EKO 40 getting close, have a few question

[Gary S]

I have been reading this forum on and off now since spring. I’m hopefully about two weeks away from firing up my EKO 40 so I have a few questions. I installed it in an outbuilding. I do not have storage. I am heating with three force draft blowers and a sidearm for my DHW.

1) What air setting do folks with experience think is a good starting point?

2) I have closed system. Should my water tank above the boiler for power failure be a closed or open (vented) tank?

3) In the new manual on page 20 and 21 it talks about cleaning the heat exchanger tubes. Do I have to do this with my EKO? If so how do you folks do it with the piping I see against the back of the boiler in some of the pictures?

4) I’m embarrassed to ask but…. What is the lever on the left side near the back upper corner for?

I’m sure I will have more questions to follow and if anyone has any advice they would like to give I would appreciate it very much.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

 

[Eric Johnson]

Hi AC-D14. Welcome to the Boiler Room.

I'm not sure of the air settings on the 40, but you can start at the factory setting of 3.5 turns out and try opening it up a half or full turn at a time to find the sweet spot. You might have trouble getting good gasification for the first few times you fire the boiler, but that's normal, I think. Once it gets all the water cooked out of the refractory, you can adjust the air until you get a nice, orange flame in the gasification chamber. You might want to check the primary air inlets as well. They're behind the plate that holds the fan in place. I think there are 12 sheet metal screws you have to remove to get at the primary air inlets. They should be at least partially open.

With a closed system, your dump should be closed and pressurized as well. You can (and should) have a vent at the top, but only to use when filling the system. Close it when you're done and open once or twice a year to vent off any accumulated air.

If you have a new EKO, it should have the handle on the left side. That's the heat exchanger tube cleaner. Pull it back and forth a couple of times each time you fill the boiler with wood. I bolted an old snow shovel handle to mine so that I can operate it from the front of the boiler. I'll post a pic if I can find it. Anyway, that pretty much keeps your heat exchanger clean. You're supposed to take the thing apart once a year and brush out the tubes, but I didn't this year. We'll see how well that works.

Feel free to ask away as you get the thing going. It's a great boiler, I think.

 

[Gary S]

Thanks for the reply Eric. It's starting to get down to the 30's regularly at night and I'm excited to be getting the EKO 40 fired up and start getting my pay back.