ECONOBURN ANY USERS?

Welcome to the Boiler Room. No need for all caps.

We have several EconoBurn users registered here, as well as at least three dealers. Hopefully somebody will drop in with some answers to your questions.

SUPPLYGUY said:

I WOULD LIKE TO FIND OUT ABOUT BURN TIMES

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Burn time will depend upon the boiler size and the heat load.

I would recommend using a thermal storage tank, in which case the burn time is non-critical as you heat from the tank, and just use the boiler to "re-charge" the tank like a thermal battery...

Joe

Why are the Econoburn guys always yelling? Is it a prerequisite to the purchase of one of these units, or does it develop upon ownership?

THE YELLING STARTS AFTER THE SAIL !! . I was quite discouraged with my 200k unit I installed it last year around this time burnt it a bit last year boiled it over every time I used it .Talked to the salesmen frequentley . Now this year started the unit up 10/27
and been burning it to date except for about a week the turbulator arm had broke didnt have as many boilovers because the weather has been colder through the winter . BURN times are about six hrs max that is with 20-30 deg weather with using all solid -
hardwood mixed pieces round and split factory said waterstorage was not necessary but I beg to differ almost sold my unit but I'm
going to hang in there with it but I'm adding water storage . IF I didn't find this site and get the info that it offers I would of sold my
gassifyer and bought a owb I think that would of been a mistake and it would of went against every reason why I wanted a gasser
in the first place

skidsteer said:

THE YELLING STARTS AFTER THE SAIL !! . I was quite discouraged with my 200k unit I installed it last year around this time burnt it a bit last year boiled it over every time I used it .Talked to the salesmen frequentley . Now this year started the unit up 10/27
and been burning it to date except for about a week the turbulator arm had broke didnt have as many boilovers because the weather has been colder through the winter . BURN times are about six hrs max that is with 20-30 deg weather with using all solid -
hardwood mixed pieces round and split factory said waterstorage was not necessary but I beg to differ almost sold my unit but I'm
going to hang in there with it but I'm adding water storage . IF I didn't find this site and get the info that it offers I would of sold my
gassifyer and bought a owb I think that would of been a mistake and it would of went against every reason why I wanted a gasser
in the first place

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As I asked in the other thread, how did you size the unit to your house? 200k seems rather large for a house the size that you mentioned, in CT.

What's the calculated heat loss for the house?

Joe

SUPPLYGUY said:

The tarm is the next one I am going to look at. These boilers seem a little tricky to run. Do they really burn less wood? I hate to replace my new yorker wood boiler and get headaches.

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There is probably a bit more of a learning curve to get to the point where you have it nailed, but they're really not too bad. They do burn a lot less wood - probably in the range of 40% less than a well-operated conventional boiler. I've burned 3 1/2 cords so far to provide 100% of my heat for the house, hot tub, and domestic hot water since October. It's a 3500 square foot house in Vermont.

SUPPLYGUY said:

Thats the info I want to hear. Why orlan eko25 ? How often do you burn? Thank you for the info.

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In cold weather, I burn once per day - initial starting load, a refill in an hour, and a second refill 3 or 4 hours later if it's really cold. Average is 7 hours of fire per day. In warmer weather (last week, for instance) I can skip days.

Supply Guy, I also had and experience like skidsteer. I bought an econoburn 100,000 in december and have had so many headaches with it I was contemplating selling mine also. I did have storage but my problem was that I couldn't heat it up. I went through a lot of wood in only a couple on months more so than most guys use all winter. Don't know yet what the deal is. The longest burn time I could get was 6 hours and most of the time it was four. Everybody on here will tell you there is a learning curve, but I have had nothing but headaches and short nights(getting up to keep the boiler going ) I found that I need to mix my wood with kiln dried if I want to get even close to 180 water. My turbulator arm broke in the first month, and I also had a couple of other things wrong that shouldn't have been wrong on a $6000 boiler. Anyway, talking to the company and will try a 150,000. If this doesn't work any better than the one I got now, it will be out the door next year. Hope this helps a little.

ERIC, just curious as an econoburn owner what else broke on your boiler
On mine so far just my turbulator arm broke and they told me that my boiler was the first one they ever seen brake.
On the bottom of my boiler ware the ash clean out door and the firebrick refractory is located I have on both upper sides some strips of sheet metal starting to hang down just curious what that might be doesn't seem to hamper the operation of the boiler

skidsteer said:

ERIC, just curious as an econoburn owner what else broke on your boiler
On mine so far just my turbulator arm broke and they told me that my boiler was the first one they ever seen brake.
On the bottom of my boiler ware the ash clean out door and the firebrick refractory is located I have on both upper sides some strips of sheet metal starting to hang down just curious what that might be doesn't seem to hamper the operation of the boiler

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Well, when we got everything hooked up and started to fill it with water, the pressure relief valve leaked water really bad. It looked like they threaded the nipple that extended out of the boiler too far. The PRV is located under the top part of the jacket so to fix it wasn't the easiest. We ended up cutting a hole thru the top jacket and ran a longer nipple thru it and put a new PRV above the boiler.(easier access) Also, it had a leak on the bottom of the boiler. On mine there are four "studs" I call them about 1/4" below the bottom plate. It leaked water out of one of those also. This problem we couldn't fix and that is the main reason why I am getting a new one. Then after that, the turbulator handle broke so I can't clean back there any more. I plan to clean it out when the weather breaks or just wait until the new one arrives. Also, I don't know about the ease of opening the doors on most boilers, but my gasification door sticks really bad, to the point where I need to use a hammer to pry it open it needed.

