10th Anniversary for Our EKO 25

[BoiledOver]

As we have heard dozens of times, time flies. The Eko boiler went online in March of 2013 and has had just two repairs. The boiler control unit had a display issue so I swapped it for the spare which was right here on a shelf. The primary chamber door latch became loose so I did a little tweaking and a bit of welding. The lower refractory gutters are looking poorly but holding up, these are the improved design which replaced the short lived originals.

Sitting on the shelf is a spare blower and refractory nozzle. I may never need that nozzle as I placed a 1/2" thick piece of stainless steel over the nozzle early on. Right in the neighborhood of 50 full cords been through it so far, mostly oak. That's approximately 1.25 billion btus. They may may not be much to look at but they do keep chugging along.

How's your boiler holding up?

 

[hedge wood]

Sounds like you have better luck with your boiler than I have with my Garn that was installed Nov 09. Just under nine years when the first failed weld happen and a major leak. Then couple years later another one. I use caution when I open the door on the Garn barn hoping the next leak hasn't started. I am hoping for a leak free year. Hope your boiler keeps treating you well.

 

[salecker]

Going on 12 years for my Econoburn 200
So aprox 120 cords of spruce
Two refractory nozzles and one control board replaced on warranty.
Hoping to get the 25 years of use that the firebox is warrantied for.
I always said i would replace it with an Econoburn.
But befor i built my system i joined Hearth and learned a bunch. In 12 years there should be a bunch more advances in gasification technology, so i keep reading and hopefully when it comes time to replace my boiler i will be up on the newest and greatest out there.

 

[BoiledOver]

Sounds like you have better luck with your boiler than I have with my Garn that was installed Nov 09. Just under nine years when the first failed weld happen and a major leak. Then couple years later another one. I use caution when I open the door on the Garn barn hoping the next leak hasn't started. I am hoping for a leak free year. Hope your boiler keeps treating you well.

Yes, knocking on wood and thankful for minimum issues.

Sorry to hear of your leaking problems. Many folks, including me, salivated for a Garn boiler but took the economy route. Nine years is pretty good though. Have ya considered major disassembly, inspection and another pass on the welds that look suspect. That would be a big project for sure but may be worth the effort. Quality construction had been a big selling point for those units. Hoping you stay warm and DRY.

 

[BoiledOver]

Going on 12 years for my Econoburn 200
So aprox 120 cords of spruce
Two refractory nozzles and one control board replaced on warranty.
Hoping to get the 25 years of use that the firebox is warrantied for.
I always said i would replace it with an Econoburn.
But befor i built my system i joined Hearth and learned a bunch. In 12 years there should be a bunch more advances in gasification technology, so i keep reading and hopefully when it comes time to replace my boiler i will be up on the newest and greatest out there.

Congrats on a smooth run there and cool beans on the warrantied items. 25 year firebox warranty, wowzer, hope it goes the distance for ya.

 

[49chevyman]

As we have heard dozens of times, time flies. The Eko boiler went online in March of 2013 and has had just two repairs. The boiler control unit had a display issue so I swapped it for the spare which was right here on a shelf. The primary chamber door latch became loose so I did a little tweaking and a bit of welding. The lower refractory gutters are looking poorly but holding up, these are the improved design which replaced the short lived originals.

Sitting on the shelf is a spare blower and refractory nozzle. I may never need that nozzle as I placed a 1/2" thick piece of stainless steel over the nozzle early on. Right in the neighborhood of 50 full cords been through it so far, mostly oak. That's approximately 1.25 billion btus. They may may not be much to look at but they do keep chugging along.

How's your boiler holding up?

My EKO 40 was installed by the guy that built the house. I bought it in 2016. Had to fabricate a metal plate nozzle cover, replace the refractory bricks in the bottom with the new design. New gaskets on upper door. Controller fritzs out sometimes but I have not replaced with my spare yet. Help from this forum has helped me reduce my wood burn per season from 8 cords to 4 per year. Huge improvement due to the knowledge posted here. Awesome guys, especially Maple1.

 

[49chevyman]

Meant to say 13 years and counting.

 

[Smoothride]

Has an Orlan Eko 25 for 10 years... got tired of door leaks (yes, silicon rope) and nozzle refractory replacements. Learned a lot from it but it was too small and wasn't up to 12 cord a year... heating house and out building. Put in a Froling S3 turbo 50 with 880 gal of storage, feeding a 90,000btu house boiler with radiant floor heat and a 60,000 but air handler in out building. Still 12 cord but out building is as warm as the house.

 

[Bricks]

My Eko 40 I installed in 2005 been chugging along pretty well about 7 cords a year with out storage. Upper door gaskets no clue of how many original bottom gasket, on my fifth pump at the boiler, still have original blocks in the bottom chamber. The nozzle I replaced from Mark as he was having them iron cast from a mold he had made ( tried the iron and stainless plates above the nozzle never held up ).

