BIOMASS 60 REPLACEMENT PARTS

[91LMS]

well i have finally crossed into the real world of boilers and got myself a gasser! she needs some tlc and parts. i have trouble with the lever and shaft for the chimney bypass flap. i believe there even was a spring that is missing? any pics?

 

[Tennman]

I presume you're talking about the upper chamber damper? What's it doing or not doing? Stuck? Not sure if there's a linkage spring under the left side cover. What I thot was a linkage problem with the damper lever was actually creosote buildup/sticking on flapper itself. Doubt parts are missing unless someone took it apart for some strange reason. But, if you're no kidding missing parts you need to talk to Zenon at New Horizons. He may have a diagram so you can figure out what's missing. The owners manual doesn't provide component level detail.

Provide some more information. If you having damper problems it's possible removing the top cover and access panels will get you to the damper. If it wasn't run hot and hard there's a very high probability of buildup on the face of the damper/flapper plate. Careful removing the top plates to that upper chamber. That gasket material is very fragile. Removing the sheet metal cover on the top aft section gives you access to the those access plates to the back top chamber that dumps into the flue.

 

[maple1]

Well then - if you can get it all cleaned & tuned up & working the way it's supposed to, you should have no problem heating your storage now. Congrats.

Post us up some pics too.

 

[henfruit]

Did you ask the person you bought it from, what the problem might be? Why did they sell it?

 

[91LMS]

thanks guys, I have heard many of zenon and looks like I now will get to know him. this boiler was not used with storage, burned some less than desirable wood and for the most part probably oversized for heat load. the upper chamber flap control shaft is broken off. the boiler is very dirty right now and will take this apart shortly to clean. the shaft will be easy enough to fix once I get it out so I can properly weld the arm back onto it. i would like to see how the linkage hooks up and he mentioned a spring that we could not locate from when the previous owner took it apart. 4 of the 5 terbs are out with one still frozen in there. I only see two wires where the controller hooks up so intend to dig deeper and find where the rest may be. with some work this thing is going to be mint, I am stoked!

and yes tennman the flapper has a bunch of creosote on it as well as it collected on the boiler body where that should seal. I like the design and once I get it cleaned, plumbed to my system and get my wood storage system down I think I will be extremely happy. holy crap the 60's are heavy

thanks maple, cant tell you how excited I am. hopefully my struggles are over and will truly enjoy this heating season. don't get me wrong, my nti worked much better after after many peoples help here. however this boiler is much better suited for my heating loads, future plans and 1000 gallons of storage. pics to come!

 

[91LMS]

Did you ask the person you bought it from, what the problem might be? Why did they sell it?

I did ask all that and traveled a very long distance to buy it. I inspected all that I could, knew what the issues were up front as they were pointed out to me with pics. so far no surprises but its not full of water either. I knew what the circumstances were for selling, the logistics all added up and the seller proved to be an honest and all around good guy. my fingers are still crossed till the first firing but that is just me.

 

[Tennman]

Ah... replied to your PM before seeing this.

The previous owner sadly lacked any mechanical finesse..... If it doesn't move, all it needs is more force!

Ok... You probably did pretty good on the deal. And I'll bet the seller posted here. I, unfortunately, am an expert at running this boiler without storage and all the bad crap that happens because of it.

1) Sounds like you've already removed the left cover and insulation.
2) The top consists of two sheet metal covers, remove the back cover on top, about... maybe 6-8 sheet metal screws.
3) CAREFULLY remove the bolts surrounding the two covers of ~1/8" thick plates on the upper flue chamber. I'm making up names here. But this chamber you'll be getting into at least once or twice per season. I didn't even know about it until my 3rd or 4th season!! The bolts may be rusty so don't force them. If they're sticky use penetrating oil and let sit. Seems like the only country making bolts these days is China... God help us.
4) Gently work a thin blade under the crumbly gasket to separate it from either the boiler or panel. If the gasket comes off with the panel... good. If it stays stuck to the boiler.. well that's ok too.
5) Now look down into that filthy mess. I use a very sharp wood chisel to scrape the crap off the flapper door front face so it will again be metal to metal against the 6"-7" pipe coming out of the upper combustion chamber.
6) Now your flapper will move freely again until the next time it gets stuck with creosote... which will happen.
7) Next time use a 6' wood pole to reach in from upper chamber door and tap the flapper. It will immediately come loose then you can use your damper handle again.... Repeat this tapping process ALL winter until you add storage or until the damper handle gets stubborn again.
8) These are about the only moving parts on this thing so about any welder can make replacement parts for the damper axle, flapper door, or bellcrank attached to the flapper door axle.

