Does ANYONE have success installing EKO indoors?

[Rudy Nunez]

The EKO line boilers are advertised as acceptable for installation in the home. My experience so far is that this is a falsehood. I believe that I have a reasonable draft and a good chimney. My EKO 40 was installed compliant with all specifications, inspected and approved by the city. 2 months down the road my house is unlivable because the EKO is leaking wood gas constantly. I am shelling out money and time over and over to correct problems that seem more and more to stem from flaws in the design of the boiler. I have seen posts on this site depicting many solutions to this type of problem, almost none of which would I consider to be ultimately acceptable. I will make my case here issue by issue.


1. Replace door gasket.

Why should I be saddled with the job of replacing a faulty gasket? If it were routine maintenance it would be fine but I just bought this thing. After speaking with the manufacturer it is my belief that this is a known issue.

2. Install a vent hood to remove leaking smoke/fumes.

Again, another unforeseen, impromptu expenditure. Also this is of questionable benefit because this kind of ventilation can have a detrimental effect on draft.

3. Replace single-wall piping with seamless pipe in order to prevent gas leakage.

This is all well and good but again, shouldn't effective leak prevention be a requirement of the design?

4. Move the boiler outside.

This is unacceptable. The boiler was advertised as able to be installed in the home. My labor would be a huge expense and besides, it is not an option for me in the city.


I will make one concession which is that I haven't had a complete professional analysis of my draft. My personal analysis is that my draft is not the real issue. Even after hours of hot burn and blasting gassification I am still forced out of my house by sickening wood gas. And no, its not coming in through the windows or house vents. It comes up through the stairwell.

 

[Kemer]

are your fan flaps sticking open?

 

[charly]

The EKO line boilers are advertised as acceptable for installation in the home. My experience so far is that this is a falsehood. I believe that I have a reasonable draft and a good chimney. My EKO 40 was installed compliant with all specifications, inspected and approved by the city. 2 months down the road my house is unlivable because the EKO is leaking wood gas constantly. I am shelling out money and time over and over to correct problems that seem more and more to stem from flaws in the design of the boiler. I have seen posts on this site depicting many solutions to this type of problem, almost none of which would I consider to be ultimately acceptable. I will make my case here issue by issue.


1. Replace door gasket.

Why should I be saddled with the job of replacing a faulty gasket? If it were routine maintenance it would be fine but I just bought this thing. After speaking with the manufacturer it is my belief that this is a known issue.

2. Install a vent hood to remove leaking smoke/fumes.

Again, another unforeseen, impromptu expenditure. Also this is of questionable benefit because this kind of ventilation can have a detrimental effect on draft.

3. Replace single-wall piping with seamless pipe in order to prevent gas leakage.

This is all well and good but again, shouldn't effective leak prevention be a requirement of the design?

4. Move the boiler outside.

This is unacceptable. The boiler was advertised as able to be installed in the home. My labor would be a huge expense and besides, it is not an option for me in the city.


I will make one concession which is that I haven't had a complete professional analysis of my draft. My personal analysis is that my draft is not the real issue. Even after hours of hot burn and blasting gassification I am still forced out of my house by sickening wood gas. And no, its not coming in through the windows or house vents. It comes up through the stairwell.

MY Paxo 60 smelled like smoke out in my shed when I had it. Got new Silicone door gaskets from AHONA and never a smell again. Do you have a draft inducer in your stove pipe? Barometric damper? I also added a custom made draft hood over the door. What moisture content is your wood?

 

[Nofossil]

First question: where is the leakage coming from? There are three choices I can think of:

1) The primary door seal
2) Backwards through the blower due to 'puffing'
3) Stovepipe joints

My bet is the primary door seal. The EKO, like all pressurized gasifiers, needs a PERFECT seal around the primary chamber door. Even the slightest imperfection will result in a small but VERY noticeable leakage of wood gas. Mine had this problem when new due to a tiny nick in the flange that the door seals against. I fixed that, but eventually the primary door gasket got creosote-impregnated and hard, and wouldn't seal well enough. I bought a new one, but before installing it I removed the old one, soaked it in WD-40, and flipped it over. I got it seated, got the door adjusted, and then applied the magic silicone trick which has worked perfectly for three years so far:

I applied a layer of high-temp silicone RTV to the gasket surface. I carefully put a layer of Saran wrap over the door flange and closed the door tightly. I let the silicone cure, then opened the door and removed the Saran wrap. Works for me. I still have the new gasket in case I ever need it.

