Keystone 24 Hour "Burn"

I don't know if there is an EPA stop on the air lever but I'm betting when its at 0 most if not all combustion air comes from that little hole in the back of the ash pan housing. It had to pass the EPA test at lowest setting so I don't doubt you had a clean burn.

 

When the air slide is closed, it doesn't appear that too much air could make it past. I would sometimes see a glow in the back of the coals, finally made sense when you told me about that hole a while back...what is that, like 1/4, 5/16? For me, the dirty burns seem to happen when I have too much air going through the stove. Also, seemed like the Fireview burned a little cleaner at higher air settings than the 'stone and the EPA numbers support it being cleaner overall. I'd have to have both of them here, swapping back and forth more than I did, to say for sure how they compare exactly.

 

I think I have an air intake restriction. I put three splits in the stove yesterday morning, 30 hours later enough coals to restart a new load. Stove top peaked at 400F and cat probe peaked at 1050F, draft set on zero. No visible smoke.
Early in the fall, I thought the draft was weaker during a reload, than it used to be. I stuck a shop-vac in the air intake and things seemed better. Its not a problem but something is off. The stove just burns lower on zero than it used to, higher draft setting seem the same. I swept the chimney and pulled the cat a couple weeks ago, everything looked fine/normal.

 

Wow, that does seem to be running really low. Refresh my memory, how do you use/maintain the ash pan? Do you let a lot of ash build up on top of the grate? That might negate the effect of the hole in the ash pan housing...

 

I dump the ash pan when its full. Usually not much ash on the grate. I did blow through the hole in the ash pan housing with an air compressor a couple of weeks ago when I cleaned the cat and chimney. I saw some dust blowing up behind the stove, probably off the hearth. I also blew up into the air intake.

 

Dang, 30 hours has got to be some kind of record. If you think you have an obstruction you could pop the top off and take a look. There are two bolts just outside either side of the cat that hold down the top and it lifts right off and exposes two airway channels.

 

I may do that this spring, curious now. I can't imagine that its plugged with something that can't be sucked or blown out. Ash or cobwebs is about all I can think of.
Do you know where the air inlet is that feeds the small hole in the ash pan?

 

Its just a drilled hole in the back of the ash pan housing.

 

This is interesting to me, what holds the secret to this magical 30 hour burn..... are you sure didn't franken king this stove?

 

Good question. No I didn't do any stove mods. At first, I thought I just hadn't noticed the stove still holding coals after 24 hours, normally I'm letting the stove go cold due to the weather if I don't reload morning and night, and don't look in it. Now I'm thinking the air intake may be obstructed somewhere. So far its been a neat, interesting "problem" to have.

 

That's simple enough. I just looked with a flashlight. I figured it was ducted from somewhere.

 

ETA: There was only a hand full of coals left. Took awhile to get the next load flaming, would have needed kindling if I were in a hurry.

 

Got another 24 hr burn last night, without trying. Didn't even load the stove particularly full. When to load the stove for the night and there are plenty of charred chunks left over to get it going, from last night. The high was 52F today, so weak draft may have contributed.
The sluggish draft I thought I had last year must have been my imagination. I haven't noticed it this year and have changed nothing.

 

Glass got dirty.

 

Awesome! Can't wait to get my 'stone back online. I hadn't gotten around to fixing the leaking seam yet, been running the Dutchwest and experimenting a bit. I got a DuraFoil cat from Woodstock, made for the old Palladian and Classic, which just happens to be round 6 x 2", same size as the Dutchwest. That cat burns great. I have a stove top meter just behind the cat probe. I run that up to 300, the probe is well below the "zero" mark, and the cat will light in about a minute. Not sure why the probe takes so long to come up when burning in bypass. Once I close the bypass, the cat will catch and start rising at 100* a minute up to 600, then slowly climb to 1100-1200.
Anyway, I've been getting antsy to run and enjoy the Keystone again so I emailed Lorin to ask who to talk to about fixing that seam leak. She told me that to disassemble the stove, I would have to take the top out. Sounded like more seams would then need to be re-cemented so I think I'm just gonna patch the seam without taking the stove apart. She said to take the windows out for better access, and sent me free window gaskets and some of their soapstone-dust cement. I'm gonna do it this week, let it dry for a few days, do a few break-in fires to dry the cement, and I'll be back in bidness.

 

Don't forget the pictures!

 

fox9988, this seems to be easily in the realm of a Woodstock stove!, my limited experience, 3 stove manufacturers, Woodstock underestimates burn time and square footage heated whereas others post the example in perfect conditions. My IS, granted bigger firebox, keeps my 2200 square foot (cubic feet twice normal) house warm in my shoulder season 40s day 20 night on 1.5 full loads of popular.

my experience, some small split at 330 pm (working on daughters homework) refill full load on hot coals around 7pm shut stove down til 8. Get up at 6 and open air to half firebox is about half full of coal STT goes up. 230 when I get home rake ash 3 to 4 splits shut stove down during homework make dinner etc. load before bedtime and repeat.

 

Looks good fox! I am just now seeing this thread for thew first time, and nice to know the little Keystone can run a day+. Love the look of the stove too!

I always have trouble getting a good load packed in there with cordwood lol. Plus I have nothing but ash right now, which is good wood but I don't think it will burn as long as the black locust I have used before, or oak (never really burned much oak myself). If anyone has some black locust or oak split large and wants to donate some for an Ideal Steel cordwood test... :stacke:

 

White Oak is getting into the realm of high-output, with Hickory. Red Oak is more toward the White Ash level....medium-high.