Econoburn 200,Today heating the whole house

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salecker

Minister of Fire
Aug 22, 2010
2,218
Northern Canada
Today started with a power outage about two hours,not a big deal outside temp was above freezing.
Did find out after an outage my backup will come on if it's out long enough for my pipes to cool,still had 140 F in the tanks and was wondering why the oil was running.
Anyhow i finally got the temporary heat exchanger hooked up upstairs in the construction zone.All doors and windows in and sealed,roof insulated,and all gable walls.Will be nice to turn on a valve in the morning and have heat warming upstairs to go to work.Have been heating the basement where we live with the Econoburn for about 2 1/2 months,and the oil boiler about two months before, one month we were on a holiday.
The big push to get finished is on.... can't use the excuse that's to cold now.
I'm expecting to double the wood consumption,we were burning 1 load per 24 hrs if it was under -20C,at -40C we used about 2 1/4 ,each load getting around 3 hrs burn.
I checked the fire tubes today and they are covered with a fine coating of ash,have about 2 1/2 months use at 1 burn a day,still clean looking.
Thanks to everyone that answered my questions along the way.
One day I'll try to learn how to post some pic's and see what you think.
Thomas
 
Congrats! Nothing like having the new system up and running! Would love to see pictures of the log home....nothing like them.
 
Thomas, I live in a 1700 sq ft log home in western NY and this is winter number 2 with my econoburn 100 (in my basement) . It has been a fantastic addition to the family. While I run without storage my house is extremely comfortable and the Econoburn has been great. It has no problem keeping up with the demands of 5 zones and even in our coldest weather I can get 9 hour burns between loads. I suspect you will feel the same once you open that valve. Bruce
 
Awesome! We installed an Econoburn 150 last year in December and have been very happy with it. We have a 100 yr old 2300 sq ft house that's not insulated very well and we keep the thermostat higher now than when on gas. It's the indoor model - installed in an outbuilding so I don't have to load wood in the snow/rain. But... not paying any LP gas bills since installing is the BEST part. :)
 
airlina said:
Thomas, I live in a 1700 sq ft log home in western NY and this is winter number 2 with my econoburn 100 (in my basement) . It has been a fantastic addition to the family. While I run without storage my house is extremely comfortable and the Econoburn has been great. It has no problem keeping up with the demands of 5 zones and even in our coldest weather I can get 9 hour burns between loads. I suspect you will feel the same once you open that valve. Bruce


How is the smoke spillage with your 100?

I would not my 200 in my house. It might be due to short stack and barometric damper but the draft is right where Econoburn specs it.

gg
 
goosegunner said:
airlina said:
Thomas, I live in a 1700 sq ft log home in western NY and this is winter number 2 with my econoburn 100 (in my basement) . It has been a fantastic addition to the family. While I run without storage my house is extremely comfortable and the Econoburn has been great. It has no problem keeping up with the demands of 5 zones and even in our coldest weather I can get 9 hour burns between loads. I suspect you will feel the same once you open that valve. Bruce


How is the smoke spillage with your 100?

I would not my 200 in my house. It might be due to short stack and barometric damper but the draft is right where Econoburn specs it.

gg
I suspect mine smokes just like yours , however I have developed a starting and loading routine that keeps it from smoking. On initial start with a cold boiler, I make a wick from a rolled up newspaper and stick it thru the gasifier slot. Then I wad up some newspaper in the main chamber and load several hours of wood on top of the paper. I light the wick thru the bottom door and leave that door cracked until my stack temp (I have a sensor in the stack to a digital gauge) reaches 200 Deg. I close everything up at this point and go to normal ops. I have learned to tell when I am down to a bed of coals and can reload smokeless at this point. For me having the boiler in the house was important for many reasons 1) easier installation (once I got the darn thing into the basement) due to proximity to existing plumbing 2) heats my basement thru radiant heating alone from boiler and stack. 3) can load in my skivvys on a cold winters night (I know -too much information) 4) the wife will even start a fire and load because she can stay inside. 5) ease of loading because I have a dedicated wood room 2 feet from the boiler. Inside may not be for everyone , but as you can see it works great for me. Bruce
 
salecker said:
.... I checked the fire tubes today and they are covered with a fine coating of ash,have about 2 1/2 months use at 1 burn a day,still clean looking. .....
Congrats! Must be nice to be finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. You mentioned looking at the tubes, which requires removing the turbulators (to get a good look anyway). Did you have to pull the top and back boiler plates? On mine and all earlier models, with the linkage as shipped from the factory, the turbs won't come out unless some of the rigid linkage is disconnected, and doing that requires pulling the plates. Or have they finally modified the factory linkage to allow the turbs to come via the top plate only?
 
willworkforwood said:
salecker said:
.... I checked the fire tubes today and they are covered with a fine coating of ash,have about 2 1/2 months use at 1 burn a day,still clean looking. .....
Congrats! Must be nice to be finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. You mentioned looking at the tubes, which requires removing the turbulators (to get a good look anyway). Did you have to pull the top and back boiler plates? On mine and all earlier models, with the linkage as shipped from the factory, the turbs won't come out unless some of the rigid linkage is disconnected, and doing that requires pulling the plates. Or have they finally modified the factory linkage to allow the turbs to come via the top plate only?