If you're getting 'puffing', try closing the primary inlets a bit more and using bigger pieces of wood, more tightly packed.

If you're getting fumes from the stovepipe, then you have two problems: You're not getting good gasification, and you don't have enough draft. If gasification is good, then the flue gas is virtually odorless. If you have enough draft, then air will leak into the stovepipe rather than out of it.

 

[Fred61]

I have an EKo 25 in my basement. This is my third year and still no problems with the original door gasket. I did seal all the joints in the single wall pipe for two reasons: 1) To prevent smoke from escaping into the room and 2) to prevent fly ash from blowing out into the room. Although I haven't checked the draft with a reliable meter. I do believe from the way the unit burns, that I have excessive draft. Have a barometric damper somewhere around here in a box but I haven't taken the time to install it. I had to rescue it from my wife's yard sale last fall. If something doesn't get used around here, out it goes.

Since the beginning of this heating season, I have been burning some "less than optimal" wood that was higher in moisture than it should be and had poor coaling qualities so it needed poking to eliminate the bridging. Since I had to open the door so often during the burn I installed one of those ionizing light bulbs near the boiler to neutralize the small amount of smoke that escaped when opening the door during the burn. Most of the time, if I was careful and waited for the draft to start flowing toward the flue I got very small amounts of smoke. My wife has the nose of a beagle and doesn't hesitate to bark when the smoke odor is present. The bulb has worked out well for me.

Glad to say that junk wood is all burned up and I am now burning some nice mixed 3 year old hardwood.

 

[taxidermist]

I would never install a eko indoors. Lots of people her have. Sounds to me from this post and your last post you need to tighten up your door hinge. As far as the guy you mentioned in your post.....forget it! nuff said about him. Try Ahona for help. I also would not waste your $$$ on the draft fan they sell for your eko as they too dont work. The best thing I ever did was to build a hood over mine. I know you should not have to do any of this but guess what you do!


Things to try.

1 tighten door hinges on both upper and lower doors. You can use your nose and smell around the hinges for smoke leaks.

Change to the silicon door gasket as its way better.

Hope this helps

Rob

 

[mr.fixit]

Some times if you take a flashlight in a dark room and shine it at just the right angle you can see where small amounts of smoke are excaping that you might otherwise not see in good lighting,might be worth trying.
Also I have a small vermont castings woodstove in my basement that is almost impossible to get a fire going in it without preheating the chimney with a hair dryer ,after it warms up it draws fine. For some reason in the basement you get backdraft.(colder air sinks?)

Is it possible when your boiler idles the flue cools off too much letting it backdraft? Does it idle for long periods?
You can seal the joints in single wall flue pipe with hightemp silicone.

 

[stee6043]

You find your house "unliveable" and you are protesting replacing your door seal? It's kind of like getting a new car home and refusing to replace a windshield wiper blade that is defective just because you shouldn't have to. All the while the car is undriveable in the rain.

It costs $50 +/-, it certainly seems to be a known issue, and the fix is very easy. I too was disappointed with the door seal when I installed my EKO 40. But after two seasons on the new silcone door seal I am 100% pleased with the unit. I can't imagine having it outside and losing all that heat to mother nature.

To each there own but the EKO 40 is a great boiler and having it inside is the absolute best setup from a convenience and efficiency standpoint. I think you should earmark $100 for a new door seal and a few tubes of RTV sealant and put an end to your suffering. You have a great boiler there...and having it inside will eventually be a great thing.

 

[steam man]

This may be a little extreme but I would smoke bomb test the firebox if things were that bad. We have used them to test the seals on very large boilers and for firefighting training. You would have to plug the flue-maybe a weighted cap on the top of the flue. Load a smoke bomb in the firebox and start the fan. Of course this is a little radical but sounds like fun. Of course, I almost wish I hadn't mentioned this.

