EKO 25 - Possible Draft Issue?

If I were to op the top door, while there is a small burn going, smoke tends to come out the front through the door and not out the damper an the flue. Does this mean that I have a draft issue? I attached some pics of how it's currently piped out.

Is it possible that you have some fly ash or creosote buildup? When I had my Irleh(the controls are very similar to the EKO) I had to depend on the draft to pull the smoke back and when I had problems it ussually was because of blockage. Or your chimney may be cool and not drafting stong enough to pull the smoke out. My dealer recomended installing a draft inducer fan to boost the draft while loading the boiler to prevent smoke escaping.

Smoke coming out of your top door does not necessarily indicate a draft issue with your EKO. The firebox exhaust is notably lower then the top of the door frame and as such you will get smoke spillage even with good draft if you have enough smoke in the box.

If "smokey, partial burn" reloads is going to be standard procedure you will be better off investing in a vent hood or exhaust blower than a draft inducer, in my opinion.

I see that RD has an in-home installation. Yeah, the smoke emissions out the door would be a bugger.

Installing an exhaust hood and blower does sound like a good idea, however the only location to do so is directly in front of the control unit. Well maybe with a flexible duct and a fancy pivoting device to bring the hood into place. Or, if ya don't mind accessing the controls again just mount it static. Cripes the engineering should be beyond this, how long have these units been produced?

It appears that we have 3 choices; Draft inducer, exhaust hood or accept it.

Stee, my first thought is a draft inducer. Could you explain why that is not a good option.

The cleanest solution, in my opinion, is a blower and flexible hose. I have one for those times when I know I need to load at the "wrong time". When not in use it's neatly positioned in the corner, attached to my utility room vent. I also use it when cleaning ash to keep the dust out of the house. It costs less than a draft inducer and is substantially more powerful. There are plenty of threads on this site regarding draft inducers and their ability to reduce smoke out of the front door. I have one and I can tell you it's not worth the effort it took to install it.

Blower/Hose Combo:
http://www.amazon.com/MaxxAir-HVHF-08COMBO-Cylinder-20-foot/dp/B004GHNKT6/ref=sr_1_14?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1362174700&sr=1-14&keywords=blower fan

This will out-suck any typical hood and is infinitely more flexible. It's not the exact model I have but very close. I highly recommend this type of setup for the indoor boiler user.

Stee, thank you for the follow-up. I will go with your experienced recommendation.

Ya you do. thats a long horizontal run. Turn that 90 out of the unit so its at a 45, get rid of 2nd 90. And make the third 90 turn at a 45. That will vent much better for no $$$.

I even put a hood above me eko in an outside installation. The building is small and would fill with smoke and it was bothering my lungs. Used an old furnace blower and had a sheet metal shop fab up the duct work. This thing really sucks the smoke. You have to open the garage door slightly or it will pull air from the chimney. Best thing I ever did.

Great info guys, defiantly gave me some things to think about.

What do you mean when you say, "Load at the wrong" time? I'm wondering if I'm using the EKO wrong? Is the goal to keep it burning as long as possible and consistently, or is the goal to have a lot of water storage so that when the burn goes out, you still have functionality?

The goal is to re-load only when the fire is down to some coals.

If you don't re-load quickly though, you'll still get some smoke out the door from the new smoke you're creating with the fresh fuel loading.

All I have connected to my system is a Mega-Stor - 40 Gallon Indirect Water Heater, the house is about 2800 sq ft. Should I rethink that solution? Is the goal of water storage to have heat / hot water for a few hours and or days after the burn is out? My system is in the basement, so I'd be limited as to what I can fit down there through the hatch way as far as tanks are concerned.

It took me a couple of years, but for me the solution is to wait until it's down to coals (can be a LOT of coals, but coals only).

How can you tell? Many choices:

• Elapsed time since loading, combined with experience, judgement, and luck
• No secondary combustion rumble audible
• Quick peek in secondary chamber shows no visible flame (can still really hot, but flames not blasting down).
• Thermocouple along side of secondary chamber (near top and water jacket) reads less than 900

I also open slowly to allow flue velocity to build up.