CREOSOTE photo in EKO-60 after 8 days seems excessive?

[Guastini]

Attached is a photo of the burn box of my EKO-60.
Seems like a lot of creosote to me? Helpful comments invited please.
The EKO-60 had only been installed for about 8 days when i took this photo last week.
Wood came in already seasoned. ( so they said) Seems like some is greenish to me.
Most of it is old and has been piled for years, but i do not think it was covered and contained some rain moisture. I wonder, the burn box smolders while waiting for the boiler to cool before re-firing and gassifying.
This seems the normal process for a gasser, NO? I do not have storage, yet.
Heating 50 gallons of domestic, and 3800 sqft fairly well insulated home using radiant floors.
Am i over worrying or does this seem to be not right?
Sometimes i have a hell of a time opening the damper. Seems glued shut from creosote.
Any Helpful advise welcome.
click here for photo view http://web.me.com/mguastini

 

[Reggie Dunlap]

Looks normal to me. Creosote in the firebox is not an issue like it is in a flue.

 

[Tree farmer]

You will build up a certain amount in the loading chamber but it does not keep amassing. You may have to scrape bottom of loading door mouth from time to time but no big deal. Yes the bypass damper will stick from the creosote, 2 choices- bend out your handle so you can open the door or grind the weld holding the pin for the door handle on and flip the handle, then use a 3' or so 2x to pop the damper. I may try to add a gasket on my damper for next year, I believe they stopped using a gasket on the damper cause of issues with pieces of gasket coming off and then having air leakage in the top chamber. If your wood was not covered I would say you still have some moisture in it but if you can bring some in for a week or so it may shed that moisture fast as it is probably not locked up in the wood cell fibers.

 

[husker]

Attached is a photo of the burn box of my EKO-60.
Seems like a lot of creosote to me? Helpful comments invited please.
The EKO-60 had only been installed for about 8 days when i took this photo last week.
Wood came in already seasoned. ( so they said) Seems like some is greenish to me.
Most of it is old and has been piled for years, but i do not think it was covered and contained some rain moisture. I wonder, the burn box smolders while waiting for the boiler to cool before re-firing and gassifying.
This seems the normal process for a gasser, NO? I do not have storage, yet.
Heating 50 gallons of domestic, and 3800 sqft fairly well insulated home using radiant floors.
Am i over worrying or does this seem to be not right?
Sometimes i have a hell of a time opening the damper. Seems glued shut from creosote.
Any Helpful advise welcome.
click here for photo view http://web.me.com/mguastini

My EKO with about 6 days burning looks similar. I unscrew the knob (to avoid breaking it) and use a big rubber mallet to bust the by-pass damper loose when it comes time to reload. It also seems to not be as stuck when I'm refueling more frequently. I bet the "no gasket" on the newer models is why I don't remember reading about this problem from those who have had their boilers for a couple years or so. I remember reading something a few months ago about throwing potato skins in to control the creosote but I haven't found that thread yet.

By the way thanks to Nofossil and JEBeatty (and my father-in-law) the EKO 40 is heating my 30x60x14 pole barn to 70 degrees in single digit weather. My Sterling unit heater was too small but we took a outdoor condenser unit from home heat pump at a scrap yard and put a 120V motor on the fan and stripped everything out except the core. The EKO 40 doesn't go above 177 at most now when both it and the little Sterling heater fans are running and can drop down into the 160s toward the end of a burn. The circulator is wired direct to run 24/7 because I was initially worried about freezing. When I shut the fans down and just let the circ run it will go up to 190 within about 10 minutes or so. I probably need to tweek my secondaries too, because I still get a little smoke although I think much of it is steam since it quickly disappears.

 

[Fred61]

All the symptoms you're describing are the same as mine and I attribute them to too much idling. I've been burning since October. The creosote problem diminishes for me when it is about 20 below and the unit needs to run more but it never goes away because, like you, I have inadequate storage and light heating load with the radiant floor. The shoulder season was the worst! Sounds like we both need storage. Mine is being worked on now but won't go into service until next heating season. need to do alot of re-plumbing.

Don't hammer on your bypass damper rod. The linkage won't take it. Do what was suggested and grind the end of the pin on the handle, drive out the pin and rotate the handle. If you find the damper stuck, open the door and tap the flap with a broom handle or something similar. If you get a lot of smoke upon opening the door with the damper closed, just close the door because that indicates you don't need to be in there at this time. Come back when it's burned down a little more and there will be no smoke.

If you don't like the creosote now, wait 'till this Spring. After a while you'll get an idea as to how much wood to load, however there is always those nights that the temp. increases over night that gum up the works. An easy way to scrape the creosote off the door ledge is to warm it up with a propane torch and just push it into the firebox with a putty knife.

 

[Dave T]

To put it simple what you see in your bottom chamber is the way to tell how your EKO is burning if you open the bottom door look in and see black sooty dusty stuff your not burning right if you see gray sooty dusty stuff your in the right ball park this observation is on the bottom chamber walls and ceiling and door,the ashes on the floor in this area should be fine like powder...Dave

 

[Duetech]

Guastini,
You mentioned your wood might be a little wet and that you have idle time during your burn. Both will cause creosote. The big thing is probably the idling. The gasification stops and the heat from the coals and burning wood rise in the primary chamber and the warm smoke and moisture cling to the walls of the boiler. It is a continuous cycle in the upper chamber.
As far as the bypass damper sticking use the long handled poker that EKO delivers with the boiler. You will get smoke when you open the upper chamber but the damper will pop open quite easily. If you convert to storage the sticking will become less frequent because you will not be idling as much. Dry wood will help a lot though so don't ignore that part of the equation.

 

[Der Fuirmeister]

......My EKO with about 6 days burning looks similar. .......

Wow. This is "normal" for an EKO? For everyone else out there reading this post, and burning with another brand of gas'r, tell us if this is normal for you as well.

Second question....Does this happen if you burn with lots of storage so the gas'r can run at 100%?

Thanks in advance for the replies...........

 

[antknee2]

Same build up with a Ecnoburn EBW-100 , with Storage and ultra dry split Oak and Ash wood .
Anthony

 

[sdrobertson]

My primary box is not anymore coated than my CB was when I was running it. The bottom chamber should be white and just powder by the back heat exchanger. With the CB I would scape the walls every once in a while and the buildup would just come back but with this EKO I just let it go. Once it hits a certain level of coating, it just seems to stay there and not add or decrease the amount.