Econoburn modification: did it work?

[Boilermaster28]

Hi there! I’ve been reading some old posts by mpoyneer on modifying his Econoburn boiler. I just recently installed a brand new (in 2008) econoburn 150 that hasn’t ever had a fire in it until this last Saturday. I am interested to know if the modification to stop the draft fan from running after the fire went out worked well in the long run. I see where he used a relay and a bypass switch to solve this issue. I copied the post below:

"cooling Fan" problem solved!

Omron LY2-AC110/120 DPDT relay wired in the power supply to the Nimbus (terminals "N" and "L")
- opens circuit on the alarm 1 setpoint via terminals 9 and 10 on the TC33 controller
- You have to make sure the Function for alarm 1 is set to "Low Alarm" by setting "A1Fu" to "0"
- pump must be wired directly to power and not controlled by the boiler controls

Just would like to know if this worked well in the long run. Is there a way to contact this member?

Thanks,

Roy

 

[salecker]

Hi Neighbor
I have the 200 installed at my home with storage.
Having the fan shut off after the fire is gone is a mod that i still need on mine.
I will be watching what you come up with.

 

[cumminstinkerer]

I have the fire done setup on mine, i love it, I can't really tell either of you for sure how to do it on stock controls, as @salecker knows mine had all the controls and wiring destroyed before I bought it.

 

[salecker]

Hi Roy
If yours is a boiler made in 08 it probably has the first generation of controls.
It was common knowledge years ago they had issues,i was told to run mine with the original control.
It didn't last and was replaced with the new style under warranty.
The new controller worked great for about 8 years then for some reason the main plug for power fried.
I was able to fix it with a plug from a computer power cord soldered to what was left on the controll board,and adding the female socket on the power cord.
Cumminstinkerer has homemade controls for his boiler and other mods that are fine tuning his to run more efficient.
I keep hoping for the time to work on a end of fire shutoff...
Maybe this year

 

[cumminstinkerer]

I have also made a couple of other mods that are working very well, got the burn time slowed down from maybe an hour per load to 3 or a bit more, also was finally able to get flue temps to stay in reasonable range, it will spike 450F then settle down in the high 300's. I added air flow controls to the primary air channels and added a couple extra bumps on the center two turbs.

 

[MickMorley]

Wow how did you get an un-used unit that old?

Mine is a 2011 150, I was trying to do the same, but with a timer. I found the wiring on our blowers. I was going to intercept the blue wire loop that goes to the blower and put a plug there instead.

 

[salecker]

Fan shutoff is still one of my projects to figure out.
I added a 1" piece of angle iron to the bottom of my turbulators and have reduced my flue temps by a couple hundred degrees on average,and probably get an extra hour of burn out of a full load now,roughly.

 

[airlina]

Salecker , where did you exactly place the angle Iron, might try it on my 100, Thanks bruce

 

[salecker]

@cumminstinkerer put me on to the idea
He added a couple pieces onto his turbulators and it made a difference.
I cut some 1" angle iron 1" long and welded them to the very bottom of the turbulators had to adjust them with a grinder for smooth installation and movement.
So far the highest temp my elcheapo flue temp has shown is right around 600F,before it had shown up to 900F.
9 out of 10 times when i go to reload now after a couple hours of running i see 400F flue temp.
Charging the storage hasn't changed,just doing it on a little less wood now.

 

[cumminstinkerer]

@airlina and @salecker I don't think it changed my charge time either, it sure cooled the flue down and it uses less wood, I am only running them on the center two turbs, the highest I've seen since adding them is 525F, that was an oops, I stole some coals out of the boiler Thursday to get the smoker going, I bumped the shovel while transferring, a bit a cat bed that was waiting to go some other garbage started to smoke, I just threw the door on boiler open and chucked it in to keep from having an unwanted fire, well that thing had carpet that was flaming by the time I got it in the door, OSB and carpet go hot fast, very unplanned and not what I would have liked to do but way better than the alternative.

 

[airlina]

@airlina and @salecker I don't think it changed my charge time either, it sure cooled the flue down and it uses less wood, I am only running them on the center two turbs, the highest I've seen since adding them is 525F, that was an oops, I stole some coals out of the boiler Thursday to get the smoker going, I bumped the shovel while transferring, a bit a cat bed that was waiting to go some other garbage started to smoke, I just threw the door on boiler open and chucked it in to keep from having an unwanted fire, well that thing had carpet that was flaming by the time I got it in the door, OSB and carpet go hot fast, very unplanned and not what I would have liked to do but way better than the alternative.

Thanks Guys, appreciate the reports, Bruce

 

[salecker]

In defense to adding them to each turbulator on mine...
All i have to burn here is spruce and popular. I use mainly spruce with the odd piece of popular.
My feeling is the our dry spruce offgasses really fast,and the boiler is designed for hard wood.
That is my reason for adding to each turbulator,where @cumminstinkerer just added to a couple.
I have an aquintance that his business is data logging.Cool semiretired dude who made his fortune in the F1 and Indy car circuits. He wants to set me up with some of his old data loggers .Covid has messed with his plans of semi retirement.
Once i have a way to compare i am going to do a month or so test with popular.

