eko new (to the us) draft fan

Very cool. Thanks for getting us up to date on that... I will probably get one of those gaskets and keep it on hand for this winter......

Thanks for this info. I think I will get these items ordered today.
Does anyone think that the silicone door gasket solution will work for the draft fan cover? I seem to have leaks in this area more than at the door seal.

Are you guys able to order the gasket online or are you calling? Just curious....

The newer Eko's w/ the fan in back creates a negative pressure in the loading chamber so the upgraded silicon gasket would not be needed.

Bob

solarguy said:

The newer Eko's w/ the fan in back creates a negative pressure in the loading chamber so the upgraded silicon gasket would not be needed.

Bob

Click to expand...

Even the new EKO's will have positive pressure in the upper chamber when the unit is being used in RUN mode. That's when folks have issues with the leaking door gaskets. From what I've heard the new fans being provided are for loading only and are not intended to run during normal operation. The EKO is still a positive pressure gasifier, not a negative pressure unit.

That's a negative. I'm talking about the new, yet to be released Orlan-Eko boiler.
Not the add the fan scenerio to control smoke from the upper chamber when loading.

Bob

From what I have seen, the new version of the EKO is called PAXO. It is still a positive pressure unit with the draft fan on the front.
It's painted yellow instead of green.
If there is a newer product out I have not seen it yet.

I emailed Zenon for pricing and got the same results as above; but I will call to order the parts.

The boiler I'm talking about is not the Paxo, it's a different model that will be coming in the future & will only be carried thru the dealer network of Eco-Orlan USA/ Alternative Heating of North America.

When Zennon's current inventory of Eko's are gone, he's out of the Eko game...

Bob

I talked to New Horizon today about the draft fan.

They said it can be run one of two ways:

Wired to 115v to clear the chamber when loading wood.
or
Wired to the fan controller and let run all the time in variable speed mode under control of the RK2001U.

Or, wired on a toggle switch that can select 115v, variable, and off.

Greetings everyone,

I worked at the Michigan Energy Fair a few weeks ago and had the priveledge to meet Mark and Alisa from New York (Owners of AHONA).

He brought his Paxo Trailer for me to use at my show (I am now the Paxo dealer for Michigan) and it had a 2nd fan set up on it with a 3 position toggle switch that worked as everyone is saying.

When the door is opened this negative draft fan would remove the smoke so that it would not come out the door opening (it would operate at 100%). When the door was shut the fan would run at the same percentage as the positive draft fan on the front of the boiler. And yes, the boiler also had a barametric damper to regulate draft.

This set up worked very well for us at the energy show and we all had a great time.

I am in the process of building a portable Paxo boiler trailer that I will be taking to the Buckley Steam Engine show next month and also to the logging congress show in September.

NWM

Does the Paxo need both fans to run in order to work properly? What does this do to the electrical power consumption on the Paxo, compared to the single fan on the EKO? If the second fan makes the Paxo burn more juice, I would see this as a real negative... I don't mind the idea of a fan for short term use when loading or to get the fire going, but IMHO it is important to minimize electrical consumption during normal operation... I didn't think the idea of burning wood in order to keep from giving our money to the dead dino guys was just so that we could give it to the electric guys... I am of the opinion that one of the main drivers in the overall design of a system is the question of how much power does it draw, and how to minimize it - starting at the boiler and each step of the way out...

Gooserider

The Paxo, like the Eko has one fan from the manufacturer. The 2nd fan is a field installed draft inducer. The Paxo in the trailer has a little chimney & the inducer is needed for proper draft. One would only use an inducer with this boiler if their chimney had poor draft or if you couldn't get the breeching up to the correct stack temperature to reduce condensation. Many have used an inducer to create a negative draft thru the upper door when open for loading.

Bob

solarguy said:

The Paxo, like the Eko has one fan from the manufacturer. The 2nd fan is a field installed draft inducer. The Paxo in the trailer has a little chimney & the inducer is needed for proper draft. One would only use an inducer with this boiler if their chimney had poor draft or if you couldn't get the breeching up to the correct stack temperature to reduce condensation. Many have used an inducer to create a negative draft thru the upper door when open for loading.

Bob

Click to expand...

That sounds more reasonable - I know the stuff I'd seen on the Paxo seemed to say it came with both the inducer and the front pressure fans, but it wasn't as clear that the inducer isn't needed in most cases other than as a loading aid...

Gooserider

The Paxo is just a yellow EKO from what I've been told...... Different sheetmetal shape too..... Just cosmetic stuff to differentiate them from the New Horizon's stuff.

I ordered the draft inducer, gasket, and speed control today from Zenon at New Horizon. Has anyone else installed the gasket or inducer yet?

I will post pics when they arrive and then when installed.

Here are the pictures, as promised.
Draft Fan, from the boiler end, it has an 8 inch flange, and from the stack end it has a 6 inch flange:

Also seen in the picture is the fan speed control, which is merely a router speed control adapted to the fan.

I think I am going to have some difficulty adapting this fan to my chimney, since I come out of the boiler and transition from 8 inch double wall black pipe to 7 inch double wall pipe. I don't know how well I can adapt the fan's 6 inch outlet to the 7 inch pipe.

I'm not that impressed with the wiring for the fan either. I think I will change the configuration for safety's sake.

The fan does move a lot of air at max speed. I think it will provide more than enough draft when loading the boiler. I do not intend to run the fan when burning normally.

Can you give a ball-park indication on the draft booster fan pricing? Thanks

Sure - fan was 160, speed control was 19, and I had the fan and speed control shipped with the gaskets I ordered for 22.00 shipping.

Let me tell ya... I've burned one fire in my EKO since hooking it up.... The draft fan does clear out the smoke really dandy like.........