Really simple stuff and actually good for you that the previous owner presumed that if a little force was good then a lot is better. Probably saved you a bunch of money.

 

[91LMS]

not entirely the former owner's fault. we do at some point usualy have a significant other helping with heating, lol. I have the back chamber all apart. the turbs were frozen, he removed 4 and I have 1 left. once up and running I don't see having these problems with storage. but I do have to weld the flapper lever back onto the shaft so need pics of the clocking of that lever and where/how the spring hooks up as well under that lh cover

 

[Tennman]

The turb handle..... ah yes... that is spring loaded!! Twice a day, morning and evening I let that thing fly 6-8 times. At first I was afraid of just letting it fly and being harsh on it. NOPE. Let it slam 6-8 times twice a day. If I forget for a day or so you'll sense the resistance and it will not snap back crisply on it's own to make a solid clang. When it starts to... thud... I drop it a bunch of times until it clangs again. I presume you've opened the small access doors on the lower bottom sides toward the back to remove ash from the clean outs??

And the damper was broke too?!? "not entirely the former owner's fault", You're very kind. All of these are symptoms of not doing the basics daily. The fact that the turbs are frozen in place means he didn't slam that handle for at least weeks and maybe months for the buildup to get to that state then it was too late.

The previous owner must have been burning wet wood and ignoring all the symptoms that result from it. You said he was an honest guy so I feel sorry for him. He just never got any training. Did he post here and ask any questions? He must of been an extremely frustrated user. Too bad for him, but good for you. When things don't work right, start asking questions before you get so far out in the weeds that recovery is really painful. The BioMass is an excellent, cost effective gasser, but you better be prepared to figure it out yourself or get help here. Without the guys here helping me 5 years ago it would have been really ugly. Well, it was ugly.... so uglier. Here and the sticky are basically your user helpline.

I'll try to remember to take a picture of my damper handle and measure it's location from the front panel face with the flapper closed. That will give you all the information you need to position all the pieces with the damper flapper closed. Make sense?

 

[woodsmaster]

I found that with storage you really don't need that whole cleaning handle assembly crap. when it's hooked up its hard to take apart to get the turbs out to clean the tubes. What i did was left the middle turbs connected to the bar, and unhooked the outside ones. on the outside ones I just run a metal rod threw the hole to keep them from falling to the bottom. That makes it much easier to remove the turbs for a proper cleaning. I clean mine about every 4 cord. No messing with that worthless handle in between.

 

[91LMS]

I am prepared and have read here and posted for a couple years now. you guys are the best, now I have a "group" to consult with. before my questions were basic plumbing/wiring as I plumbed my entire system and wired it myself. I was just as the mercy of my conventional undersized boiler. I got the top sheet metal off last night to see that I am missing the pigtail wire harness from the controller to the boiler main harness. the only wires that were there were the two terminals from the firebox sensor. the reason for the lack of wiring I presume is that the controller was removed due to intermittent fan operation and a refurbished unit still in the box was provided with the boiler.

the boiler was not operated by the owner towards the end of its life with it's prior home, so I don't feel the current condition is his fault. he explained all that and did say it had wet wood as well as not properly maintained between loads.

I am eager to see this thing charge my storage and watch to see how it burns with seasoned wood. I just need to get it wired and the mechanical stuff repaired.

 

[Tennman]

Great attitude. You'll be happy..... now I need to get a plan to get my storage hooked up this summer.

Sorry, I forgot to go out to the boiler this morning. What I will be providing is the dimension from the boiler front face to the inside face of the ball on the damper handle. In my mind that would be the easiest way to measure position of the handle/damper axle when the damper is closed. That will set the damper axle bellcrank, damper handle (really rod), and of course the damper flap will be sitting on the vent pipe in the closed position. If you don't understand all my made up names for damper stuff, let me know. WM above is an experienced, long time user. He may be near his boiler to give you that dimension. I go brain dead when I get home, but eventually I'll remember.

Oh.... if the opening of your nozzle is worn and radiused from use, I'd replace the nozzle so when you crank up things are near to what they should be for best operation. I wasted a lot of wood the 2012-13 season because good sized clinkers were falling into the lower chamber. I place a plasma cut steel plate over my nozzle opening now to avoid the agony of replacing the nozzle ceramics. The plate costs me almost nothing and is thrown away at the end of the season. This season I'll be using at least 1/4" thick steel. If I see some 3/8" laying around I'll use it. The 3/16" I used last season warped so thicker is better. The steel opening doesn't need to precisely match the nozzle or pretty to do it's job and the ratty edge from the hand held plasma cutter doesn't make any difference. Also make sure the door gasket is good. Mine's due for replacement before this season.

