Am I doing it wrong?

[stoney28]

I've been running my EKO 40 for a couple of weeks now, but I think I'm burning too much wood.
The temperature got down in the teens last night here and I went through the entire load in less than 8 hours. I have 500 gallons of storage, I've got about a 2300 square foot house, I'm running a water to air coil, and I used to go through 900 gallons of heating oil a winter. I had 4.5 full cords put away for this winter based on what I'd heard about the efficiency, but I'm starting to wonder if its going to last me the winter. The wood is good hard wood, but its been seasoned over 2 years. Is it too dry? Should I mix some green wood with it?

Edit: Should I be letting the fire go out and just heat from the storage tank, or does that use more wood to get it back up to temperature?

 

[chuck172]

Then I'm doing something wrong too. I also get about 8 hours of heat with my TarmSolo40 and 500 gallon storage if I'm lucky.

 

[Nofossil]

800 gallons would be about 4.5 cords if your system performs similarly to mine. I only have the EKO 25, but I think the efficiencies are similar. I'll go through a full load in about 4 or 5 hours, but 7 hours of burn time per day is my heating season average. Right now we're having a cold snap, so I'm close to that.

 

[Duetech]

I have had an EKO 40 since 2006 and learned something new the other day. I have been burning smaller splits but seemed to burn them up fairly fast compared to the 7" max recommended by the mfg so I bumped the size up a little and that seemed to help a little. The manual says to set the primary air at 10% so I tried that and extended my burn time. When my boiler arrived 2 years ago the primary air was set at about 40% and I have pretty much left it there. Early observations at around 10% did not give very impressive gasification flame so I passed the 10% off as a "perfect world" scenario that didn't reach to my part of the world. Now at about 10-12% I have a mostly blue flame compared to the blue/yellow/red flame. (I don't have a view port so I am looking at the secondary combustion with the ash pit door open). I think I am getting a hotter flame and using less fuel to do it. Even burning pine during the day I am loading less wood. I grin when it's almost frustrating that I have to wait to load more wood. I do not have storage yet so I get a lot of idle time but usually work with a coal bed instead of starting fires daily. I have found that gasification and new fires at this setting take a little longer so I might bump the air up to start the fire but reset to the about 10% once gasification is achieved. It's not hard winter yet but I am having success in the shoulder season. Hard wood (walnut for me) small splits (3-4") have gone from 7 1/2 hours to about 9 hours in the shoulder without the larger splits. With the larger splits added in I get about 10 hours which is about my early autumn burn rate with just the bigger splits.

 

[chuck172]

I was really hoping to burn one load per day. It doesn't look like reality anymore. Maybe in warmer weather but when the temp. drops below freezing and stays there, I'm looking at two loads at least.
Right now I'm trying one small burn in the AM, then a full load late evening to carry me through the night.

 

[Nofossil]

I was really hoping to burn one load per day. It doesn't look like reality anymore. Maybe in warmer weather but when the temp. drops below freezing and stays there, I'm looking at two loads at least.
Right now I'm trying one small burn in the AM, then a full load late evening to carry me through the night.

500 gallons is a bit small for an EKO 40, but I'd be surprised if you couldn't get a pattern going along these lines:

- Build a fire when you get home - late afternoon / early evening. Load it up once it's burning.

- Fill it again if needed at bedtime. That should carry you into the small hours of the morning, at which point your storage should take over.

- Storage should carry you into the warm part of the day and leave you with acceptable temps by evening, when the cycle repeats.

On REALLY cold days, I'll start the fire earlier in the afternoon if I'm home - my storage isn't quite big enough to carry me under those conditions, and I need more burn hours per day anyway. I get about 3 or 4 hours of full output on a full load, and another hour or so of reduced output.

 

[Eric Johnson]

Believe it or not, but you'll learn how to burn less wood over time, as you gain experience running the boiler. That said, the bigger the heat load, the more wood you're going to burn. Other people's results are pretty irrelevant to your particular situation. One thing you can probably count on is that you'll burn less wood in your second season than in your first.

 

[chuck172]

I'm actually wondering if I might be better off with no storage, just let the boiler idle more and have more frequent cleanings. I might burn less wood.

