And in Conclusion...Results of my EKO40 installation

[Northwoodsman]

The temp hit -2 F last night in Northern Michigan and our house was COZY WARM (73 F with radiant floor heat) !

I wanted to post my results in hopes that it would encourage/help those who are currently installing an EKO gasification system with pressurized storage.

I am basically finished (have modified the primary sliders on my EKO 40 so I can adjust them externally, have taken my Taco 010- 3 speed pump from high speed to low speed) and wanted to post my final results.

I have been running my EKO40 for the past few days on the following settings and have been extremely pleased with the results:

PRIMARY AIR GAP................5 MM (THIS IS ACTUALLY THE FULLY CLOSED POSTION AS THE SLOT IN THE SLIDE ITSELF WILL NOT LET THE GAP BE ANY SMALLER)
SECONDARY AIR SETTING....4 TURNS
TARGET TEMP.......................195 F
CUT IN/CUT OUT TEMP..........2 F LOWER THAN TARGET
BLOWER SPEED....................50%
AIR GAP ON BLOWER............50%
FIREWOOD SPLIT SMALLER THAN ORIGINALLY (I FIND THAT IF I PUT SEVERAL PIECES OF THINNER WOOD IN FIRST AND THEN PUT THE LARGER PIECES ON TOP IT WORKS THE BEST).

With the above settings I have been getting a nice blue flame in the secondary chamber and have not had problems with the wood " bridging" in the primary chamber. Also, I have been getting 7-8 hour burn times (as my tank temps get hotter my burns times are getting longer). I have noticed that the hotter the EKO runs the better it likes it.

Power consumption of the EKO controller and primary circ. pump is 98 Watts (when I figure in my secondary circ. pumps I am using approx. 225 Watts.- which equates to approx. $22.50/month based on my current rate of 10 cents per KW/Hr).

The boiler is providing hot water for my 2,200 sq. ft home, DHW and 350 gallon jacuzi hot tub (which used to cost me $30.00 a month as it has a 5.5KW electric heater).

The only other applicance that I plan to convert to wood boiler heat is our electric dryer (this unit also has a 5.5 KW heater so I'm assuming I'll save another $30.00 + dollars/month as we have 2 teeneages at home). I am in the initial planning phase for this project and am thinking about using an air to air heat exchanger with ducting to the dryer.

Has anyone out there tried this-if so, please let me know how its working?

Good luck to ALL !

BC

 

[Eric Johnson]

Thanks for the info. I like the looks of your ash pit. I agree that the EKO likes to run hot. I generally get much better results overall at 190 than I did at 175.

There was at least one thread on the idea of running an electric or gas dryer on air heated with wood. You can probably find it with the search function without too much trouble. The bottom line, as I recall, was that it was unlikely to work. But it took awhile to get there.

 

[Dave T]

Congrats on the install!! Thanks for sharing..Dave

 

[jebatty]

The only other applicance that I plan to convert to wood boiler heat is our electric dryer (this unit also has a 5.5 KW heater ... thinking about using an air to air heat exchanger with ducting to the dryer.
Has anyone out there tried this-if so, please let me know how its working?

5.5 kw = about 19000 btu's. I think this is very interesting and no reason why it should not work. Probably want to feed the dryer water/air hx with your hottest output water. Let us know.

 

[Duetech]

Looking good Northwoodsman. I was kind of surprised at your burn times until I saw the jacuzzi. Hmmmm!