are EKO woodburner fittings metric?

[ihookem]

I talked to the heating guy that will most likely install my Eko 25 or 40. He is concerned about it having metric fittings coming out of the wood burner. If they are, can I get them form plumbing shops or hardware stores? I am totally green when it comes to this stuff, so it might be a dumb question. Thanks.

 

[stee6043]

New ones are not metric. Back in the day they weren't exactly "metric" but they had what I believe was BPT (British Pipe Thread) instead of NPT. Either way - you can get all the fittings you need locally. If not at the local stores you can get them online. Pexsupply or grainger or maybe even patriot supply....

 

[ihookem]

That saves me a lot of wondering if I should buy EKO or not. The dealer wants 1400 dollars for a kit. I don't know what it includes though. Thanks.

 

[stee6043]

Holy smokes....I'll sell you a kit, guaranteed to work with the EKO for...hmm...let's say $200? HA! No way, captain. I think each of the fittings I purchased were in the ballpark of $10-15. The EKO input/output fittings are huge so you want to reduce them either way. I went from the EKO output/input down to 1-1/4". Honestly - the fittings could not have cost more than $15 each....and you only need 2 of them.

I suspect your dealers kit also included some other goodies such as pressure releif, air scoop, perhaps a pump or two, etc. Not worth $1400....not even half that.

 

[ihookem]

I thought that was kind of high. The only thing I can think of is it included 100 ft. of insulated pex but I didn't see it in the kit. Thanks to everyone, this really helps me a lot. I have seen the EKO 25 advertised for 4700 dollars and the 40 for 5300 dollars. I can also buy it direct from the dealer for that price. It includes 250 dollars for shipping.

 

[Fred61]

Whomever you are purchasing the boiler from should supply you with couplings to convert from straight thread used in Europe to tapered thread used in the US. The dealer I bought my boiler from supplied the fittings along with the boiler. It was difficult to tell the difference between the two threads on either end of the coupling. The way I was able to differentiate the tapping was to feel the taper in one end verses the other. However, I believe someone with a BMF pipe wrench and good pipe dope could take an NPT coupling and attach it to the boiler without it leaking.

 

[deerefanatic]

However, I believe someone with a BMF pipe wrench and good pipe dope could take an NPT coupling and attach it to the boiler without it leaking.

That's what I did.......... No leaks yet.... And I've had the system up to temp twice now........

 

[ihookem]

Deerfanatic, you got it going ay? I will be getting a 25 or 40 soon. Did you do it yourself?

 

[Gooserider]

As others have mentioned, EKO, and I believe most of the other Euroboilers, use BPT / British Pipe Thread tappings, as opposed to US style NPT / National Pipe Thread. However every boiler advert for them that I've seen has said that the fittings to go from BPT to NPT are included in the purchase of the boiler. However I would certainly ask about this from whoever I was dealing with when making the purchase.

(I would NOT attempt to force a connection using the wrong type fittings however, as I would be concerned about the risk of munging up the tappings on a very expensive boiler...)

Gooserider

 

[pybyr]

I think- subject to check- that the fitting diameter and pitch of BPT (British) and NPT (US) are the same, the difference is that the silly Brits did not taper their threads to achieve the same self-sealing upon tightening that we shrewd US-ers did--

-- with the point being that one could probably take a male BPT-threaded pipe, such as found on the Euro-boilers, and run a US NPT pipe threading tap over it to cut a taper, and voil-ahh- you'd have a US NPT male thread. YMMV...

 

[Gooserider]

I think- subject to check- that the fitting diameter and pitch of BPT (British) and NPT (US) are the same, the difference is that the silly Brits did not taper their threads to achieve the same self-sealing upon tightening that we shrewd US-ers did--

-- with the point being that one could probably take a male BPT-threaded pipe, such as found on the Euro-boilers, and run a US NPT pipe threading tap over it to cut a taper, and voil-ahh- you'd have a US NPT male thread. YMMV...

If it's the same thread, perhaps, but I'd still be nervous about it - I know that if I was in charge of such things, I would tend to say that attempting to rethread a boiler fitting would be a waranty voiding modification... With a pipe fitting, if you mess it up, no big deal, cuss a bit, throw it in the trash and head down to the store for another one... Wouldn't feel the same way about messing up a boiler, or wanting to chance it...

Besides, I don't see the need - there are probably less than a half dozen tappings on even the fanciest boiler, and I think there would be no problem getting boiler <-> NPT adapters as needed for each one (I'd expect them to come with the boiler) and just using NPT from that point on...

Gooserider

 

[deerefanatic]

I used a 2" female coupling and threaded it onto the pipes sticking out of my boiler..... I know the thread pitch is the same, just no taper as the fittings turned hard from the get go........ but not cross-threaded hard..... Like I said, worked fine and no leaks, so I'm leaving it be....... And no, I didn't receive the conversion fittings.... Dave at cozy heat said that they dont sell them as the boilers are NPT now.... Well, no they arent, but you can live without them....

 

[pybyr]

I used a 2" female coupling and threaded it onto the pipes sticking out of my boiler..... I know the thread pitch is the same, just no taper as the fittings turned hard from the get go........ but not cross-threaded hard..... Like I said, worked fine and no leaks, so I'm leaving it be....... And no, I didn't receive the conversion fittings.... Dave at cozy heat said that they dont sell them as the boilers are NPT now.... Well, no they arent, but you can live without them....

BPT + BMF wrench + pipe compound & thread = NPT; I could not recommend or advise it, but it basically works if you're willing to turn the BMF wrench.....

