Sell my EKO 60 for a Kuuma?

Been thinking lately about selling my boiler system. Not sure if I just have preseason jitters or if a Kuuma would actually be a better fit for me.

I have a an EKO 60 with 2,000 gallons of storage in a pole barn that's partially finished, with no heat other the what comes of the boiler. Installed the system during the 14-15 winter to replace my OWB. I'm happy with the boiler and the lowered consumption, but I'm worried about the time spent away from home due to some recent career changes my wife has had. My schedule is very irradic due to being on call and she's she's gone for 14-15 hours 4 days a week. I don't see either of our schedules changing for the next 10 years, when my daughters out of school.

Water freezing and btu loss during times when we want or need to be away are my major concerns. I've turned down overtime at work and time with family due to my concerns about leaving the house alone too long. I am in the process of replacing my old fuel oil furnace with a natural gas furnace, which should help ease my mind a little having a reliable back up.

My chimney is available, so it could be lined and used, and I could stack wood in my basement with no issues.

So I guess my actual question would be, what would be the major pros and cons of going one way or the other? Just wanting to make sure that I look at this from all angles.

maple1 said:

What about adding a NG boiler to cover when you're away those extra long times? Could keep your system warm?

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Ive thought about it, and there's always the air to water heat exchanger in the furnace that will soak back too. That's kinda what I'm getting at though, is it worth me keeping a system that I have to dump fossil fuel btu's into 10-15% of the time?

Not set one way or another. I could fill it with glycol, but I priced that the other day. To get me to where I would need to be percentage wise, I would need about 660 gallons. Not worth it unless I find a cheaper channel.

maple1 said:

This is where personal situations & preferences play big, so good luck however you proceed.

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Yeah, I'm not changing anything this season. I'll be playing with it, and it might be clear by mid season. Might not.

I about had the storage thing dialed in by the end of last year. I didn't fire the system up until about January. There were several tweeks and slight changes between start up and shut down.

We have family in North Carolina and Wisconsin. The holiday brings on a lot of travel (thanksgiving, Christmas, new years, and other random scattered trips), but I don't have anyone reliable (schedule wise) to keep things dialed in when we're gone for 4-5 days. I'm also still kicking myself. We were offered an 8 day trip (everything paid for) to Cancun in January 2016 with family that I turned down because I have no clue if this thing will be able to auto pilot without dumping a big chunk of money at it.

I've had more then one occasion where it was close to freezing. Guess it's going to take a little bit before the fear goes away.

STIHLY DAN said:

In those situations a wood furnace along with the gas would be best for you. I understand the winter vacation thing. I only have wood heat, nothing else so I HAVE to be home once in 2 days so things don't freeze.

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That would be a very difficult situation being on 100% cord wood.. My 1930's farm house bleeds heat really bad right now. I'm actually looking forward to starting to remodel soon. I've put it off for 10 years, it's time.

This whole thing is kinda a big struggle in my head. I poured a lot into the EKO 60 to get it going. My wife thinks I'm nuts. To make things work I would probably have to sell my boiler system first to fund the Kuuma, or there will be one very angry 4' 11" Irish woman in my house.

maple1 said:

I can relate. We're only really away from home once all winter - for 2 days over the holidays. 3 tops. Last year I didn't do that due to a flu bug. But if we were away multiple times, it would make me think. I have an electric boiler that will keep things going when we're away - as long as the power doesn't go out. It's one thing if your house will go cold, but another if you have huge amounts of water in a heating system. The electric boiler works great, and is a cheap & easy install that takes next to no room and needs no chimney, but would get pretty costly if we had to run it very much.

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An electric boiler isn't even an option at this point. Upgrading my electrical service is part of my upcoming remodel. I have a 60 amp service right now, you can't exactly multi task around here.

woodsmaster said:

couple of ideas,
1 Down size storage to 500 gallon, add glycol
2 build enclosure around boiler and storage that you can keep above freezing with a small space heater. This route i would still downsize storage to 1000 gallon, Its going to take to long to get the 2,000 gallon up to temp being gone 15 hours a day.

Even with 60 amp you should be able to run a space heater when your gone, i wouldn't think you would be drawing much power from anything else while your gone.

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Down sizing storage had crossed my mind. I could easily valve off one of the two 1,000 gallon tanks and drain it.

The prices I got for glycol were about $10-11 a gallon. So it end up being about $2,000 on the low side to treat 500 gallons. Those prices are for Dow glycol, mixed at about 30%. I haven't looked into anything else at this point. Not sure if automotive would be an option. That might cut the price to treat 500 gallons down to $1000-1200.

DaveBP said:

Assuming that your underground lines are thoroughly insulated and in no danger of freezing during a short term absence, an insulated closet built around the boiler and storage (assuming they are close to each other out there) seems like a quicker/cheaper solution. Doesn't even have to look pretty out there.

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That's also something I want to get done this fall yet. Then simulate a week of down time to see what happens.

Like I said, I haven't given up on it yet. Just thinking out loud.

I'm real close to listing it and letting the market decide what I do with it.

Woodfarmer1 said:

I went away on the coldest weekend of the year last February, minus 30's.
heated my garn up to 180* before I left. I have a munchkin wall hung condensing boiler I turned on to about 100*.
Turned my circ pumps on and left. I was nervous but when I came home 2 1/2 days later everything was still warm.

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I'm going to mess with it as the winter rolls on. I've got a meeting with my insurance guy on Monday, I'll see what he has to say.

Talked to my insurance guy yesterday. He said it wouldn't affect my insurance as long as everything was documented. That's not what I expected to hear. Kinda makes me lean towards the Kuuma a little more.

Highbeam said:

This dilemma is real. I have an 1800 SF shop with radiant tubes in the slab but no boiler set up. A woodstove is installed currently. I see you guys with wood boilers and storage and think I would sure like to use that for the shop to heat the slab. Then I see a guy like cityboy that is moving from that awesome system to a wood furnace (surely at a great loss) and I wonder why? Why would a guy want a wood furnace instead of a boiler with storage. Can't you just add a secondary backup boiler fueled by anything to keep the storage up to temp?

Wood furnaces seem cheap and easy compared to the hydronic systems. In the PNW we almost never see hydronics, always scorched air.

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There's a lot of different things playing into this whole thought process. I've gotten to where I don't want to screw with it as much, and would like to at least have the option of stepping away from it if I wanted. With a wood furnace, at least all I'd have to worry about would be the house. With the boiler it would be my furnace in the house, plus the backup boiler, plus multiple pumps, plus the furnace to keep the house warm, plus the gas that the back up boiler burned.

Or I could dump the water every time I want to press pause, but would have to re-treat it every time I refilled, plus that's hard on things letting them sit dry.

Plus I'd like to move. getting tired of driving at least 80 miles a day to work.

jasonh said:

Holy crap city. I thought my drive of 61 miles one way was alot. Maybe wherever you may move too, you could use the eko there. Or the kuuma. I will say I have spoken to the owner of kuuma via email and he seemed really helpful and believes in his product.

But it all comes down to what's best to you. Sounds like you have a few decisions to make, heating seems to be towards the bottom of the list. Good luck. Hope things work out.

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jasonh said:

Holy crap city. I thought my drive of 61 miles one way was alot. Maybe wherever you may move too, you could use the eko there. Or the kuuma. I will say I have spoken to the owner of kuuma via email and he seemed really helpful and believes in his product.

But it all comes down to what's best to you. Sounds like you have a few decisions to make, heating seems to be towards the bottom of the list. Good luck. Hope things work out.

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lol. Not quite that bad. 40 miles a day one way. Plus whatever service calls I get during the day.