Been a long time

[sdrobertson]

Good Evening Boiler Room! Its been a long time since I have signed in and took a look at the room. I really like the new format and I'm thinking it may take a while to see all the improvements. I'm still using my old EKO 60 with one nozzle running and my 2000 gallons storage. I have moved up by promotion at work so I am now working 5 days a week so I'm not living for 4 days off the storage anymore unless I leave for vacation. I'm going to look around some and see who I may recognize anymore to see if any of the old timers are still around lol!

 

[webbie]

Thanks for coming back and visiting!

NoFossil is still around - he was one of the EKO owners who explained controls to many people here - and he now has his own control company!

 

[Nofossil]

NoFossil is still around - he was one of the EKO owners who explained controls to many people here - and he now has his own control company!

In fact, he's reading this thread right now....

Good to see you again - seems like we both took some time off on about the same schedule. I'm still jealous of your 2000 gallons. Glad to hear that your system is still working for you. Besides starting up a commercial launch of the NoFossil Control System, I've finally added my propane on-demand water heater as a backup heat source and added more baseboard to my main floor zone.

 

[woodsmaster]

Welcome back. I also took a break for a while. Had a lot of things going on.

 

[Fred61]

Hey, I remember you. Hello again. Your old buddy, Eric Johnson pops ii periodically and then disappears.

 

[BrotherBart]

Good to see ya back.

 

[huffdawg]

Good to see ya back SD. Done any hunting this fall?

 

[Donl]

Good to see you back. How is your dad doing? Have not seen him here for a long while either.

 

[stee6043]

Welcome back, West Michigander. Just in time for some 60 degree weather and thunderstorms!

 

[sdrobertson]

Hey guys...Doing well. I looked around a little the other night and I was mostly impressed with the new Garn Jr. I always thought a smaller unit like this would be a great idea. I guess I'm going to have to figure out a road trip to see one.

Dad is extremely busy building a new house. He built the first one in 1971 and made it a tri-level which was really cool in his thirty's but all those damn steps are a little much now. He tore down the old and is putting the finishing touches on a one level ranch in the same spot.

Hunting this year is a little trying. Its been so wet that most of the corn is still up and it seems the deer kinda like hiding in it.

I'm glad to hear Eric and everyone else is doing well. Congrats on the good work you have done on the NoFossil Control System and being able to properly market it. It was allot of fun watching its development.

 

[Nofossil]

All right, now that we have all of the pleasantries out of the way, it's time to get to the meat of things ;-)

Now that you have a couple more years of operation under your belt, what has worked well with the EKO 60 and storage? Are there things you would have done differently? Do you have changes or upgrades that you're thinking about?

Inquiring minds want to know.......

I get a LOT of questions like "What should I put in for a wood heat system?"

In my mind, your setup (gasifier and 2000 gallons of pressurized storage) is pretty close to ideal, and it's what I generally recommend as an ultimate system. Since that's not what I have, I'm looking for more first-hand insight about the pros and cons (if any) and what it's like to live with that type of system.

 

[Donl]

I agree with Nofossil. Lets hear about how your system has been functioning. And, while your at it, tell us about how your dad is going to heat his new place. Is he going to use his existing eko 80 and storage or does he have something else in mind?

 

[sdrobertson]

All right, now that we have all of the pleasantries out of the way, it's time to get to the meat of things ;-)

Now that you have a couple more years of operation under your belt, what has worked well with the EKO 60 and storage? Are there things you would have done differently? Do you have changes or upgrades that you're thinking about?

Inquiring minds want to know.......

I get a LOT of questions like "What should I put in for a wood heat system?"

In my mind, your setup (gasifier and 2000 gallons of pressurized storage) is pretty close to ideal, and it's what I generally recommend as an ultimate system. Since that's not what I have, I'm looking for more first-hand insight about the pros and cons (if any) and what it's like to live with that type of system.

I haven't changed anything with my system for a couple years now and I am still very pleased. I'm not terribly bright sometimes and it has taken me longer than normal to get it through my thick head that you need dry wood. Still struggling with that but I know how to get it to work.

Changes: I would hook up the 4 propane tanks differently. Presently I have them all hooked up evenly through the use of a manifold for the top and another for the bottom. I used water lines cut to the same length from the manifold to each tank thinking that this would make them all load the same way. What happens now is that the tanks load just a little bit differently and when I shut down, the tanks try and adjust themselves so I get a small amount of flow from one tank to another which leads to some heat loss as the manifolds aren't insulated very well. It would also be nice to shut off a tank or two and go down to 1500 or 1000 gallons in the spring and fall as I get standby loss and its pretty easy to just build a fire every couple of days while the boiler is still holding a little heat and its better to store the btu's in the wood. I thought about redoing my manifolds and hooking them up to load them one at a time but when I built the storage and insulating the tanks, I only have 1 1/2 between tanks and I would have allot of heat transfer between tanks. Another change would be to do the lines leading from my pole building to the house. They are very poorly insulated and I loose allot of heat to the ground.

On the EKO 60...I have a old model with the old controller and no turbulators. I did put in chain turbulators and I have figured out the controller by moving the temp sensor around so that is working well. I have never been able to run this boiler with both nozzles. I have always struggled to keep both nozzles firing properly and I would always get smoke. If you remember, some of these boilers were shipped to the US with misaligned secondary air covers and I had to modify them (along with a couple other members here) so it may be something with these older boilers. What I have done for quite a few years is I just place a brick over the front nozzle and I only use one. This does make this boiler like a 40 but with extra water tubes so it may be more efficient at transferring heat. When this boiler does die, I will need to be convinced that two nozzles are allot better than one. I'm pretty sure I could get along just fine with a 40.

Famous last words but....someday I will be redoing the house and I will be putting in radiant heat. I would love to be able to draw down the tanks and still have useable heat from 120 degree water unlike the 150ish needed for my force air furnance. This would make life so very much easier.

My father is going to still use the EKO 80 and his 2000 gallons of storage. This new house is going to be very well insulated and he is putting in floor radiant I'm guessing he will go 4 weeks between firings lol I'm kinda excited to see how this ends up.