I have also used an ultrasonic leak detector a few times but not in this situation. It could possibly be rented from an HVAC place. Check out http://www.reliabilitydirectstore.c...ors-s/51.htm?gclid=CK-6-O_IiKcCFQJN4Aod1TCieg

Mike

 

[leaddog]

My eko is out in a shed so smoke isn't an issue with me but there is a solution. Put in the new seal. Remember this is a pressureized fire box so any SMALL leak will let out a small amount of smoke. The rope gasket that came with the unit works but does get creasoted up over time. Did you oil it up faithfully like it says in the book? That does help also. The problem with the rope gasket is once it gets hard with creasote it doesn't fill all the imperfections by compressing and there fore leaks.
There is one other place that I remember reading about that could be part of your problem and that is the shield on the door. If I remember right you can take the shield off and place some silicone around the four holes to make sure there isn't any leakage at those four bolts.
If the problem is puffing you should be able to tell that by spending some time watching it. If it puffs you will hear it, see the fan housing wiggle, and smell it.
You will get some smoke out the door loading, depending on how and when you do it will determain how much. You can get that down with trial and error. That is a thing with all wood stoves.
Some people are more fussy about the smell and that is one reason I went away from burning a wood boiler in the house 30 years ago. If you burn wood you will beable to smell it. The nice thing about gasification boilers is you make less smoke so you will smell it less.
Hang in there and you will get it right. It does take a learning curve but with help here you will become happy again. If I hadn't found this place I would have been a VERY unhappy camper with my boiler but with all the help I'd NEVER go back. Remember, gasifing boilers are new around here so people don't understand how to make them operate. Alot of the old wisdom doesn't work with them. To name a couple that cause the most problem is unseasoned wood and poorly insulated pipes
leaddog

 

[taxidermist]

here are some pics of my boiler when I was having the same problems.


https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/32706/





Rob

 

[hayrack]

Mine is in my basement for the second year. I have learned to burn well seasoned wood and not to open the door until it is burned down to coals. I have the original gaskets as well with no issues so far. It sounds like your wood may not be seasoned well enough

 

[goosegunner]

I have an Econoburn 200 and I also would not want it in the house, no way.


The whole heat loss thing for me goes the other way. I am going to heat my pool in the summer and DHW. I really wouldn't want it radiating heat when I am running my air conditioner.

gg

 

[Rudy Nunez]

Mine is in my basement for the second year. I have learned to burn well seasoned wood and not to open the door until it is burned down to coals. I have the original gaskets as well with no issues so far. It sounds like your wood may not be seasoned well enough

My wood is 2 year seasoned under cover, ash and maple.

 

[Rudy Nunez]

This may be a little extreme but I would smoke bomb test the firebox if things were that bad. We have used them to test the seals on very large boilers and for firefighting training. You would have to plug the flue-maybe a weighted cap on the top of the flue. Load a smoke bomb in the firebox and start the fan. Of course this is a little radical but sounds like fun. Of course, I almost wish I hadn't mentioned this.

I have also used an ultrasonic leak detector a few times but not in this situation. It could possibly be rented from an HVAC place. Check out http://www.reliabilitydirectstore.c...ors-s/51.htm?gclid=CK-6-O_IiKcCFQJN4Aod1TCieg

Mike

Hilarious. Its already a smoke bomb, though.

 

[Rudy Nunez]

I would never install a eko indoors. Lots of people her have. Sounds to me from this post and your last post you need to tighten up your door hinge. As far as the guy you mentioned in your post.....forget it! nuff said about him. Try Ahona for help. I also would not waste your $$$ on the draft fan they sell for your eko as they too dont work. The best thing I ever did was to build a hood over mine. I know you should not have to do any of this but guess what you do!


Things to try.

1 tighten door hinges on both upper and lower doors. You can use your nose and smell around the hinges for smoke leaks.

Change to the silicon door gasket as its way better.

Hope this helps

Rob

Ha. Yeah i know I have to. I'm just raw about it cuz its driving me out of my house. I wanted to put in a hood but my local gassification guru said it was a bad idea because it will compete with the chimney for draft.

My silicon gaskets just came in the mail yesterday. So do I just gouge out the old ones and cement these in with RTV?

 

[Rudy Nunez]

You find your house "unliveable" and you are protesting replacing your door seal? It's kind of like getting a new car home and refusing to replace a windshield wiper blade that is defective just because you shouldn't have to. All the while the car is undriveable in the rain.

It costs $50 +/-, it certainly seems to be a known issue, and the fix is very easy. I too was disappointed with the door seal when I installed my EKO 40. But after two seasons on the new silcone door seal I am 100% pleased with the unit. I can't imagine having it outside and losing all that heat to mother nature.

