EKO 25, Can't seem to get the burn hott enough to keep running

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RDabate

Member
Sep 14, 2008
91
Ellington, CT
I'm running out of wood for the season, what I left is on the greener side. I can't see to get the fire burning hot at all, seems to peak off at around 85 - 90. Since it's greener, I tried, opening up the fan all the way to get some more air in there, but that's not working. I'm not sure where the air comes in, but could it be blocked? The Controller is set to 180.

Any ideas how I can get a burn out of the greener stuff?
 
Superman said:
Any ideas how I can get a burn out of the greener stuff?

Depends on how green the greener stuff is. If too green it's just not going to happen, especially in warmer weather when there's less draft to work with.

A few things you can do:

Re-split down to kitchen stove size and move as much fuel indoors as you can. Store loosely as far up off the floor as you can and run a small fan to pull cool damp air down away from pile.

Increase primary air some. Start small fire with dry wood. Add wet wood a little at a time. The idea is to go from a batch mode process to a continuous flow process where wood is being dried out by the fire at a constant rate. This means you have to babysit the fire constantly adding fuel every fifteen or twenty minutes until it gets going good, then maybe you can add a little more at a time, less often.

Also it may help to block off a third or more of the nozzle slot with steel plate, thin firebrick, or whatever to promote a small hot centralized fire that will sustain gasification while the wood above it dries out.

When it comes time to let the fire go out, shut off the air inlet tight preemptively so the fire has no air while there are still plenty of coals left. Tape off the air inlet with aluminum duct tape if you have to. Then when you need to re-light you'll have a nice bed of charcoal to start with and you can add more wet wood a lot sooner.
 
Run it with the flue damper open for a while. It will make coals faster, dry the wood out too. Best thing is to forget it till next fall. Sometimes when I find a piece a little damp I put it on top of the wood stove. After a day or so it is noticeably drier. It will be higher maintenence though.
 
Superman said:
I'm running out of wood for the season, what I left is on the greener side. I can't see to get the fire burning hot at all, seems to peak off at around 85 - 90. Since it's greener, I tried, opening up the fan all the way to get some more air in there, but that's not working. I'm not sure where the air comes in, but could it be blocked? The Controller is set to 180. Any ideas how I can get a burn out of the greener stuff?


If you want to keep burning you can try to mix some very dry stuff. Find some pallets. Lots of them for free at local UPS store, building supply stores, or any type of stores that get a lot of delivery. Go to the back of the stores and take a look. Then ask the manager or whoever is in charge if you can take some. Most places want to get rid of them. Be careful cutting them up. Makes for some work, no doubt. Sometimes cut-offs from someone who does hardwood flooring or other construction work, etc. If you can use a 50/50 mix of anything that is kiln dried with your greener side woood, it will get you some more heat. Lots of possibilities. Not ideal, but better than paying the oil or gas man. ;-)
 
You guys are freggin amazing. Just great advise. Thanks.
For tonight, I'm getting her going with the damper open for a bit. I'm checking on it every 15 minutes, seems to building up the temp a bit.
 
Rick,

Can you give us a idea what you are calling green? Then we can give you a better idea of what to do.



Rob
 
Many a gasser user has struggled with subprime wood. In the end, it's hard to come out on top. For the amount of work you will likely put into getting your EKO to limp along on green wood you would be better off sucking it up and spending the long dollar on propane or natural gas to finish off the year. Split that wood nicely and stack it for next year. I personally think trying to force this particular issue in a gasser is mostly a waste of good wood for next year...assuming you have an alternate heat source, of course.

Just my two cents.
 
Mix with bio bricks, they're bone dry. I think they're hard to come by in our area right now though.
 
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