Eko Cleaning Procedure

[BoiledOver]

Am wondering what others are doing.

I begin with the bypass closed and work in the exhaust box above the exhaust tubes. First is to pull the turbulator chains, then take a scraper to the water jacket wall and follow up with a steel brush. Scrape ash into tubes. Next the cup shaped wire brush attached to an extension and spun by a cordless drill gets run through the tubes. Scrape what little ash is there into the tubes. Replace turb chains and close.

Next is the primary combustion chamber. Remove and set aside any large charred pieces remaining. Using a shovel from an old fireplace set with a shortened handle, I take the ash out through the main door and place into a metal pail. Then place the charcoals around the nozzle and place kindling over the nozzle and load with fuel.

In the secondary chamber is where the work begins. First is remove whatever ash is right at the front there and then commence to pull the tunnel pieces of refractory. Just like with the water jacket surface in the exhaust box, take a wire brush to all water jacket surfaces, including the bulkhead where the tubes are located. There is a lot of square inches there for heat exchange. Finally, pull all the ash out with the Eko provided tool and replace refractory pieces. I have added a fire brick split at each end of the tunnel to keep the blast off the door refractory and to keep ash buildup off of the water jacket bulkhead.

This stove, burning mostly red oak, likes to get the complete clean after 700 pounds are burned. The secondary chamber gets the wire brush before each firing, whatever I can reach without pulling the refractory.

It is a dirty job.

 

[maple1]

700 lbs? How many days would that be? Thinking I burn that in a week but never weighed my burns.

 

[stee6043]

Holy smokes. In 7 years I have yet to put this much effort into cleaning my EKO. Are you seasoning your wood properly? With good dry wood I find it hard to believe we need to do much more than empty the lower chamber of ashes every week or two. I scrape my upper chamber in the spring in addition to removing all ashes but that's about it. My HX tubes have never shown signs of accumulated crud.

 

[mr.fixit]

I do pretty much what Boiled Over does weekly. I think that keeping the tubes and the lower chamber side walls free of fly ash really helps with the efficiency of the boiler.
I did this for the most part all of last season,and even with the prolonged severe winter I didn't really use anymore wood than a normal year.

 

[Hydronics]

Guys, The lower chamber will not have a great effect on heat transfer. Keep in mind that the hx tubes are going to transfer most heat energy to the water - relatively speaking. If flue temps aren't getting high under same conditions then transfer hasn't reduced significantly.

 

[mr.fixit]

Guys, The lower chamber will not have a great effect on heat transfer. Keep in mind that the hx tubes are going to transfer most heat energy to the water - relatively speaking. If flue temps aren't getting high under same conditions then transfer hasn't reduced significantly.

I don't know about this. There is alot surface area on those lower side walls and it most all exposed to high temps down there.Seems like there would be quite a bit of heat transfer to the water .

 

[ihookem]

I clean the bottom out every day. The back of it , I clean out 1 time a year.

 

[BoiledOver]

700 lbs? How many days would that be? Thinking I burn that in a week but never weighed my burns.

In the cold of winter 700 pounds would be about a weeks worth. In the deep freeze it could be considerably more. In the easy times maybe 70 pounds every other or third day..

 

[BoiledOver]

Holy smokes. In 7 years I have yet to put this much effort into cleaning my EKO. Are you seasoning your wood properly? With good dry wood I find it hard to believe we need to do much more than empty the lower chamber of ashes every week or two. I scrape my upper chamber in the spring in addition to removing all ashes but that's about it. My HX tubes have never shown signs of accumulated crud.

Yes, all of my fuel is under 18% on a fresh split, most is less than that. The only crud I see is in the primary chamber, creosote on the water jacket walls is always there. What is being cleaned away is nothing but very fine ash. It cakes up and becomes insulative by some amount. How can that be quantified? Here is what I do know, after all that cleaning is done, flue temps are down and water temps are up compered to a dirty stove. An inspection of the flue after a seasons work shows nothing but dry ash, a very easy sweep.

I will concede that a realized saving in fuel over one heating season may be small, but If the end result in keeping a clean stove saves 1 cord of wood in 7 years, that is 1 less cord to be processed.

 

[Eric Johnson]

I don't understand how people get creosote in their hx tubes. I don't. I think that under normal operation, it's simply too hot in the tubes for creosote to condense onto the hot metal surfaces. Even with exhaust temps around 400 degrees, I don't get any creosote in the outlet or even in the chimney itself. About all I get is a little hanging off the chimney cap. Basically, the only creosote I see is in the firebox. Like others, my main cleaning task involves removing and disposing of ash in the various places where it accumulates, thanks mostly to gravity.

 

[woodsmaster]

Different boiler, but I clean the tubes twice a year and usually brush the fins in the lower chamber every week or two. When flu temps get 475 to 525 F I clean it. Then it runs around 350 F

 

[maple1]

Different boiler here too, but I brush my tubes semi-regularly, every couple weeks or so. Mainly because it's so easy to do & must help some (even if only a little bit) in scrubbing heat before it gets to the chimney. I never have creosote there though, only fly ash - still using the original brush that came with it, has 2 1/2 years of cleaning on it. Only place with creosote is the primary chamber. Scoop some ash out of the secondary chamber every day or two - scoop some ash out of the pipe a couple times a year. That's about it.