Eko 25 gassifing after 15 mi. but stops

[ihookem]

I got my eko 25 running last night, it gassified after 20 min. then stipped. Tonight the same, good gassisication, then an hour later almost nothing. I set the settings to what Mark at Alternative heating told me. Why is this happeneing? I have about 6 or 7 popple logs and they are dry. Any comments would be appreciated thanks!

 

[sdrobertson]

Sounds like your loosing your coal base. When burning softwoods its harder to build a coal base that will hold up. Smaller splits will help some for the beginning of your burn as they coal up faster. Sometimes I only fill the boiler 1/3 of the way or so to start until I get a good coal base and then fill it.

 

[Gooserider]

I got my eko 25 running last night, it gassified after 20 min. then stipped. Tonight the same, good gassisication, then an hour later almost nothing. I set the settings to what Mark at Alternative heating told me. Why is this happeneing? I have about 6 or 7 popple logs and they are dry. Any comments would be appreciated thanks!

Are you getting bridging? The logs have to be pretty much sitting on the slot in the refractory, and if they don't slide down as the lower ones burn, that can cause the gasification to stop... When it does stop, if you open the upper door and poke the wood down a bit, does it start up again?

Also, what kind of coal bed do you have? Again, having lots of coals over the slot helps with gasification, but one of the things I've heard said about popple is that it doesn't make a nice coal bed...

Gooserider

 

[hayrack]

Don't get to frustrated. I just got an eko 40 on line in the last two weeks and until the last few fires I thought it was one of the worst things I have ever owned. They are correct you need a good coal bed to get things going. I burn a lot of pine and popple also. I start with several small pieces with bypass open and bottom door cracked just a little for about 30 minutes. I have been having good luck the last few fires. The first few filled the cellar with smoke due to my constant fiddling around with it. you will eventually get the hang of it. Good luck

 

[ihookem]

Thanks everyone, I putt a few more logs in and got gassification after 20 min. or so. Am I supposed to have gassification all the time? It took a few hour to get it up to 156 degrees and thought something was wrong. With the furnace on it didn't get the air too hot. The house is very toasty after 4 hrs. and the wife is happy.

 

[Duetech]

If you don't have storage you wil not always get gasification for the entire burn. Once there is no heat demand and the boiler is up to temp it will go idle which will allow the coals to cool some. Then when the demand is made or your boiler cools enough the sensor initiates the blower the coals will begin to burn more rapidly and eventually gasification will resume. Some choose smaller than maximum length pieces (1/2 size) to get the coal bed going. In general I have found using splits 1-2" smaller than the maximum length and generally in the 5" diameter size to work best im my EKO40. Since I do not have storage my coals are going 24-7 so I don't have the daily fire rebuilding thing going on. I just have to feed the boiler 2x daily.

 

[stee6043]

Something I noticed last year was that "too much" air can cause your coals to go away faster than necessary. Once I have a good established fire with good stack temps I usually run my fan speed down to 50-60% for the remainder of the burn (I run 80% to get things started). Lower fan speeds tend to help me maintain good gasification and better overall performance...

 

[Hydronics]

Something I noticed last year was that "too much" air can cause your coals to go away faster than necessary. Once I have a good established fire with good stack temps I usually run my fan speed down to 50-60% for the remainder of the burn (I run 80% to get things started). Lower fan speeds tend to help me maintain good gasification and better overall performance...

I agree, I run 50% fan speed to prevent blowing the coals through the nozzle & I don't need the full output especially with the warmer outdoor temps.
One thing that hasn't been mentioned is with a new boiler the refractory still has a surprising amount of moisture in it. I didn't get real good gasification until about the third burn. Gasification will also be tougher to obtain on a cold start, they operate better once up to temp.
I'd recommend being patient with closing the bypass, let it burn updraft for 15 or 20 minutes, then poke the coals over the nozzle, add more wood, burn updraft for another 10 mins. Now pull the bypass closed & you should have gasification. You can reduce this updraft time more as you get used to doing it and the refractory dries out.
Good luck & try to be patient.

 

[Duetech]

One other thing I forgot to mention is the moisture content of your wood. If the wood you are burning is too high in moisture it will take a while for the wood to dry enough to burn properly. If you have a contol module that will let you slow your fan speed, like Stee6043 and Hydronics stated, then by all means try adjusting your fan speed first. I don't have the adjustable speed blower so have to work things from a different angle.

 

[ihookem]

Thanks again, this stuff is nice to know. It takes three burns to get good gass. This is my third burn and I'm getting used to it but can't stop going out to see how it's all going. I thought I made a huge mistake at first not thinking I have about 30 gal. of water to heat up before anything happens. I'm used to a fireplace insert and 20 min. I have heat but it's only in one room. I have even amount of heat through the whole house. It's a lot more comfy with wood at 68 degrees than with the gas furnace even though I have HX for both. I did things a little different with the Eko, I put it outside in a 6'x6' shed with 6' walls and 8 pitch roof. I wanted it to look like an OWB but my wife says it looks more like an outhouse. I can get several days supply of wood in it and still have enough room to shut the door behind me when it gets real cold and windy. I didn't want a shed because I want pole barn further back 100 feet but didn't want to spend another 1400 on more inlulated pex. I will send some pics in case anyone else decides to do the same. Thanks again, steve. Also, does everyone fill the stove up all the way or keep it half full?

 

[Gooserider]

If you don't have storage, you should plan your loads to give you no more than 6-8 hours of burning between loads in order to keep the idling to a minimum. If you do have storage, you should plan your loads to give you a fully loaded tank at the end of a burn so as to get as much time between burns as possible...

BTW, It is a nice thing if you go to your user profile and put in a signature file with a quick description of what you are burning, or trying to setup - Kind of unit, storage or not, etc... It can make it easier to answer questions w/o having to try and keep track of everybody's system details...

Gooserider

 

[stee6043]

Also, does everyone fill the stove up all the way or keep it half full?

I start my EKO with what is likely less than 1/4 full firebox. Maybe 1/3 full depending on the splits and the day. It typically takes me about 30-45 minutes to go from a cold start to having a good coal bed with water temps climbing through the 140's-150's. Once I hit 160's and I'm roughly 1.5 hours into the burn I'll typically fill the firebox 3/4 full. Right now (shoulder season) this is all the wood it's taking me to heat 3200 square feet for the day. Once we get into the real heating season I will fill the fire box 100% full right before I go to bed (the 3/4 load will be half gone by this time).

That's how I load my EKO to keep it happy. On an average winter day I run roughly 2 full loads total. Currently I'm closer to 1 full load....

 

[Tony H]

with the air flow you can adjust the fan cover to get the best air flow for your situation mine is about 1" open. Check out the sticky on eko settings to get an idea where adjustments need to be . With filling I vary the amount and type of wood based on the expected temp the next 8 hours right now I am burning a mix of box elder and maple filling from 1/3 to 1/2 full loads.