed or open just a bit at idle. While firing it adjusts from closed up to full open. The draft reading remains really steady.

I had to turn the feed up 1/2 turn after finding this:
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I set timer for another hour, then if it looks okay I will call it a night. Hopefully there is a fire in the am.

The timer settings are pretty aggressive. 75 seconds then 45 seconds at 10 mins and 20 mins, then starts over at 30 mins, as shown in the earlier pic. Should be okay. Guess we'll know in the am. Lol

Thanks for hanging and for the input, fellas! Have a good night.

 
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CoalisCoolxWarm
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KA-6
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Coal Size/Type: Anthracite Buckwheat
Other Heating: Oil Boiler

Post by CoalisCoolxWarm » Mon. Dec. 19, 2022 10:18 am

Made it through the night and the house is warm this am!

More to do with timer and tweaking things, replacing some gaskets, cleaning inside of boiler, etc...

But that will have to wait, errands to run.

This is what I LOVE about stokers. You can play with settings if you want, or you can walk away and they will just chug along on their own.

 
lzaharis
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KAA-4-1 dual fuel boiler
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Coal Size/Type: rice
Other Heating: kerosene for dual fuel Keystoker/unused

Post by lzaharis » Mon. Dec. 19, 2022 11:19 am

In your last photo image on Sunday your fire looks perfect with the
right ratio of dead ash, width of the fire and unburned coal.

You certainly do not want a wider fire nearly spilling over the
end and into the ash basket.

My barometric damper only opens when the forced draft
combustion fan shuts off or when we have huge wind gusts.

 
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Coal Size/Type: WAS Lehigh Rice (TBD)
Other Heating: EFM SPK600

Post by Qtown1835 » Mon. Dec. 19, 2022 1:35 pm

I run my KA4 at 13 turns on the new rice. I could drop it some more, but then the recovery takes a little longer. I still get some unburnt coal on top. If i fire the bed too much it tends to clinker on the stoker bed. I average about 35-40#/day. Primary air is fully closed, no baro, ~0.02+/-. timer is at 30sec every 15min, i could honestly do away with it at this point. The blaschak burns well


 
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CoalisCoolxWarm
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Coal Size/Type: Anthracite Buckwheat
Other Heating: Oil Boiler

Post by CoalisCoolxWarm » Mon. Dec. 19, 2022 2:39 pm

This was about 1130am today after sitting idle for...not sure how long. Everything is up to temp. (notice all the junk I need to clean off the walls :o )
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The draft is nearly double what I usually run the other seasons on buckwheat. I'll probably trim that down when I have a chunk of time to devote to checking it and possible outfires as I wean the draft down.
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lzaharis wrote:
Mon. Dec. 19, 2022 11:19 am
In your last photo image on Sunday your fire looks perfect with the
right ratio of dead ash, width of the fire and unburned coal.
That Sunday night pic is what I'm hoping to get during extended firing :yes: I haven't dug through the ashes yet, so still have to check for completeness of burn and caking or whatnot.
Qtown1835 wrote:
Mon. Dec. 19, 2022 1:35 pm
I still get some unburnt coal on top. If i fire the bed too much it tends to clinker on the stoker bed.
I'm curious about your setup if you are getting unburnt coal on top of the ashes?

Your primary combustion air is completely closed? Do you have the full time secondary fan?

As you can see in my earlier posts, my secondary is just barely a sliver. Might end up using a switch to turn it off altogether once I start tweaking again.

That is a really good, low coal consumption rate, though- even with unburnt on top! Can't argue with that ;)

My concern is more about pushing the fire off the end and getting an outfire than worrying about it going out in between fires. The timer should handle that part- just have to watch it for a couple of hours while tweaking the settings.

Draft is picky, even with buckwheat.

Just like I found while making those adjustments a while back, there seems to be TWO seemingly "good" burning settings, where the fire and ashes look good.

BUT- just like with buckwheat, the one is a FALSE balance. Too much air. With too much air I was still able to set the draft reasonably, but didn't get nearly as much heat out of the burn.

Maybe related to ash formation or combustion efficiency or something else?

I do know that once I hit the TRUE balance with just as much air as needed without a lot of excess, I get a LOT more heat out of the burn.

During last night's setup and tweaking, I was fortunate to have an extended call for heat of a few hours (starting from scratch). I think it is pretty good in the Macro sense. Later I will work on the Micro. LOL.

Guess it's time to watch consumption and ash production now. See how that is doing to determine which part to tweak next.

As far as satisfaction with the process...Yep, I think it went well. I think someone else could follow through about the same steps and get a pretty decent result. I did not measure the absolute feed turns, just relative, but it's on my list and I'll add it here.

It's 20F outside now and calling for low temps at the end of the week.

 
Qtown1835
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Coal Size/Type: WAS Lehigh Rice (TBD)
Other Heating: EFM SPK600

Post by Qtown1835 » Mon. Dec. 19, 2022 3:43 pm

I have the KA4, not the new model with the secondary fan. Only air i get is from the opening below the stoker fan. Temperature swings are the biggest efficiency killers. What's efficient at 20* is NFG @50*. I removed the baro this year, 90% of the time i kept it covered with foil. The change from Lehigh to Blaschak has been noticeable, both are good but burn differently. I have not tried buck, but i do not see a reason to switch right now.

I have the ash stick to the walls and form scales like you have. I usually run a long handle grill brush over the walls like once a month to keep it clean. Not sure it really does much, but it makes me fell better.

Overall the keystoker has served me well and sips the coal for my needs.

 
lzaharis
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KAA-4-1 dual fuel boiler
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Coal Size/Type: rice
Other Heating: kerosene for dual fuel Keystoker/unused

Post by lzaharis » Mon. Dec. 19, 2022 7:13 pm

YES sir,

I love it when everyones heat is working well.

With the weather coming on Wednesday(maybe) the wind
from the west on my mountain may be an issue.

 
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CoalisCoolxWarm
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Joined: Wed. Jan. 19, 2011 11:41 am
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KA-6
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: old Sears rebuilt, bituminous- offline as of winter 2014
Coal Size/Type: Anthracite Buckwheat
Other Heating: Oil Boiler

Post by CoalisCoolxWarm » Mon. Jan. 16, 2023 9:57 pm

Update: I am liking this rice! Fewer hopper loads, fewer ashes dumped.

We are starting to settle in at about 1 to 2 five gallon buckets of coal per day, depending on the weather. At 69F thermostat setting.

Bump it up to 71F or so and the boiler runs a fair bit more. Think I've found my sweet spot based on my baseboard and insulation. But I want more.

Old bones and bad joints need a little more heat. So I'll be sealing and insulating more shortly.

Oh- and I've gathered up the pieces of my coal vac prototype. It should work much better with rice. Stay tuned ;)

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