 

[Nofossil]

I'm actually wondering if I might be better off with no storage, just let the boiler idle more and have more frequent cleanings. I might burn less wood.

Not from what I've seen. There seems to be no question that idling is less efficient than burning. The firebox gets a good creosote coating either way - even burning flat out, the fire in the primary chamber is smoldering.

It's fair to mention that I actually did burn a bit less without storage, but that's because of three differences in operation:

1) I used it for fewer weeks. I let the oil take over for a few weeks of shoulder season when I didn't have storage

2) When I didn't have storage, I built at least one fire every day, and often two fires in a day. I let it go out between fires.

3) When I didn't have storage, I let the house temperature fluctuate a lot more than I do now. With storage, I only let it drop to 70.

 

[Eric Johnson]

Supposedly (according to the EKO importer, New Horizon Corp.) you burn up to 40% less with storage.

 

[MrEd]

I'm actually wondering if I might be better off with no storage, just let the boiler idle more and have more frequent cleanings. I might burn less wood.

I am curious why you think you would burn less wood w/out storage...that seems to go against conventional wisdom on this site....my storage is not on-line yet, so like to know what your thinking is.

I for one am burning *a lot* of wood. A lot more than I thought, and was hoping that storage would cut that down for me once it is on-line. Also hoping the storage will allow me to even out the heating curve, i.e. take out the dips down to 60 and the spikes to 75.

 

[chuck172]

Ed, the boiler runs all out charging the tank. I've got the tank 180*+. Takes quite a while. Then when I'm using the heat, it goes fast. Faster than I'd thought. I thought I could get away with 500 gallons, maybe not.
I'm surprised you're burning more wood then you expected.

 

[Nofossil]

Supposedly (according to the EKO importer, New Horizon Corp.) you burn up to 40% less with storage.

I heard the same thing and was bitterly disappointed. I think that's only true if you burn 24/7 idling 90% of the time with an oversized boiler in the no storage scenario. I doubt most people would see a huge reduction in wood consumption. though storage is easily worth it for convenience and comfort.

By the way - how's your storage coming?

 

[Eric Johnson]

I'm still thinking about getting around to finishing it. Surprised?

BTW, how can a guy who gets by on 3-4 cords a year be bitterly disappointed about anything?

 

[Nofossil]

I'm still thinking about getting around to finishing it. Surprised?

Heck no. I've been thinking about finishing things for years, and I figure I can keep it up nearly forever if necessary.

BTW, how can a guy who gets by on 3-4 cords a year be bitterly disappointed about anything?

I used just over 3 cords in the first year. Imagine if I got a 40% reduction with storage.........

 

[Duetech]

I've been running my EKO 40 for a couple of weeks now, but I think I'm burning too much wood.
The temperature got down in the teens last night here and I went through the entire load in less than 8 hours. I have 500 gallons of storage, I've got about a 2300 square foot house, I'm running a water to air coil, and I used to go through 900 gallons of heating oil a winter. I had 4.5 full cords put away for this winter based on what I'd heard about the efficiency, but I'm starting to wonder if its going to last me the winter. The wood is good hard wood, but its been seasoned over 2 years. Is it too dry? Should I mix some green wood with it?

Edit: Should I be letting the fire go out and just heat from the storage tank, or does that use more wood to get it back up to temperature?

"stoney48" Yes you should be letting the fire go out and just heat from storage. That is what it is for. If your boiler idles long before the wood is used up and your temps are up you are wasting your wood, idling it away. Ideally you should come up to temp just before the fire goes out. Yes your fire will have to roar to get back up to temp in storage but that is where you get the greatest heat transfer output from the boiler. Bear in mind that the fire will also be heating your home at the same time it is heating your storage. The biggest trick I have been gathering from the forum is keeping your storage from heating your boiler when it is off which shortens your storage supply time.
As a side note if you are not getting much time from your storage before the house temps fall you do not have enough storage. The EKO manual puts minimum storage for the the 40 between 473 and 568 gallons.(I have trouble trying to figure out their math using their illustration). Yeah, I know! Just what you wanted...More project time :bug:

 

[stoney28]

Thanks for all the help guys. I appreciate it.

