This is my first year with the EKO 40 and I haven't been able to reach a temp above 168. I have adjusted my primary air adjustment to just less than 1/2 in. secondaries are at 3 trns air inlet is set at an inch and a 1/4, fan speed is at 50. I usually take my temp up to 150 when starting then start gasing. But my temp just doesn't go up. I've tried various settings and nothing works.
Not reaching temp
- Thread starter Rembo
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Tony H
Minister of Fire
Does it just keep running and running or does it ever go to idle?
What do you have the temp set at ?
Does it gas like a torch out of control ?
What is your wood supply like old and dry or questionable
you could throw in some kiln dried wood and give it run to eliminate the wood supply but if the wood is good , it never idles and the temp is set to 180 or above
try opening the primaries up to a bit say 9/16 or 5/8 keep the primaries at 3 and up the fan speed a little at a time and see where you get a real strong gasification where it shoots out the door and up the front of the boiler and the temp on the boiler will shoot up from there.
BTW take the load off for the test so the house is not calling for heat while you are testing.
What do you have the temp set at ?
Does it gas like a torch out of control ?
What is your wood supply like old and dry or questionable
you could throw in some kiln dried wood and give it run to eliminate the wood supply but if the wood is good , it never idles and the temp is set to 180 or above
try opening the primaries up to a bit say 9/16 or 5/8 keep the primaries at 3 and up the fan speed a little at a time and see where you get a real strong gasification where it shoots out the door and up the front of the boiler and the temp on the boiler will shoot up from there.
BTW take the load off for the test so the house is not calling for heat while you are testing.
It does keep running, and wasting wood. I was keeping the temp at 175 but after realizing it would never reach it I kept lowering it. Once my house was warm, which takes a while when you never exeed 156*. It very rarly has a big out of control flame. My wood supply is a mix of hardwoods. For a while I had a friend giving me construction lumber scraps, that was the only time my temp would go up to the 160's. The bulk of my wood could be covered better, but I do use a moisture meter. I have also tried splitting my wood a little smaller thinking my pieces were to big. I'll try your suggestions tomorrow thanks
Tony H
Minister of Fire
The construction stuff will burn a little hotter and faster. The splits should be ok if dry and you can pick the up by gripping them with one hand they should be a good size. I know some of the gang have tuned the boilers to produce a smaller but very hot blue flame but I have found it takes me constant adjusting to keep it there as I have some different moisture content and type of wood so I have opened mine up a bit to produce a larger blue/ yellow flame that allows me to only rarely adjust the system and then mostly the fan. I assume you get a fair amount of smoke with your current setting when you open them up you should see that drop some but of course you will still get a fair amount when you reload the boiler.
stee6043
Minister of Fire
I don't think you're getting enough air, my friend. Open the fan blades 100% and try 60-70% fan speed and see what happens. I rarely ever close my fan blades down from 100% open. I start my fires with 70% fan speed and then turn it down to 50% after I hit mid 160's and maintain 400+ on my flue temp.
taxidermist
Minister of Fire
Rembo said:
Your settings should be
Primary-- 10 to 12 mm.....10 mm is just over 38
Secondary---- 3 1 to 4 turns out
fan opening always 100 %
This is the factory setting for you 40 start there.
fan speed and shutter opening is where you get your most change.
On you boiler protection loop where do you have the ball valve set at?
What do you have your pump launch temp set at?
They like to run the best at 160+
What is your moisture of your wood?
Lets start there.
Rob
Setting chart pg 18
http://www.newhorizoncorp.com/PDF/ekomanual.pdf
Tony H
Minister of Fire
Another item to check would be water pressure , make sure the system is full.
Just make sure to look at the state of gasification after each adjustment .
The settings are all relative for example while Rob states to use 100% fan opening . I have never used 100% fan opening and the EKO tips led me to use 1 - 2 " open most of the time along with 100% fan speed . But of course Rob has a 60 and I have an older model with older controller 40 so your settings may vary but hopefully we will get you close.
Just make sure to look at the state of gasification after each adjustment .
The settings are all relative for example while Rob states to use 100% fan opening . I have never used 100% fan opening and the EKO tips led me to use 1 - 2 " open most of the time along with 100% fan speed . But of course Rob has a 60 and I have an older model with older controller 40 so your settings may vary but hopefully we will get you close.
Mushroom Man
Member
If you have not cleaned out the heat exchanger tubes in the EKO, be sure to do that. It seems to make a big difference on mine.
