EKO 40 Wood / Waste Oil Hybrid

[hondaracer2oo4]

You have a draft inducer already because this is a gasser, can you put that on a reostat to control the speed and put a barometric damper on to control the draft? It appears from your numbers that putting the gun in the top chamber helps with heat capture a lot.

 

[maple1]

I thought Ekos were forced draft - not induced.

 

[hondaracer2oo4]

It looks like that is the case. I wonder what would happen if you fired that thing? Not to spend your money but eko also makes a inducer. http://www.newhorizonstore.com/Products/99-draft-booster-8.aspx

 

[TCaldwell]

Any updates?

 

[hartkem]

I moved everything back down to the lower chamber. Drafts way better down there. Turning on the eko fan would add air and throw off the air/fuel mixture. Since everything works so much better down on the lower door that's how I'm going to run it this season to see if fuel use is reasonable. I think partially the reason for the slower heat up is the refractory is absorbing a lot of heat and takes a while to get up to temp. I realized the need to insulate my fabricated door so I ordered some kaowool board that I will line the inside off the door with then add another sheet of steel on top to cover it for durability. The door was getting so hot you couldn't touch it so I know I was losing a lot of heat there plus I'm concerned about heat damage to the gun. As far as operation of the gun it works perfectly I'm just having to compromise a little since I'm trying to do a wood oil combo and as many of you know when trying to do two things on one unit it turns out sacrifices usually have to be made.

 

[hartkem]

Thought I would give a little update. I've been heating the house with the waste oil for 3 days now. Brought my entire system up to temp including my 500 gallons of storage. It's had no problem heating my house with the cold snap we had but lows were only 28F and highs in the low 40s and windy. It used a lot of oil (15 gal) getting everything up to temp but after things were all hot it seems it's using around 5-6 a day but I need more time to determine the actual use. I have the boiler temp set at 180 with 10 degrees of hysteresis which means it doesn't kick back in till it cools till 170. I'm heating a 3200 ft house with average insulation.

 

[jimmyjon]

How is this going? Any idea on electric usage? Ive been considering the same thing I am also in auto repair and can get waste oil easily. Problem is I have a Geo thermal furnace in the house so I'm trying to figure out if there would be any savings on electricity by not running the loop pump all winter.

 

[mustash29]

Nice project.

I don't know off hand what the BTU's are when comparing #2 fuel oil to waste oil or veggie oil but.....

I have an 1800 sqft tri level in SE CT that is reasonably insulated - built in '96, decent windows, R-30 attic, R-19 walls, Typar house wrap. If I don't burn the wood stove and run all oil during the dead of winter I will use 4-5 gal/day for heat & DHW to keep this place at 70 - 72, and there are only 2 of us using DHW.

5-6 GPD for 3200 sqft and "shoulder season" temps seems reasonable, especially since the oil is free.

 

[hartkem]

Sorry I haven't reported back but I've been burning the waste oil since late October and it's been going well. I have burned about 200- 250 gallons now with no real problems. Keeps house warm and I can go many days without doing anything which works great with my traveling schedule. I've even considering removing the retrofit from the EKO and adding a buderus boiler for the waste oil thinking the efficiency would go up. Coldest week we've had was highs in mid thirties and it used about 50 gallons in 7 days.