 

[fabguy01]

you should've bought a OWB. I have a 1300 sq ft house and built my own owb that is similar to a classic with a blower but i made shaker grates and the air injects under the wood so its kind of a updraft gasifier but i only go through about 3 cords a year plus i only load twice a day.

 

[Nofossil]

you should've bought a OWB. I have a 1300 sq ft house and built my own owb that is similar to a classic with a blower but i made shaker grates and the air injects under the wood so its kind of a updraft gasifier but i only go through about 3 cords a year plus i only load twice a day.

Do you heat your house entirely with wood? 3 cords a year is very impressive. I only know one person who burns that little, and he has a condensing downdraft gasifier with about 4 times the heat exchanger area of an EKO or Tarm. He has flue temperatures around 120 degrees.

 

[atlarge54]

you should've bought a OWB. I have a 1300 sq ft house and built my own owb that is similar to a classic with a blower but i made shaker grates and the air injects under the wood so its kind of a updraft gasifier but i only go through about 3 cords a year plus i only load twice a day.

Do you heat your house entirely with wood? 3 cords a year is very impressive. I only know one person who burns that little, and he has a condensing downdraft gasifier with about 4 times the heat exchanger area of an EKO or Tarm. He has flue temperatures around 120 degrees.

Nofossil I'm nominating you for the new energy czar job. What you do for heating is just phenominal. Fabguy heating with 3 cord for 1300 sq ft doesn't seem too bad for a well insulated home with modest windows. I'd like to see more details on his boiler design and install, cost too. I looks to me like an entry level system described around here is $10,000 not including labor. I'll wager fabguy is well under that figure.

 

[wrench340]

I have been loading 3times a day 6:30 am,4pm,10pm.I fill it full morning and night and just put in enough to get me to 10pm at 4.usually at 4 there's a chunk of wood left,and good coals at 6:30 and its been in the low 20's nights.On days and nights that the wind is blowing over 20mph the wood doesn't last that long.I'm not sure what's going to happen when the temps drop to 0.

 

[chuck172]

That's about how I've been burning wrench340. Sure would like to stretch out the wood some more. Maybe like No-fossil said, we need a better burning pattern.

 

[stoney28]

Temperatures have dropped into the teens here, with a nasty windchill factor (16 degrees feels like 1 degree). I've found some unwelcome drafts with the heavy winds. So I'm wrapping the building in felt roofing paper until spring to cut down on heat loss (also going through a lot of expanding foam for gaps I didn't know I had). I had the furnace filled at 11pm and at 5am it was out with the fuel alarm on. Temperature of hte water had dropped to 152 (yikes). Hope that felt paper takes care of the wind.

 

[LarryD]

This has been interesting to read. With all of the challenges that I have had learning (Not to insinuate that the learning will cease) to run our boiler and the installation, I am not having terrible results. For the arguments sake, we are running an excell 2200 with 922 (or there abouts) gallons of storage. We live in central CT. Currently we are heating two zones, the original 60 year old 1,175 sq ft house and about 700 sq ft of our addition I can fire the boiler in the morning with a half load and typically when I get home (around 5:30 pm) the storage is somewhere around 135*. I usually will fire the boiler with a full load @ 5:00 am, that will get the storage to about 150*. I suspect once the rest of the zones are added (34X28 garage and another 700 sqft upstairs) I might get different results. While our boiler has a 6 and change cubic foot fire box (it is amazing how much wood you can get in it), we are getting a lot of sq ft heated (to 67*) and three adults and two kids using domestic hot water. I think I am doing pretty good.

What do you guys think?

LarryD

 

[Nofossil]

At the end of the day, I think we want to discover the best approaches to heating with wood. To me, 'best' means some combination of things that might be conflicting to some degree:

- Minimum effort / maximum convenience
- Comfortable temperatures in the living space
- Minimum noxious emissions indoors and out
- Maximum efficiency (heat delivered per unit of wood)

Always looking for ways to improve any or all of these. Some of it is technology, some of it is technique. Hard data helps identify both problems and solutions. Keep it coming.