Anybody else having problems with EKO draft inducer?

[deerefanatic]

Hi guys. I've been humming along with my EKO 60 without storage. I'm already very impressed with the unit. It's going along pretty good and I've been heating my Old drafty farmhouse with bad windows, my 40x48 heated shop and the milkhouse and it's hot water.. So far about an estimated 10-12 full cord of wood used....... Used 13 last year just on the house alone...... (With my homemade gasifier)

My 60 came with one of the draft inducer units. While it didn't eliminate my smoke during loading, it helped alot. About a week ago I kicked it on to be greeted by a terrible grinding noise. I let the stove run out and then removed the side of the damper where the motor mounts. All the fan blades were bent outward and rubbing on the plate that the motor is mounted to. I very carefully bent all the fins back straight and put the damper together. Ran well and I stoked the stove up. next morning, fan is back to grinding. I think the metal has been weakened by the constant heat and the force of the spinning is bending the fins out..

Wondering if anybody else is having this issue.......

-Matt

 

[stee6043]

I spent a fair amount of time getting my inducer to run without making contact with the housing before I installed it. Mine was completely hosed when I received it from New Horizon (with no sympathy from Zenon I might add).

That being said, I haven't had any mechanical issues with it since it's been installed (knock on wood). It doesn't work particularly well and I'm not sure it was worth the time or money, but it hasn't broke down on me yet. ha.

One TIP - There are two "fan blades" that can make contact with the housing on mine. The big one inside the flue and the little one on the outside. I had to adjust both. I kept adjusting the big one thinking it was making the noise only to find I was missing the little one....

 

[deerefanatic]

It's definitely the big one... The blades bend back until they've gouged out some of that fiberboard insulation......

I'd like to keep mine running cause it really seems to help with smoke control when loading.... Course, I have 3 feet of horizontal pipe before it heads up, so I have a draft killer there.....

 

[taxidermist]

You might have had a smoke explosion and it bent the fan blades. Mine sucked.......well not really thats why I took it off and put it on the shelf.

Rob