Now the bad two weeks ago the wife fired up the boiler and forgot to close the upper chamber baffle, low and behold the pump on the Eko decided to quit. Went down to fire up the boiler and she got so hot it melted the controller ( cooked all the water out of it ) so now I am in the process of sorting out a controller since they do not make the controller anymore. Being it is still below freezing here picked up a new pump and wired it direct to keep water circulating so it doesn't freeze. In the mean time picked up a dual control thermostat wired it to run the boiler. Still need to come up with a way to kick the fan on and off when there is no call for heat to keep the coals going and shut down the fan when there is no temperature rise after so much time..

 

[muncybob]

We are just finishing up our 15th heating season with the Woodgun E100. The only repairs, if you want to call it that, has been bi-annual replacement of the refractory nozzle bricks and once replacement of the bearings in the fan. I relate this to a car needing brakes, if you use it enough it's gonna need them. I think this has been the warmest winter in the last 15 years, I've never had so much wood left in the shed by this time. We normally go through about 4 cords/year and this includes hot water in the heating season....no storage, but if we had the room we would have it!
The 1st 2 years was a learning experience for me but now the boiler and I are good friends

 

[Triumph562]

My Eko 40 I installed in 2005 been chugging along pretty well about 7 cords a year with out storage. Upper door gaskets no clue of how many original bottom gasket, on my fifth pump at the boiler, still have original blocks in the bottom chamber. The nozzle I replaced from Mark as he was having them iron cast from a mold he had made ( tried the iron and stainless plates above the nozzle never held up ).

Now the bad two weeks ago the wife fired up the boiler and forgot to close the upper chamber baffle, low and behold the pump on the Eko decided to quit. Went down to fire up the boiler and she got so hot it melted the controller ( cooked all the water out of it ) so now I am in the process of sorting out a controller since they do not make the controller anymore. Being it is still below freezing here picked up a new pump and wired it direct to keep water circulating so it doesn't freeze. In the mean time picked up a dual control thermostat wired it to run the boiler. Still need to come up with a way to kick the fan on and off when there is no call for heat to keep the coals going and shut down the fan when there is no temperature rise after so much time..

You can still get new controllers from Zennon from New Horizon Corp. I recently ordered a new one. The controllers are manufactured by PW Key but you would be better off going through new Horizon Corp.

KEY - Automatyka Grzewcza

 

[ihookem1]

Can anyone take a picture of their EKO wring diagram . I either messed up the wiring, or the controller is not working properly. I need a picture of where the 4 wires go , coming out of the fan , where the power wires go and where the capacitor wires go . They all should go to the circuit box that is about 1"x2" . I bought a new one cause the old one looked half melted.

 

[Woodman1]

Sorry, I can't help you on that. I deleted my controller years ago when it started getting flaky. Hopefully someone here can get you the pictures you need

 

[ihookem1]

Sorry, I can't help you on that. I deleted my controller years ago when it started getting flaky. Hopefully someone here can get you the pictures you need

The controller is also long gone , but it is not the controller wiring I need. It is the wire going from the controller to the circuit box, the capacitor wires and the 4 fan wires all going to the little ( goofy looking ) circuit box. I have something messed up somewhere and I have 10 wires all together, 4 from the fan, 3 from the controller (1 is not used) and 2 from the capacitor. A picture would be worth 1,000 words if the color codes are the same.

 

[Woodman1]

The controller is also long gone , but it is not the controller wiring I need. It is the wire going from the controller to the circuit box, the capacitor wires and the 4 fan wires all going to the little ( goofy looking ) circuit box. I have something messed up somewhere and I have 10 wires all together, 4 from the fan, 3 from the controller (1 is not used) and 2 from the capacitor. A picture would be worth 1,000 words if the color codes are the same.

Is this what you are looking for? It's the little junction box mounted on the fan.

 

[ihookem1]

Yes, however, I would not mess with it . Wires are too packed in there and they wont go back the same way they came in. I imagine I will figure it out .Thanks.

 

[ihookem1]

That is one cramped up wire box. It looks like blue is on the top and green/ yellow is on the bottom. I have that much so far.

 

[Woodman1]

Ya it's tight in there for sure. I've never had that cover off before. It looks like is doubled up and splits off to the other fan

 

[flyingcow]

Solo Innova 30

with 820 gals of unpressurized storage from Solar Technics.

Went online Jan of ‘08. 7 cords a year avg. Have seen yrs 8 plus cord.

Boilers been great. The few issues I’ve had has been resolved by Tarm USA quickly.

Liner on storage let go after 9 or 10 yrs. Tom was great, sold me the new updated liner very reasonable. His(and Dick Hills) HX’s perform phenomenal. But unfortunately he’s no longer in the thermal storage tank business.

My hard wood is beech n rock maple. Usually Dried 2 yrs. Mid teens in moisture.

Replacing 150/175 gals of home heating oil with 1 cord of wood.

Oh yeah….. I have a GARN jr in my truck garage. Loving that too. No issues. My guess is that’s replacing 125 gals per cord? Quite possibly close to 150. But I when I burnt oil in the garage there wasn’t a long enough history to get a good avg. Usually I go thru 6 cord at the 35x75 w/16ft ceilings truck garage