WoodGun e140 vs EKO 40

[DMX_512]

Thought I had this all figured out....Then I started posting/asking instead of reading. Thats what the forum is for anyway right?
Everyone has been great and very informative.

I am now considering either of these to placed inside.

I am wondering what if any experience anyone has with these. More specifically WITH OUT storage.

I have read on the forum about Woodgun's previous failures, however Woodgun advertises that they have SS models that have been in service for 21 years.

Also I have 2 Pefab chimneys on the first floor of my house...is it possible to tie into these? Can they be vented through a wall instead? Perhaps these are questions for the manufacturer but thought that some of y'all have done this a few different ways given the relatively low stack temps.

Thanks

 

[Fred61]

I had a Wood gun 140 and now have an Eko 25 in a different house. This is my retirement home which is one third the size of my previous place. As I stated in a previous post, I ended up junking the Wood Gun after 10 years of service. After about seven years, I was having to weld patches in the wood chamber. One other thing that was intolerable was the fact that the unit would eat up the nozzle bricks in one heating season. They just dropped in so they weren't that difficult to change but if I remember correctly they cost about $200.00 bucks, which was a huge amount in 1990 compared to the price of oil. The other thing was it ate up the refractory and the gaskets on the doors which required constant maintainence during the heating season.

The good thing was that it could be run without storage (although it would be better with storage) because when it shut down there was almost no burning taking place at idle. If I didn't burn wood with good coaling characteristics the fire would not re-ignite after a long idle. Believe it or not, this is one thing I miss with the Eko. There is too much combustion taking place at idle which really gums things up. It's like an under fired air tight wood stove. This is why you need storage with the Eko. Burn everything in the chamber and let it go out. I brought up Wood Guns website the other day and saw that they're still stating that the hot refracrory will re-ignite the fire. I don't believe a word of it! I also saw that they are offering both steel and stainless. Perhaps the stainless will extend the life of the vessel. I don recall seeing the thickness of either material although it could have been there.

Another thing I didn't like was that the insulation did not cover three sides because of the design exposing it to more heat loss in the boiler room.

 

[Hydronics]

If you decide on a Woodgun, stainless is the only way to go, it's the only gasifier available in 304 stainless steel. Yes, it is 1/4" thick.
The solution to reignition is to order the optional timer which turns on the draft inducer at the set interval to maintain refractory temps & coals.

As I said before, no vested interest but if I were to replace my Buderus I'd seriously consider the Woodgun. Contact them & ask for a local reference & ask about the nozzles burning up. I presume that's because they have so little mass & therefore cannot dissipate heat rapidly enough. Has anyone seen this with other manufacturer's nozzles?

 

[Fred61]

I don't believe the optional timer was available at the time or at least it wasn't offered to me. It appeared to me that the wear on the nozzles and other refractory wasn't so much burning but was erosion due to the speed that the combustion air moved. I also had to build my own controller to disable the combustion fan when the load of wood was burned out. It would draw outside air through the boiler until it was manually shut off. Perhaps they have addressed that problem now. This was nearly 20 years ago but when I look at the illustrations on their website, everything seems to look the same except for the stainless vessel.

Hydronics, do you have any experience operating the Woodgun?

 

[WoodNotOil]

A guy down the road from me owns a Woodgun. He bought it used for like $1000 about 5-10 years ago (not exactly sure when he got it). He has never mentioned these problems when we discussed it. I'll ask him about it next time I see him. He has only said good things about it and it has lasted longer than others are describing. Is the SS a new option or could his be SS?

 

[Dave T]

I have no experience with the wood gun but I have an EKO in the basement, the EKO has an adjustable (flushing) sequence which means the fans kick on for about 5 seconds at an interval between 1 and 9 minutes appart this keeps the idle boiler closer to it's gassification burn and does not let the fire compleatly go out, this is good for us with no storage..Dave

 

[DMX_512]

I just got off of the phone with Dave and John at Cozy Heat.
Nice folks, very helpful, patient and informative.
Talked primarily about the EKO40
They seemed as interested, if not more interested, in helping designing the system and getting it optimised as they did in selling the unit itself.
I think I might be getting closer.

 

[Fred61]

That was a good move! I've not heard any negative comments about Cozy Heat.

If they forget to tell you, let me say it here. No matter what you burn wood in, you cannot install it then go sit in your recliner for the rest of the winter. Lots of maintenance but I love it.

 

[DMX_512]

Fred61
Yeah I hear ya on the work. For me, much like a lot of you all i guess, it is more about us being comfortable in our home and not working "x" numbers a week for the propane/gas company. It is bad enough that most of us work the first 2.5 hours of our workday just to pay de gubment.

The Wife Acceptance Factor went way up just in considering an indoor unit to be sure.

I talked to my HVAC guy and he had no idea that something like this existed. He wanted to use Triple wall pipe rated for wood burning appliances. I would have thought that Double wall would be goo considering that the advertised average flue gas temp is 460deg.F.

I have also talked with a chimney company and the woman who returned my call promptly told me that someone else is going to have to call me back.

However i think that I am getting a little closer.