 

[stee6043]

I used a 2" female coupling and threaded it onto the pipes sticking out of my boiler..... I know the thread pitch is the same, just no taper as the fittings turned hard from the get go........ but not cross-threaded hard..... Like I said, worked fine and no leaks, so I'm leaving it be....... And no, I didn't receive the conversion fittings.... Dave at cozy heat said that they dont sell them as the boilers are NPT now.... Well, no they arent, but you can live without them....

BPT + BMF wrench + pipe compound & thread = NPT; I could not recommend or advise it, but it basically works if you're willing to turn the BMF wrench.....

Hah....I like this method. For the record I used crap tons of pipe dope and teflon rope on all of my joints. You can make just about anything work with enough of the good stuff on the joints...

 

[deerefanatic]

I didn't really use that much more dope than normal on that joint......... Though some would say I overdope everything...

Also, I only used a 2' pipe wrench.....

 

[ihookem]

Ok, one more question I hope. On the EKO 25 the max, log diameter is 7". Does anyonone know why it's 7"? Is that the size of the door for the 25 or what? Does anyone put bigger logs in it or is it 7" log max. because the fire goes out if it's bigger? Thanks in advance.

 

[Gooserider]

Ok, one more question I hope. On the EKO 25 the max, log diameter is 7". Does anyonone know why it's 7"? Is that the size of the door for the 25 or what? Does anyone put bigger logs in it or is it 7" log max. because the fire goes out if it's bigger? Thanks in advance.

No personal experience, but my understanding is that large logs don't gasify as well - they have more of a tendency to burn slowly w/ lots of charcoaling. In a wood stove this is good because it slows down the fire and spreads out your burn time. In a gassifying boiler it is less desirable because you want a hot, relatively fast fire that produces lots of smoke to get burned off in the gasification chamber - Thus gassers tend to like their wood split smaller on average.

Eyballing the units I've seen, I'd guess the loading doors tend to be about 18" high by about 2' wide, so you could certainly put more than a 7" diameter split in, but I suspect that unless the boiler was already really hot, you would have a hard time getting gasification going, or keeping it going, with a really big round...

Gooserider

 

[pybyr]

Ok, one more question I hope. On the EKO 25 the max, log diameter is 7". Does anyonone know why it's 7"? Is that the size of the door for the 25 or what? Does anyone put bigger logs in it or is it 7" log max. because the fire goes out if it's bigger? Thanks in advance.

No personal experience, but my understanding is that large logs don't gasify as well - they have more of a tendency to burn slowly w/ lots of charcoaling. In a wood stove this is good because it slows down the fire and spreads out your burn time. In a gassifying boiler it is less desirable because you want a hot, relatively fast fire that produces lots of smoke to get burned off in the gasification chamber - Thus gassers tend to like their wood split smaller on average.

Eyballing the units I've seen, I'd guess the loading doors tend to be about 18" high by about 2' wide, so you could certainly put more than a 7" diameter split in, but I suspect that unless the boiler was already really hot, you would have a hard time getting gasification going, or keeping it going, with a really big round...

Gooserider

I'd second all of the above, and also mention that based on my experience so far with a gasification boiler, the 'jet like' burn of the volatile compounds from the wood seems to be 'at its best' when there are a lot of glowing coals over the nozzle. Large pieces of wood seem to ignite and burn slowly enough that the coals at the nozzle area burn away before the large piece of wood crumbles into new coals (at that point you sort of lose 'critical mass'). I used to cut all my wood as large as I could reasonably handle for my wood/ hot air furnace, in order to get a long mellow burn, but my gasifier (Econoburn 150) seems to be at its best with smaller-split wood. Large wood seems to do better if it is very thoroughly seasoned; on the other hand, smaller split wood will likely season more rapidly if you are short on seasoning time.

 

[Dave T]

I installed my own EKO 60 standard and it was built with flanges for the inlet and outlet and they were BPT lotsa dope and teflon tape and it's a tight joint, I had some adventures along the way if you want to see my saga search right here on the hearth site (more DIYer EKO 60 install pics),DISCLAIMER these pics are for entertainment only,but the system works great...Good luck...Dave

 

[Medman]

I also did not use the couplings because they were not supplied and would have delayed me another couple of weeks. I went from BPT 2" to NPT 1.25" with a reducer, lots of dope and teflon tape. These joints are some of the few that did not leak the first time around. (Before I got the BMF pipe wrench)>
Loading door on the EKO 25 is 10-12" high by 18" wide. larger pieces, as has been said, tend to bridge over the nozzle and gasification stops as the coals under the bridge burn out. Smaller pieces are better, at least in the bottom half of the load.

 

[in hot water]

locktie is another good option for straight threads. The red is what we use at the factory to assemble straight threads. To disassemble heat the fitting with a torch, with the water drained of course.

Generally a NPT will fit OVER a straight thread with plenty of thread, but a NPT male thread into a straight only grabs a few thread.

By all means use the correct adapter if at all possible.

hr

 

[rfactor]

locktie is another good option for straight threads. The red is what we use at the factory to assemble straight threads. To disassemble heat the fitting with a torch, with the water drained of course.

Generally a NPT will fit OVER a straight thread with plenty of thread, but a NPT male thread into a straight only grabs a few thread.

By all means use the correct adapter if at all possible.

hr

HR,

The male 1.25" NPT fittings seem to extend nicely into the straight threads on the Tarm Solo 30. So would I be OK if I used teflon tape and dope instead of the horsehair and special dope that came with my Tarm?

Rurik