Cleaning EKO Tubes/Abandoning Turbulators?

So the EKO 60 made it through the winter, gradually working worse and worse. The weather here was such that I couldn't give it the break I needed to do a thorough job of cleaning out the heat exchanger tubes. Burning partially seasoned wood and wet seasoned wood did not help.

So this week I set about tearing things down. The turbulators were stuck on ridges of build-up and I had to break them completely down and pull out the twisty straps one by one with heavy vise-grips. I am now in the process of building a rotary wire-brush to scrub out the tubes.

While the turbulators are out I have been considering leaving them out altogether. Has anyone else done this? They're kind of a PITA and now that I have broken things down this far, it seems like it would be easier to service during the main heating season without them, especially if the boiler is still pretty warm.

woodsmaster said:

You cold take them out and hang some chains. If you clean it more often due to being easier to get to, it will be more efficient than running it all gunked up with turbulators.

Click to expand...

I did think of chains.....

I ritually worked the handle right up until the morning I couldn't move it at all...... So, I burnt some potatoes, cleaned it out and got them working again. However, the boiler never quite gained back it's efficiency. Now, I know that I was burning less than properly seasoned wood, and I may have incinerated a dead rat or two....so that has a lot to contribute to my build-up problems. However, I find the whole turbulator apparatus to be clunky and poorly designed. I was surprised it worked as long as it did.

Right now I have it set that I can run a wire brush on a drill down the tubes and polish up the heat exchangers in about 10 minutes start to finish. Burning clean properly seasoned wood, and doing that once a month is probably preferable to fighting turbulators and gunk ups on days when the boiler is needed.