Eric Johnson
Mod Emeritus
Are you getting any smoke coming out of the stack once the thing gets cranking? If so, what color is it?
taxidermist
Minister of Fire
Tony H said:
Tony I put in the fatory specs for the 40 not my 60. Again this is just to get back to basics and start fresh and fine tune from there. Also where did you find where eko says to set yours at 1 to 2" open? I have not seen that.
Rob
I have an automatic fill valve on the system so that should take care of that right? My pump launch setting came set at 145, I haven't really played with that yet but I guess its time. I am getting smoke but only till gassing kicks in and the smoke is white. The ball valve on the protection loop is 20%-25% open. My wood is within range according to my moisture meter. When my water temp gets low111 or so from not firing it up for a while I here what sounds like bubbling as things heat up. When I open up the loop valve it goes away. Do I still have to clean the heat exchanger tubes if I have the super model? I was thinking that maybe some of my heat exchanger tube cleaners broke. I read that they are only attatched with cotter pins. Will 3/8 to 5/8 on the primary air adjustment make a significant differance?
Eric Johnson
Mod Emeritus
An easy way to check your turbulators is by having someone move the handle while you're looking at the bottoms of the turbs at the back of the gasification chamber. If any don't move, then they're not attached to the rocker arm (or whatever it's called). Yes, they're held in place with cotter pins, but mine are still hanging in there (literally) after 4 seasons. You're supposed to clean the tubes out annually with the Super (more often if you don't have the Super). But to be honest, I never have. Pulling all those turbs is a PIA, and I'm not sure it's worth the effort. I keep an eye on my stack temps and they don't really change.
My main circulator kicks in at 160, which seems to work well. That's what Dave at Cozy Heat recommended. It sounds a little screwy, but it works well.
The primary air adjustment seems to vary from boiler to boiler (same model), depending on a number of factors, including how you've got it installed, chimney draft, etc. You want to watch the color of the flame when gasification is going well. It should be blue for max efficiency. Most of the promotional videos show orange flames. I think they do that because it looks more dramatic. Confusing, I know.
My main circulator kicks in at 160, which seems to work well. That's what Dave at Cozy Heat recommended. It sounds a little screwy, but it works well.
The primary air adjustment seems to vary from boiler to boiler (same model), depending on a number of factors, including how you've got it installed, chimney draft, etc. You want to watch the color of the flame when gasification is going well. It should be blue for max efficiency. Most of the promotional videos show orange flames. I think they do that because it looks more dramatic. Confusing, I know.
Hunderliggur
Minister of Fire
Tony H said "Does it gas like a torch out of control ?"
Mine does. What does that mean? I am burning clean at that point. Fan is 60%, 1/4 open. Launch temp is 150. May try moving it up to 160. Pretty happy with how it is working.
Mine does. What does that mean? I am burning clean at that point. Fan is 60%, 1/4 open. Launch temp is 150. May try moving it up to 160. Pretty happy with how it is working.
I just upped the pump launch to 160 along with 100% on the fan speed and air inlet tomorrow I will adjust the primary to 3/8 the secondarys are at 31/2. The flame is way more forceful but when I just checked no flame so I opened up the top and rearranged the wood and presto roaring flame in the bottom. Once I get to 160 I am lowering the fan speed to 70%. Thanks for your help.
Tony H
Minister of Fire
Rob - I got the settings from the EKO sticky not from the manual. I had the old manual when working with mine and it was not much help in fact I think it said something like "start fire and put in wood , wood burns"
Rembo- The auto fill "should " take care of it but if you read the fine print it says "this valve is not meant to automatically keep the system at a set level" . My nephew told me before we even fired mine up that the auto fill valves were prone to failure and he had replaced many as a service tech working on commercial boilers. Mine has failed and I just keep an eye on the pressure as long as it runs between 20 and 25 when hot I am ok.
Like Eric I have never taken out the turbs and cleaned the tubes , I do use the handle and clean it every time I fill and have noticed if I have some wet wood it will clog up considerably .
Hunder It's not a bad thing it shows your system is operating as it should lets call it good gasification . You can fine tune so you get a little more controlled flame but if you reduce the air too much you will be on a much finer line of great gasification vs no gasification where the wood shifts and you lose gasification for a bit and might have to use the poker to restore it. For me that's too much baby sitting.
Rembo _ I found this happening to me many times my first year and along with adjusting for a little more air I noticed the splits that were close in length to the firebox depth and would angle down on one end more than the other as the fire burned and cause a bridge keeping the wood from falling down and causing the gasification to slow or stop.
