Hyper active blower?

Lately there has been a lot of discussion concerning the tweaking of the EKO boiler. I have participated in the discussion myself and though there has been frequent adjustment references to reduce blower settings no one has seemed to have to reduce their blower as far as I have mine. In the last couple of days here in MI we've been getting some of winters best anti-global-warming-trend examples. As the temperature outside has dropped so has the output of my EKO40 (until today).

For the last two days I have been struggling to get my unit up to 140*f. Today's storm just seemed to compound the problem with 30+ mph winds. In the "tweaking your EKO" sticky people have reduced their blowers to 50 & 60% of their former settings in order to get the blue flame of a "tuned" burner. I have the pie plate slider and older controller so I have to adjust the slider to change air flow because I can't slow the motor speed. I have been set at around 3/8 to 1/2" open, at the widest part of the pie, with a reasonably blue/white flame. Going wider causes my boiler temperature to drop even while I'm watching.

Today I set the widest part of the pie slider down to 1/4" and watched the temperature start climbing steadily. I use an air heat exchanger in my old oil furnace and the blower has been running almost constantly the last couple of days and the house has been hovering around 68*f. Now my boiler is back up to temps we're back up to 70*f and comfy.

Has anybody else had to so radically adjust their blower settings? Interested in your input...Thanks

Hi All,
Thanks for your responses.

leaddog: Checked the draft and it's not the culprit. I can shut the boiler off and open the bypass and the door to the secondary chamber and the flame will diminish and the boiler will actually cool in this weather. (We're having sustained 30 mph wind and gusts that are notably stronger.)

TacoSteelerMan: I have an older super 40 with the RK-2001E controller. I didn't think the "fan" adjustment you speak of was for the fan but for the purge cycle. In any event I only have the control manual for the new controller which I have been thinking of getting any how. Do you know if there is still a link for the old manual I could get?

taxidermist: What you say makes sense but I was working under the premise that enough restriction to initial air flow will eventually reduce pressure and volume if the outlet does not restrict air flow just like water in too many outlets.

Update: It got worse before it got better. The winds here took a steady incline from gusts of 30+ to 30 mph sustained with gusts in the 40's. The reduce settings of my blower ceased to help and boiler temps started falling. I was in the middle of making an out side control lever for the primary air sliders so I stayed outside and tinkered with the new contraption while I went through some tests for some of your suggestions and some head scratching on my own. The results were very interesting. I got my new control for the primaries built (It's not pretty but it works handsomely now) but did not get results with my primaries like I expected. Though the primary sliders moved full open to closed there wasn't much adjustment in flame control. At least not like you would think. Even turning the blower closure completely closed I was still getting flame but not any real adjustment. I think as leaddog suggested my boiler is getting too much air in spite of the settings but I have pressure in my cabinet not a vacuum as a draft problem would suggest. The blower must be pulling air in around the mounting and blower cabinetry. Working with the over supplied theory I got down on hands and knees and inspected the nozzle as the boiler was working and found that the secondaries were over powering the flame even at the "closed" setting. So I turned my secondaries in to 2 1/2 turns and got a couple of degrees bump. (By this time my boiler was at about 100*f and the house had gotten down to 61*f.) So I tried moving my secondaries in to 2 turns and I got a couple more degrees bump but it just stopped there. since I had no where else to go with the blower I went up. The flame got bigger but was off in color so I closed the primaries a little more (Now at about 6mm) and got another couple of degrees and it stopped. Finally in frustration with the whole process I turned the blower all the way up to see what would happen. BIG BLUE. Really BIG and the temperature started coming up quickly. Because the blower was over producing the wider secondary settings I had for the blue flame was over powering the boiler effective out put by blowing too much air in for the fuel mix. (My boiler is in an out building so it gets ambient air as a supply and that air is real cold right now.) I don't know what the new settings are going to do to my wood consumption but right now I am opting for the warm home but I am seriously thinking of getting a new blower, just to be safe (TacoSteelerMan) , when I get the new controller. Thanks again for all the help...Stay warm

Hey all,

"Any chance we can see your external primary inlet adjustment??"

I will get pics as soon as I can get use of a digital camera (my son has one and I can upload from that) and learn how to post the pic's. It's primarily a 3/4" flat stock (cross-bar) drilled to accept the studs for the primary sliders. Two home made slider clips (cross-bar-sliders) fit on the bar and slip over the modified primary air sliders. (the primary air sliders have to be flattened then have the 90* bend put back in at a longer length so that they will extend up past the cross-bar a little. Then cut out a section (and bend back down out of the way) so it don't interfere with the 3/4" flat stock bar. Drilled a hole for some lamp threaded stock in the center of the cross-bar flat sock. Insert a 1/4-20 x 5" (4' will work real well) threaded rod (control actuating shaft) through the threaded lamp stock. The 1/4"-20 threaded rod is perpendicularly brazed to center to a 3" piece of 3/4" flat stock (slider control actuator assembly) that has one 1" long 1/4" rod (peened or brazed/welded) at each end (centered about 1/2" in from each end). The 1" rods are the actuators for the cross-bar slider clips when connected to the clips with a connecting rod. A 3/8" hole has to be strategically drilled in the boiler face plate sheet metal (the piece where the blower is connected) to allow the 1/4" threaded rod to protrude through. The external control arm/indicator is a 1/4" 20-thread x 7/16" long shaft "T nut" riveted/fastened to a 2" long lever/indicator arm screwed down to come in contact with, but not fastened to, the boiler sheet metal and is locked in place with a 1/4"-20 nut used as a jam nut. Just a small amount of pressure against the boiler face plate sheet metal acts as a tension lock to keep the control arm/indicator where you set it. The jam nut makes it possible for the control arm to cycle the shaft assembly and move the primary air sliders. Pictures will tell it much better. I have saved this to my computer to use to show the pictures and better explain the parts. Thanks for your interest Dave (& all)

Kemer,

I think before you try that I would suggest that you see if you can really curb your blower out put. My blower will supply air even with the "Pie" vent completely closed. Also with the channeling you will have to be able to force the sheet metal front of the boiler to stay right on the surface of the the channel runs/ridges (maybe hi temp silicone?) because the blowers will bleed over an skew your adjustments and unless you fasten the sheet metal to the channels you won't be able to get a good enough seal to prevent the bleeding. $.02