Not real pleased with my 150, my first experience with a wood boiler. 4 hour burn times are normal, pressure relief valve failed quickly. I replaced it with a industrial rated one. Now it is leaking from the bottom, not sure where from. Because I have so much money invested, I am a bit embarrassed I sold my wife on this idea, kinda in the dog house now.

Is there anybody out there that is happy with their econoburn and that didnot have any mechanical problems with it ???
And was just wondering the thing that really bothers me with mine because I've not had as serious of problems as some of you is did the sales people that you bought your boilers from tell you that it would at least have a 8 to 10 hr burn time that was a very important thing for me when I was looking into all of the available gasification boilers

Lube Guy, I am in the same boat you are. I told my wife that this boiler would be awesome and save us money in the future. Now I feel like an idiot because the boiler don't work and we got 10,000 invested in it. That could have been used many other places. I can only get 4 hour burn times and was getting up at 3:00 am to fill it. Even now, the weather is warming up to around 30-40 during the day and I have to keep a fire going all day, and it still stays around 140-150. I think maybe if I get a day around 50-60 I might be able to only burn once, wouldn't that be great I am interested to hear about your 150. That is what I am supposed to get to replace mine. It scares me to think that you had some of the same problems that I had. I tell you what, if I have as much trouble with the new one, I would like to send it back to econoburn in pieces. (just had to vent a little). I too would like to know if there are any econoburn users who are happy.

ERIC, I talked to my salesmen that I bought my boiler from and he told me they can't keep up with the demand that they were selling faster than they could make them so I offered mine back at a loss to have them resell mine to some other luck customer at a discount I don't like reselling anything never mind trying to sell something that is inferior and have to deal with the people that bought it . IM in the same boat with my situation have invested at leat 10k and didn't even start water storage and i'm starting to burn oil now lost the love of getting up at 2or 3 in the morning to keeper going

I've got over 12K invested because I over engineered my control system and zone piping, using mostly industrial components that I purchased through my industrial contacts. It was supposed to be the utopia of heating systems, but has left me quite disappointed. The heart of the system, the econoburn 150, is not the machine I hoped it would be. I feed it like a hungry teenager and sometimes it does not make 180 deg F, this with excellent wood. Other times, when demand is low, it overheats because the injection blower does not actually slow down enough for a slow burn. I have added 300 G storage to help smooth things out. This has helped, but it still gobbles up the wood. A 4 hour burn time is actually a generous number, I feed it often.

I need to also add that my unit was considered over sized at the time of ordering, as my home is a 2000 square foot modular ranch, very well insulated, with a fully finished (insulated) basement. They did recommend the 100, but I went with the 150 to be safe.

Skidsteer, what did the salesman say about taking the old one back and trying to sell it. That was my consideration also, but didn't know if they would do that or not. Here's my story. I installed mine at the end of December '07 and had the leaks and everything else. So My dad called them up and told them what happened. So they sent a new 100 up to replace it. But during the coarse of the use I found out real fast that the 100, wasn't even close to heating my house. I installed a 512 gallon STSS storage system and didn't use it because it wouldn't heat that and my infloor and rads. When it warmed up to 25-30 I shut everything off except the tank and used kiln dried wood. Then and only then could I get the tank to 175. I haven't hooked up my DHW yet which I was looking forward to using also So now Econoburn offered to replace my 100 with the 150. The more I listen and read from other econoburn users the more skeptical I am getting about replacing it. All I know is that my scrap 2x4's are gone and my oak seems to walk away. Just bought another 2 face cord a week or so and it is almost gone again. Oh, ya, I have a HX in my shed to keep that above freezing. Can't use it, which really sucks.
Just ran out of fuel oil this morning. Now I will really feel the pain of the boiler. The fuel oil helped me out by running in the morning because the boiler was out and cold. Took a long time to get back up to temp. Also my wife would use it when she came home because of the same problem. Don't want her to be cold if you know what I mean. A happy household means you need to keep the wife happy

Another important thing that I need to add, I am a very optimistic person and will generally not complain about something unless it is a real issue. I will go out of my way to let people know if something works well, and I would have done that here if this thing turned out to be what it was supposed to be. I plan on some additional tweaking and will let you know if things improve.

Gopherwood, our problems sound similar.

Lube Guy, I also don't like to complain or knock people down. But, my biggest problem is I don't have 10,000 + laying around waiting to be used. I had to take all I could to put this system in. When, it doesn't work or do what it is supposed to do, ya thats when I got upset. If I had spent 2000 for the sytem I could deal with a few issues or problems. I know that if something like this happened to my customer, I wouldn't be in business very long. I build houses, and it would be like having a customer pay 200,000 for a custome built house and instead give them a double wide. That's my feelings anyway.