EKO 40 Boiler Clearances

[stoney28]

I've been lurking around this site for the past summer while I get my new wood gasifier up and running. Its great to know that there a lot of knowledgable helpful people out there.

Now, on to my issue. I've searched the forums, but I haven't found the exact answer to my question yet, so here it is.

I've been setting up this building outside, but I negelcted to check for the proper clearances. Once I read the officials clearances I became concerned. Its already piped in, and the walls are up around the boiler, but I'm concerned.

I have only 13 inches of clearance on the side (which I"m not TOO worried about based on what I've read here), but the kicker is the back wall is only 9 inches from the back of the boiler. I read on one of the previous posts that the rear clearance was a safety issue, not a maintenance issue. Should I be worried? Do I need to tear a good chunk of this building down for safety reasons, or can I operate it safely.

There is no stove pipe coming out of the flue, I went with metalbestos slid right over it, if that makes any difference.

 

[stoney28]

Is my question really stupid, or are people just not sure how to answer? (not a sarcastic comment)

 

[MrEd]

The manual should tell you how far the clearance are. On my Tarm, 6" on the sides and 18" on the back.

If it was me, and if it was in a boiler shed not attached to my house, and if moving the unit was not an option, I'd see about layering some fireproof materials over that back wall and then I'd monitor it closely. If it was in my house, or attached to my house, I'd want it done right even if it meant ripping it out and re-plumbing.

That said, I've seen some pretty scary setups in 200 year old farm houses with less-than-safe looking wood boilers roaring in the cellar with all kinds of code violations and somehow these places are still standing....I couldn't sleep with one of those roaring in my cellar, but to each his own...

 

[Tony H]

I think they call for 36" at the rear so 9" is pretty close. I would side with Mr Ed and move it out if its in or attached to the house due to the safety and insurance issues and if its in an outside shed leave it and install some fire barrier along that wall and maybe hang a temp gauge / heat sensor to monitor the temp and see what happens.

 

[stee6043]

Silly question here - I assume the walls you built behind the unit are stick built/wood/drywall?? If you were talking about a basement and a poured concrete wall being behind it I wouldn't worry much. But personally I wouldn't want any kind of wood burner within 9" of a wood/drywall material for any extended periods. For peace of mind I'd tear that wall behind her out. Add a two foot pocket and call it a learning experience. I know it is against all man laws to read the directions but I'd say this one could be critical...

As for the idea of the fire barrier - do you have the room? I have to believe you'd eat up half of your 9" with fire resistant material. So then you're at nearly 4" of clearance at the back? I could be wrong but if I were "fireproofing" something I'd put at least two layers of the fire proof material with plenty of air between them....I'm not sure you've got the real estate.

 

[stoney28]

yeah, the walls are wood with fiberglass insulation between the studs, but I haven't gotten anything up between the insulation and boiler yet.

The shed started off as separate from the house, but I poured a small slab connecting it to the garage (which is attached to the house) with a door that links the two.

Tearing out and re-plumbing is not financially viable as I am already much further in the hole on this project than I thought I'd be.

To anyone who has an EKO 40, how hot does the outside of that boiler get? Should I be worried about heat radiating from the boiler igniting the wall or should I be worried about some kind of flame escaping?

I am totally new to boilers and most do it yourself projects, so please bear with me.

 

[stee6043]

This is one heck of a first "do it yourself" project my friend! So how do you have your chimney plumbed? Do go straight out through the wall and then up or do you have a "T" and then up through the ceiling? I assume you used Class A chimney right straight out of the EKO?

 

[stoney28]

I have the chimney going out of the back wall and then connecting to a "T" outside, then up.

I don't really know what you mean by Class A chimney. Do you mean an A-Vent chimney?

I've got an 8" double wall insulated chimney (A-vent) from Supervent.

With the 8" I slid it right on over the flue that is attached to the EKO 40. I'm thinking of using DAP High heat caulk to seal it. Is there something different I should use for that?

I've poured small cement slabs before, and put up drywall, but never anything like this.

 

[Tony H]

Not sure why but just read a post the other day about venting the chimney and they said horizontal vent is not allowed on the EKO. Might be wise to see if yours is ok or not.
How hard would it be to bump out that section of wall similar to the way they build chimney chases on new construction?
The supervent is great stuff and looks nice too. The company makes ss locking rings that work great to hold the sections together and for the connection at the EKO we drove a couple of self tapping screws to secure it (no sealant).

 

[sfriedri]

yeah, the walls are wood with fiberglass insulation between the studs, but I haven't gotten anything up between the insulation and boiler yet.

The shed started off as separate from the house, but I poured a small slab connecting it to the garage (which is attached to the house) with a door that links the two.

Tearing out and re-plumbing is not financially viable as I am already much further in the hole on this project than I thought I'd be.

To anyone who has an EKO 40, how hot does the outside of that boiler get? Should I be worried about heat radiating from the boiler igniting the wall or should I be worried about some kind of flame escaping?

I am totally new to boilers and most do it yourself projects, so please bear with me.

The insulation on the EKO boiler is very good. When my EKO 40 is up to full operating temperature, the outside metal panels are barely warm to the touch. The insulation is stuck to the inside of the metal panels, and the insulation is held away from the surface of the boiler and this air gap significantly reduces the transfer of heat to the metal panels.

The EKO manual states clearances of 800cm on the sides and 1000cm on the back, but with the shielding on the unit I suspect this is more to allow easy maintenance rather than heat clearance. Take a look at the clearances of wood stoves that have similar metal shielding and you will see the recommended minimum clearances are much lower.

Since this is an outside building, If I were you would just install firecode drywall on the interior walls, and then if you like you can attach a separate metal shield to the back wall. All you do is install a metal shield that is held away from the wall by about 1" using non combustible spacers (metal washers or short pieces of small pipe). This air gap will allow air to flow between the drywall and metal shield and significantly reduce any transfer of heat to the wall. These shields are called wall heat shields and you can read more about them if you want to learn more.

On another topic, you mention connecting your boiler using a horizontal insulated chimney pipe. Horizontal is OK, but it sounds like you just slipped this pipe over the flue on the EKO. This is not OK - when making this connection you need to use an adaptor that connects to the insulated pipe and allows you to go inside the flue on the EKO. This is called a stove pipe adaptor and you should be able to buy this where you bought the insulated pipe. I assume you connected the rest of the insulated chimney with the male connectors pointing towards the boiler. Usually there is a sticker on the side of the chimney sections as reminders of the correct direction for the chimney sections.

Hope this helps

 

[Nofossil]

In a flagrant example of disregarding the specs, I installed my EKO with 12" clearance to a sheetrock wall on the back. I go straight through the wall using a 9" OD double-wall stainless chimney section, with a 1" gap between that and a galvanized liner for the rough-cut hole through the wall.

Neither the sheetrock nor the galvanized liner has ever even been warm to the touch.

The 36" clearance makes a lot more sense if you assume a stovepipe elbow and a run of uninsulated pipe parallel to the wall.

However, I'm not your insurance company.