It's a very good boiler for the price. This site is your life support for help, not the supplier. Ya get what ya pay for. Yep, you sound like a DIY'r so you'll do fine. Blessings

 

[91LMS]

great point on the nozzle. I did inspect both upper and lower refractory the best I could with a flash light and just about crawling in the thing. looks to be in great shape for 4 years of use. nozzle is still square and not radiused or missing chunks, I am assuming it would be with wear? it has never been replaced but should it be in that good of shape after 40-50 cords?

is anyone familiar with the pigtail connector on the backside of the controller? with the skins off this beast I see a temp sensor on the chamber that is clamped directly to the metal. from what I can tell there is not water at the top of the boiler surrounding the firebox? then a temp sensor for water in the top/rear of boiler for the gauge and also the pressure sensor for gauge as well. what feeds the controller water temp though?

I have consulted with numerous eko owners when I was shopping for a boiler, so I need to establish my new family on here, lol.

 

[woodsmaster]

The water temp sensor is on the top left if you at the door looking to the back. It is clamped on, not in a well. I assumed there is water around the top chamber ?

 

[Tennman]

Thank heavens I never had to mess with controller stuff and never had that cover off. If your nozzle is nice and crisp like that I'd cut a guard to keep it that way. It was really difficult to remove all ceramics to replace the nozzle. All the side plates must come out first so you can lift up the nozzle. My plate is sized the same as the floor of the upper chamber to just lay in there. You could cut it with a cutting torch and be good enough. But thicker is better than too thin. The uneven heat warps a thin plate. Mine became a potato chip after this season. But, really good news your nozzle is still good. BTW.... one season I was more anal retentive about cleaning the upper chamber. I now think a layer of ash on the bottom of upper chamber is actually a good thing to protect the nozzle edge some. Maybe some woods are harder on the ceramic than others, but I was probably at less than 40 chords when I replaced our nozzle that was shaped like a funnel.

I'm quite sure our control stuff is the same as the EKO which may have better documentation. I think you can google that.... is it an RKO controller? .... Anyway, forgot the product/company name, but I'll bet there's a manual online for that controller. I think I have one I got online. I'll try to remember the measurement tonight... but no promises.

 

[91LMS]

I do have the controller manual but the boiler has a 9 pin connector about half way back that brings all 3 cords that exit the lh panel into one. at that point it must have had a pigtail about a foot long to then plug into the controller to signal pumps and fans. the front fan has a 3 wire connector that I also found running down rh side. I think the controller got removed by taking the connectors apart but never put back on the replacement controller and is now lost. so basically 14 wires total to find a home for, lol. makes sense that the temp sensor is the clamped one as the other in the well is for the gauge. I will have to either make my own pigtail and get creative with a connector or hardwire via the manual. unless new horizons might be able to get one.

so far the door gasket for sure, hoping to be able to removed the set bolt on the flapper shaft so that I can weld the lever back on properly and need that spring. insulation around the top of the boiler was pretty nasty and stunk from operating with basically a non existant door seal. get these things taken care of and a half day on the pipe threader again and I will be back in business. oh yeah don't forget to mow the lawn, lol. its not boiler season she tells me

 

[Tennman]

Ok, Lever distance from the boiler front face. I see about 8.25" to the inside edge of the ball. First pic how I measured.




Second, the dimension.


This should provide what you need to weld everything back. This is where my damper handle is relative to the green sheet metal when the damper flap is closed.

 

[Tennman]

Huh... well, not elegantly done, but the info is there. Sure is easier to post an image than the old days when I'd have given up.

 

[91LMS]

great thanks, would like to see how the linkage hooks up inside as well if anyone has a chance to snap and post a pic. thanks again tennman

 

[91LMS]

anybody have a diagram of how your controller is wired on a 60? i have a pretty good idea on most of it but looking at the schematic not sure where the fans tie in. i see the fan symbol on the center terminals and assume that is for the fan/blower on the front door and not the draft fan? if so where does the draft fan come into the mix?

 

[Tennman]

Sorry man... I'm allergic to electrical stuff.

 

[91LMS]

i was hoping you were as good with the wiring as that tape measure tennman, lol

 

[woodsmaster]

Not sure with out taking it apart. Maybe post another thread. I think it's the same controller that most of the EKOs use.

 

[taxidermist]

Was this boiler from MI?

 

[91LMS]

yes taxi it was, why do you ask?