EKO 40 cleaning lever sticking

[stoney28]

I have an EKO 40 and this is my second year running it. I've been having some problems lately with the lever that's supposed to clean the heat exchangers. It is sticking to the point where I can't move it past a certain point. Has anyone else had this problem? I'm thinking of taking off the back to see what the problem is, is there something I should know before I take apart the chimney and do this?

 

[NNYorker]

Probably creosote build up in the heat exchanger tubes. If your EKO's exchangers are like the ECONO's---pull the turbulators and clean the HE tubes. There has been some posts here about using various homemade tools to clean them. I use a boiler brush brazed onto a 3' rod turned by my 1/2" drill. Ash mixed with water?? was posted here as having good results in removing creosote.

 

[Tony H]

Yep that's the stuff

 

[rkusek]

If anyone knows where to find a brush the diameter of the EKO 40 tubes please advise. Not happy with the one I used last, looking more for one like a gun cleaning kit would have.

 

[sdrobertson]

If anyone knows where to find a brush the diameter of the EKO 40 tubes please advise. Not happy with the one I used last, looking more for one like a gun cleaning kit would have.

This is a tool I made awhile ago. I used a 2" wire brush that is made for a drill and attached it to a steel rod that I can hook to a drill. I have also made a scrapper using a 2" washer welded on the flat side of a 1" spade drill bit. I then used a grinder to size the washer to fit the boiler tubes and this seems to work really, really well. I put the spade bit on a 36" drill extension and use a 1/2" drill and it takes most of the work out of cleaning the tubes. The wire brush works ok but I have found that it coats up with creosote pretty quickly if the tubes are pretty dirty and you have to let the brush cool down and beat off the creosote before cleaning the next tube. I'll try and take a photo of the spade bit soon and post it.

 

[Kemer]

I used a drill with a extension and a 2" cupped wire brush.I'm sure any HD or hardware store will have them.The cupped worked better then a flat brush.When it gets clogged just run it up against a piece of steel.I used my portable vice whith a flat piese of metal in it.I would strongly advise to clean your tubes ASAP because it isn't much different then a dirty chimney.You will have to diasemble your turbulators by removing the cotter pins.If it is as dirty as you say you will never let them get that dirty again trust me.When you clean them up you will see how far they move when clean but when you put the cover back on you may loose some throw or swing.I 'm not sure if they can go in backwards but I lost some swing when I put my cover back on.
By the way when I used a flat wire brush It spun and fell apart but the cupped one held together trough the job.

Does any buddy want to chime in and tell me if they think a fire can start in the tubes.