 

[cumminstinkerer]

@salecker I agree with you on the wood off gassing faster, I was running some crappy semi punky soft maple early this fall when I added the blocks in the turbs, it really shined there, when I switched to better wood I was able to open up my added primary air controls just a little and still keep flue temps down but get more heat output to the water.

 

[salecker]

When i added the angle iron to my turbulators...
i placed the end of the turbulators inside the 90 of the angle iron and tacked them on so there is a wedge shape facing the flames.

 

[cumminstinkerer]

@salecker I was wondering how you did yours, that seems good, I put mine in flat stock in the twist offset a bit from each other and effectively breaking the turbs into three section

 

[salecker]

I am sure that the modification made a difference
Having a more accurate gauge,and a data logger would be nice.
Then i would try adding some to the top and see what difference it made
1st row of wood is gone which lasted a little over a month,so with my seat of pants dynometer i think i got at least an extra week out of the row.

 

[mark cline]

Hey, guys just got on here for the first time this season. Yesterday I got back from my month and a half West Texas mule deer , whitetail and Aoudad sheep hunt . So I’m going to fire up my 300 for the first time, I put in about 4 splits and kindling because I want a small fire to just heat up the refractory slowly from being 39 degrees. After 20 min , the the digital display starts to blink on and off then nothing. The near boiler pump stayed running but the fan wouldn’t run , so I just let it burn out . I have the old style controller so is it possible to to rehab this or go with the new style for almost $600 $ . I have a knee replacement surgery coming up on December 16 ,so i need this up and running soon , so I welcome any suggestions. Sorry I hijacked this thread.

 

[salecker]

Hi Mark
@cumminstinkerer made his own controls for his.
I replaced the original old style with the new style,still have the old one if you can use parts of it.
The power plug on my new one blew up a couple years ago,i was able to salvage enough copper off the printed circuit to solder on a new plug,cut from the end of a computer cord.At that time i ordered a new controller,i am a long ways from any help where i am.
But i am starting to lean towards building my own controls as well,the $600 for a new controller turns into $900 for me. The stock controller doesn't do much for me.I need something that will shutdown the blower once the fire is gone.
Thomas

 

[mark cline]

I called Dale today but didn’t have my serial number with me so I’ll have to call him back tomorrow. The nice thing for me is the Econoburn factory is about an hr from me , so if I need parts or the new style controller, I can drive over and pick it up. I’ll let you know what I find out .

 

[airlina]

Mark, must be something in the air here in western ny , as mine (newer version) did the blinking thing about a month ago and would not allow the storage pump to activate when boiler water got up to temp. My first controller failed 5 or 6 years ago and i installed this newer version. I powered the whole thing down (reboot) and it started working again and has been fine since. I too looked at the pricing of a new one (ouch) but would like to have a standby on the shelf so I'm not left out in the cold so to speak , if the current one fails. Maybe we can get a BOGO from Econoburn.

 

[mark cline]

Hey Bruce, to install the new style controller, was it plug and play? Any modifications needed? I’m running out of time coming up to my surgeries, so I just want a quick install then fire it up.

 

[salecker]

Hi Mark
When i did the upgrade there was a bit of wiring to do.
I had my electrician do it as i wanted to be covered by warranty.
At the time Econoburn was insistent that my pumps needed to be wired through a relay to take the strain off the control board.
They already were powered through a relay,i just wanted to cover my bases for warranty.
Thomas

 

[mark cline]

I got through to Dale and he said it could be the temperature probe or the control board, not having the time to troubleshoot, I went and picked up both. It’s the same board that mine is , so it will plug in to the existing wiring. As far as relays go, I have my blower and pump shut down at the end of the burn cycle on PID controllers so I guess they are on relays. I’ll let you know what’s going on when I get it installed.

 

[airlina]

Mark, As salecker says above , I would not call it a plug and play setup. Some wiring had to be acomplished under the hood and my boiler was older style so I had to add the water temp probe into one of my plumbing pipes because I didn't have a probe well in the boiler jacket like new ones have. This caused my controller to read 15 degrees off (low) actual water temp , so I have to take that in account when I set the controller water temp preferences. Let me know what fixes your problem and I'll probably get the same parts and have them on the shelf ready to go.

 

[mark cline]

I just installed the board and there was no additional wiring to do , the board was the exact same as what I had , my boiler was manufactured on 12-27-11 and since then was only used for 2 seasons then I bought it then had it rehabbed. I had only used February and March of last year . Dale says my controller is the second generation, so yours must be first. It’s cooking now , so I’m going to get my 1700 gals heated up in about 10 hrs