If you are getting a nice roaring flame you are getting closer .
Rembo- The auto fill "should " take care of it but if you read the fine print it says "this valve is not meant to automatically keep the system at a set level" . My nephew told me before we even fired mine up that the auto fill valves were prone to failure and he had replaced many as a service tech working on commercial boilers. Mine has failed and I just keep an eye on the pressure as long as it runs between 20 and 25 when hot I am ok.
Like Eric I have never taken out the turbs and cleaned the tubes , I do use the handle and clean it every time I fill and have noticed if I have some wet wood it will clog up considerably .
Hunder It's not a bad thing it shows your system is operating as it should lets call it good gasification . You can fine tune so you get a little more controlled flame but if you reduce the air too much you will be on a much finer line of great gasification vs no gasification where the wood shifts and you lose gasification for a bit and might have to use the poker to restore it. For me that's too much baby sitting.
Rembo _ I found this happening to me many times my first year and along with adjusting for a little more air I noticed the splits that were close in length to the firebox depth and would angle down on one end more than the other as the fire burned and cause a bridge keeping the wood from falling down and causing the gasification to slow or stop.
If you are getting a nice roaring flame you are getting closer .
taxidermist
Minister of Fire
Thanks Tony,
Sounds like you are getting on the right track. Remember you will not have roaring flames thru the whole burn,only when you have a nice bed of coals and as the coals go away you lose the roar.This is ok as long as you are not getting bridging and your boiler is not smoking and still making heat. As for the 3/8 to 5/8 you might see a little change but not much, where you will see change is shutter opening on fan and fan speed. I made my primarys adjustable and have played with them but not a lot of change. When I get a big bed of coals and my return temps are up I give it less air by the fan shutter and fan speed. Also if you have storage by raising your launch temp to 170* helps when your fire burns out because you will not circulate water between your storage and boiler until the temps is below 169* to shut your pump off. What happens to me is my fire goes out but my storage is up to 180* I circulate 1000gal of water at 180* all the way out(150') to the cold boiler back to storage until the 1000gal reaches 169* Lots of wasted btu's So until I get a set point controller I only shoot for 170* water storage temps.
Rob
Sounds like you are getting on the right track. Remember you will not have roaring flames thru the whole burn,only when you have a nice bed of coals and as the coals go away you lose the roar.This is ok as long as you are not getting bridging and your boiler is not smoking and still making heat. As for the 3/8 to 5/8 you might see a little change but not much, where you will see change is shutter opening on fan and fan speed. I made my primarys adjustable and have played with them but not a lot of change. When I get a big bed of coals and my return temps are up I give it less air by the fan shutter and fan speed. Also if you have storage by raising your launch temp to 170* helps when your fire burns out because you will not circulate water between your storage and boiler until the temps is below 169* to shut your pump off. What happens to me is my fire goes out but my storage is up to 180* I circulate 1000gal of water at 180* all the way out(150') to the cold boiler back to storage until the 1000gal reaches 169* Lots of wasted btu's So until I get a set point controller I only shoot for 170* water storage temps.
Rob
Hunderliggur
Minister of Fire
Is thre a "sweet spot" for the Oraln 40 (Paxo/Eko)? I use a 140 Danfoss for the protection loop. I can use lower temps for my radiant so I can have return water at 100 or so (1000 gal storage). With pump launch set at 160, get cycling - the 140 Danofss return with a 160 boiler reduces the boiler temp below 156 fairly quickly. This causes pump cycling. Is that OK, so I use a lower launch temp? I would like to get the max BTU out of the wood while having a happy boiler.
taxidermist
Minister of Fire
Open your by pass loop ball valve to a 1 to 1 way open and that should help to keep your danfoss open and mix with return water and keep your boiler up to temp. It will take longer to get storage back up to temp. I ran my 1000gal down to 113* today and I have been burning for 4 hrs and the top of the tank is at 150 and return temp is 120. This is with a 60.
Rob
Rob
Tony H
Minister of Fire
taxidermist said:
Yes as the fire continues the gasification roar will be reduced. With my unit at an opening of 5/8 and allows me to leave the setting alone, as mine are adjustable only be removing the front panel . Then I am able to adjust with the fan shutter ( no fan speed adj on mine )
and the secondaries. The secondaries I adjust very little the majority of my adjustment is the fan shutter and opening or closing it 1/4 will adjust for dryness of wood. Also with no storage my system idles more and keeping the fan volume down but resistance to flow low
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