EKO 25/40 Install Help

[JMann]

I am ordering my EKO next week after I perform my heat loss calculation (thanks for the software link Eric). I have several local companies stopping by to quote the install. The issue here is that most are reluctant to do it because 1.) I didn't buy the boiler from them and 2.) They have never heard of the wood gasification boiler. I've told them that it's very much like a standard boiler, the ony difference being that it burns wood. I want to install this in my detached garage and run it in tandem with my existing oil heater (if I go out for a few days) and also use it for my domestic hot water (which is electric and will be used in the summer since I'm not getting a storage tank right away). Does anyone have any documentation or layout drawings that I can show a contractor so they don't get scared of the install? I figure that in the next couple of years as this idea catches fire (no pun intended) that there will be more companies selling / installing in my area (Lancaster County, PA). I don't want to wait that long to get this up and running.

Thanks in advance for any help on this post.

JMann

 

[rickh1001]

Hendrix,

I called our local oil company, which is fairly small and family owned, but who we have used for over 20 years. I explained we are putting in a new wood boiler, and would they want to participate? They were excited about the idea of learning some new technology, and getting ahead of the curve, so they could develop a new line of work to supplement their dwindling oil sales.

There is not that much different about the hot water circulation system itself, except for the storage tanks perhaps, so it is not much different than any other hw boiler installation in that regard. I want to do the entire install myself, but I realize I have never worked with a hw system before. So we are doing a kind of hybrid job, where they will help me with how to install the hw system, but I will do most of the labor. I will put in my own new chimney, and all the grunt work of moving the boiler and tanks in, setting up the basic boiler and storage tanks, etc. At the end of the process, they will better understand the system, and will be able to sell installations to others, and I will have had an experienced hand oversee my work, so I don't totally screw things up.

I keep telling them (our oil company) that they should not only install these new boilers, but perhaps carry them and sell them as well. It seems like a great opportunity, if I had a small oil company. Matter of fact, I would be getting into solar and wind and other energy sources as well. Kind of like migrating from selling buggy whips over to automobile parts in around 1910 or so. The writing is on the wall, and we certainly won't be using oil 20 years from now, like we do today.

Anyway, our local company was excited to help, even though they won't make much money off the job. If yours doesn't see it as an opportunity to expand their business, I would keep looking until you find someone who appreciates a new challenge.

 

[Eric Johnson]

I think boilerman has a good idea. Worth a try.

Another (or perhaps complementary) approach would be to have your installer contact the dealer you buy the boiler from (or Zenon) and have them explain the basics. There isn't that much difference in piping a gasifier than any other boiler, wood or fossil fuel, with the possible exception of the cold return water protection (mixing valve or pumped loop) and the storage tank, if you're going to hook one up. Any competent heating tech should have no trouble doing it.

I think you're probably on your own with the chimney, however. Maybe you can get a local chimney sweep to make that connection, especially if he thinks he's going to see some future sweeping action out of the deal (he won't).