No the turbs are a real pain in the butt. I have a 2010 Econoburn 200 indoor. The plates are a pain but I think the insulation is worse. I suggested that they use some type of insulation panels that can be easily removed and replaced.

I would say that the difficulty in cleaning is a disadvantage of the Econoburn.

gg
 
goosegunner said:
.... I would say that the difficulty in cleaning is a disadvantage of the Econoburn.
Yes - and this bothered me so much that last year I removed all of the factory turb linkage and replaced it with a simple chain suspension system, which allows the turbs to be pulled out with only the top plate off. I was able to brush the tubes every 3 weeks or so, resulting in better efficiency throughout the burning season.
 
willworkforwood said:
goosegunner said:
.... I would say that the difficulty in cleaning is a disadvantage of the Econoburn.
Yes - and this bothered me so much that last year I removed all of the factory turb linkage and replaced it with a simple chain suspension system, which allows the turbs to be pulled out with only the top plate off. I was able to brush the tubes every 3 weeks or so, resulting in better efficiency throughout the burning season.


Do you have any pictures of the chain set up.

How about type of Chain used?

Did it change your stack temps at all?

gg
 
goosegunner said:
Do you have any pictures of the chain set up.
How about type of Chain used?
Did it change your stack temps at all?
gg
Yes I have pics and specs - I will dig them out and post a new thread hopefully tomorrow (or have we already completely hijacked this one anyway?). My stack temps always go down noticeably after cleaning. But, burning full out with storage, you may not see as much of a gain. We burn small fires during the waking hours and there's no idling. But during the nighttime burn, the boiler does idle and produces more impacted ash deposits on the tubes than you would likely ever see. No harm in trying though - might help you enough to make it be worthwhile.
 
Hi All
I'd be interested in the chain mod for the turbs as well.
I made a smoke flap on mine,seems to work pretty good,if i want i can load any time after the burn cleans up,if it's down to the end of the burn i can load a complete load in it without smoke escaping.It's an easy mod,tools required drill, ratchet and wrench,and a little welding which can be done anywhere.
I have the outdoor model in a dedicated building,i removed the back part of the roof permanently,then it's one less thing to remove to get at the turbs.I havn't tried to remove them yet,was going to before i started using it,but that didn't happen
I find lighting a fire is so simple,i use the rolled up paper thru the slot as well,my wife has had no problem starting fires as well.
The local native band has ordered the biggest outdoor model to heat three buildings,i'll be interested in seeing it work.
Thomas
 
I took the factory turbs out too about a month ago and replaced them with some Harbor Freight 5/8" chain dangling from a 1/4" rod. Big PITA to take top and rear access panels off plus take apart linkage as GG and WWFW have stated. Updated my panel sealing method also this year as the silicone press n stick burnt up in a couple of spots leaking smoke there. Someone here used a thicker silicone(mine was 1/8")---wonder how they made out so far. Bought some fiberglass drop wrap tape and installed it on both panel and boiler surfaces..........so far so good.
 
NNYorker said:
I took the factory turbs out too about a month ago and replaced them with some Harbor Freight 5/8" chain dangling from a 1/4" rod. Big PITA to take top and rear access panels off plus take apart linkage as GG and WWFW have stated. Updated my panel sealing method also this year as the silicone press n stick burnt up in a couple of spots leaking smoke there. Someone here used a thicker silicone(mine was 1/8")---wonder how they made out so far. Bought some fiberglass drop wrap tape and installed it on both panel and boiler surfaces..........so far so good.
I was also originally going to replace the turbs with chain, and asked Dale what he thought about that idea. His cut was that chain wouldn't have enough surface area (relative to the 2" tubes) to break up the laminar flow nearly as well as what the turbs can do, and felt that chain would be less efficient with higher stack temps. At that point I experimented with hanging the turbs from chain, which seemed like a good compromise for his concern. Not saying that the chain won't work - you may do just fine with it. Just passing along what the EB factory take on this is. I'll be interested to see how it works for you.
 
No chains no turbs and i can keep my stack temps below 400.I set my stack temp through my controler and my smoke gas temp probe sends the temp to the controler and follows the setting i have chosen.To clean just take of the plate on top of the exhaust chamber and brush out the 6 tubes once a month.
 
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