So things have been going pretty smoothly with the EKO 60 since I got it online in January. After a few hiccups it has worked well. Love that I can just go out in the morning, throw some fresh wood on the coals, press start and walk away.... Apart from some minor smoke issues--largely because I'm burning less than dry wood--about 25% moisture--and the few leaks which cause me to add water every few days, everything has been better than expected--largely thanks to this Forum.
However, the last three days I've run into a snag. Can't figure it out. Thursday I had the boiler going strong until around 3pm. It "Fuel"d out and so I stirred the coals, reloaded and headed out to a meeting. When I got back 4 hours later the boiler was again on "Fuel". From the look of things though it was clear it never really got burning after I pushed the start before I left. It never recovered or heated storage that night and so everything was down to 130 in the morning. I added wood, press start and watched....
I've been burning Ash dropped earlier in the winter mixed in with my remaining dry-ish wood. The ash burns hot once it gets going and I've had a couple of close calls with over-firing lately. So I don't think it could be the wood. I also haven't changed any settings.
On Friday I was gone a good part of the morning and didn't think to load the boiler until late afternoon. It was 60º out!! Storage was down to 120 by then. I fired up, loaded it and things were on their way. Then night temp was 19º and when I went to bed storage a was at 160 or so. When I woke up, I was surprised to see it at 120º. The boiler must have "fuel"d out minutes after I checked it & hit the hay. Saturday I was in and out, but the boiler never got going well. Storage never got above 140º. I had a real hard time keeping the fire going for some reason. When I got up this morning the boiler had a full load of fuel in it, mostly un-burned. Storage was down to 110º. It was 26 outside and the boiler was 120º. It took forever to get the coals lit and hot.
By now the bed of coals is even with the door. It has been a devil to keep burning all day long. I found all the rest of the driest wood I could lay my hands on to try to fire the thing. I checked all my settings. I upped my fan speed from 60 to 80--which seemed to help a bit.
What I noticed this afternoon was that the boiler water temp is floating between 150 and 180. The boiler will hit 170º, kick the pump on and start pumping. I have the bypass open to keep the temp up. The boiler will climb to 172 or 174º--I haven't seen it go over, although its been in and out of gassing all day. After a few minutes pumping at 172ish, the water temp will fall, the boiler will cool down and dive to 145 or so. I've been stirring the coals or adding a few small splits, cracking door, etc....anything to keep the thing fired. It will climb back to 172º pump for a few minutes with the water temp somewhere between 150 and 180, and then take a nose dive. I turned off the loads and still storage hasn't seen temps higher than 122º
I can't for the life of me think what the heck is going on? Has anyone else experienced anything similar? If the thing wasn't so hot or smoking, etc. I would have completely emptied out the ash long ago, triple checked the nozzles and started all over again, btu I don't have anyway to easily remove a wheelbarrow worth of red-hot and glowing coals.....
However, the last three days I've run into a snag. Can't figure it out. Thursday I had the boiler going strong until around 3pm. It "Fuel"d out and so I stirred the coals, reloaded and headed out to a meeting. When I got back 4 hours later the boiler was again on "Fuel". From the look of things though it was clear it never really got burning after I pushed the start before I left. It never recovered or heated storage that night and so everything was down to 130 in the morning. I added wood, press start and watched....
I've been burning Ash dropped earlier in the winter mixed in with my remaining dry-ish wood. The ash burns hot once it gets going and I've had a couple of close calls with over-firing lately. So I don't think it could be the wood. I also haven't changed any settings.
On Friday I was gone a good part of the morning and didn't think to load the boiler until late afternoon. It was 60º out!! Storage was down to 120 by then. I fired up, loaded it and things were on their way. Then night temp was 19º and when I went to bed storage a was at 160 or so. When I woke up, I was surprised to see it at 120º. The boiler must have "fuel"d out minutes after I checked it & hit the hay. Saturday I was in and out, but the boiler never got going well. Storage never got above 140º. I had a real hard time keeping the fire going for some reason. When I got up this morning the boiler had a full load of fuel in it, mostly un-burned. Storage was down to 110º. It was 26 outside and the boiler was 120º. It took forever to get the coals lit and hot.
By now the bed of coals is even with the door. It has been a devil to keep burning all day long. I found all the rest of the driest wood I could lay my hands on to try to fire the thing. I checked all my settings. I upped my fan speed from 60 to 80--which seemed to help a bit.
What I noticed this afternoon was that the boiler water temp is floating between 150 and 180. The boiler will hit 170º, kick the pump on and start pumping. I have the bypass open to keep the temp up. The boiler will climb to 172 or 174º--I haven't seen it go over, although its been in and out of gassing all day. After a few minutes pumping at 172ish, the water temp will fall, the boiler will cool down and dive to 145 or so. I've been stirring the coals or adding a few small splits, cracking door, etc....anything to keep the thing fired. It will climb back to 172º pump for a few minutes with the water temp somewhere between 150 and 180, and then take a nose dive. I turned off the loads and still storage hasn't seen temps higher than 122º
I can't for the life of me think what the heck is going on? Has anyone else experienced anything similar? If the thing wasn't so hot or smoking, etc. I would have completely emptied out the ash long ago, triple checked the nozzles and started all over again, btu I don't have anyway to easily remove a wheelbarrow worth of red-hot and glowing coals.....