To each there own but the EKO 40 is a great boiler and having it inside is the absolute best setup from a convenience and efficiency standpoint. I think you should earmark $100 for a new door seal and a few tubes of RTV sealant and put an end to your suffering. You have a great boiler there...and having it inside will eventually be a great thing.

Wow, you sound just like my manufacturer! Is it you? Haha.

 

[charly]

I would never install a eko indoors. Lots of people her have. Sounds to me from this post and your last post you need to tighten up your door hinge. As far as the guy you mentioned in your post.....forget it! nuff said about him. Try Ahona for help. I also would not waste your $$$ on the draft fan they sell for your eko as they too dont work. The best thing I ever did was to build a hood over mine. I know you should not have to do any of this but guess what you do!


Things to try.

1 tighten door hinges on both upper and lower doors. You can use your nose and smell around the hinges for smoke leaks.

Change to the silicon door gasket as its way better.

Hope this helps

Rob

Ha. Yeah i know I have to. I'm just raw about it cuz its driving me out of my house. I wanted to put in a hood but my local gassification guru said it was a bad idea because it will compete with the chimney for draft.

My silicon gaskets just came in the mail yesterday. So do I just gouge out the old ones and cement these in with RTV?

That's what I used for my Paxo 60 , high temp silicone. I built a wooden frame for my woodboiler door , and left a cut out for the handle and made it also fit around the tin shield on the door. That way I could lay the door down flat and work on the gasket without marring the door all up. Wire wheel in a cordless drill cleaned the groove up quick. I dry fit the gasket first and then put the silicone in after I had it cut to the proper length. Try to take your time and get the corners filled in good with the new gasket. I also siliconed the butt ends together . That smoke smell should be gone. Also had to switch the washers around on my door handle. Was way too tight to close for a while until the gasket broke in. Good luck.

 

[Willman]

Split Fire 3465 Log splitter- “UP FOR SALE†Only 20 hours

Bad luck on the wood splitter ? Or not big enough ?

Will

 

[woodsmaster]

seal your stove pipe joints. Good draft or not when you have a fan pressurizing the chimney its going to leak out any cracks especially when cold and draft is lower.

 

[charly]

Split Fire 3465 Log splitter- “UP FOR SALE†Only 20 hours

Bad luck on the wood splitter ? Or not big enough ?

Will

Splitter works great. I just don't need the 30 inch stroke. I bought it when I had my Paxo 60 gasifiaction boiler. Firebox could take a 28 inch piece no problem. Since I moved I'm back to a wood stove in the house which takes 24 in pieces max. Just going to buy another supersplit like I had for 15 years.

 

[heaterman]

At some point you have to find out what your draft is. Period. I'm not trying to be snotty about it but chimney draft is a critical issue for downdraft gasification units regardless of make or model. If it's not within manufacturers spec, you will fight the thing till the day you part company with it.

That being said, it's pretty well documented here that the door gaskets are an ongoing issue that just has to be dealt with. Face it. The EKO along with a lot of other brands hitting the market are made in former Eastern bloc Soviet countries and, ..well...let's just say that standards are not as uniform as we are used to here. I'm not saying at all that the EKO isn't a good product, it's just that expectations here run a little differently than the country where they are built.

Get that draft checked by a knowledgeable HVAC tech and just bite the bullet on the gasket issue. I agree with the person who recommended against the draft hood. That "fix" can have a lot of unintended consequences.

 

[taxidermist]

I would never install a eko indoors. Lots of people her have. Sounds to me from this post and your last post you need to tighten up your door hinge. As far as the guy you mentioned in your post.....forget it! nuff said about him. Try Ahona for help. I also would not waste your $$$ on the draft fan they sell for your eko as they too dont work. The best thing I ever did was to build a hood over mine. I know you should not have to do any of this but guess what you do!


Things to try.

1 tighten door hinges on both upper and lower doors. You can use your nose and smell around the hinges for smoke leaks.

Change to the silicon door gasket as its way better.

Hope this helps

Rob

Ha. Yeah i know I have to. I'm just raw about it cuz its driving me out of my house. I wanted to put in a hood but my local gassification guru said it was a bad idea because it will compete with the chimney for draft.

My silicon gaskets just came in the mail yesterday. So do I just gouge out the old ones and cement these in with RTV?

I put a flapper in my draft hood pipe so I shut it when not in use.