EKO fired up - got smokification!

[Tony H]

got the EKO 40 fired up today but not getting gasification more like smokification, looks like a forest fire is going in my back yard
I have the fan at r8 and the cover 100% open and the secondaries at 3.5 turns out . Have not adjusted the primaries is it ok to take off the panel with a burn going? What else should I be doing?

Thanks Tony

 

[Eric Johnson]

Hi Tony.

They always smoke at first. Part of it is that the refractory material still has some water in it and it takes awhile to boil off. And you won't get good gasification until the boiler water temp gets up over 60C (or whatever that is in F). And, you have to fool around with the air adjustments at first to get it dialed in. Make sure you pull the bypass damper lever forward to initiate gasification. It's easy to forget, and you don't stand a chance to gasification without the bypass damper closed off.

It's OK to take the blower cover panel off when it's running. It's OK to open the bottom door when it's running to see if you've got any flame coming out of the nozzle.

I'd open the secondary air vents up another turn or two. The 60s seem to like about 6 turns out. I think it's less for smaller boilers. You might also want to remove the 12 screws holding the fan mounting plate on and check out the primary air inlets, which are in the upper corners. Sometimes they ship these boilers with the primary inlets closed too far. Open them up a bit and see if that helps. Be sure to tighten the screws evenly so that the gasket can seal properly.

Finally, as you use the boiler you'll figure out how to start it up with less smoke. Some of it's just observation and practice.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[markpee]

Oh no! I'm hopefully firing mine up for the first time this weekend - keep us posted as will I.

 

[Tony H]

Thanks Eric,
Was that your boiler I spied in the new manual ? Much more better written than the the old one.
Had to run and pick-up my daughter from school and came back and gasification is taking place so it must be pretty close in the adjustments. I will let it run this load with the prep solution and then tinker with it some more on the next load. I had not realized it needed to get up to 60 for gasification so that was part of it and I just filled it with cold cold well water so it's no wonder it took a bit. I have to drain it again and fix a drip then put in the other solution and some gylcol and get it back in action. Next need to collect a bunch more wood for the winter.

Tony

 

[boilermanjr]

Thank you for starting my day off with a laugh. Smokification, now that is one that may get traction in our interoffice woodburner's dictionary. It just hits the nail right on the head for a gasifier that isn't doing its thing. I'll be laughing all day about that one.

 

[deerefanatic]

It also hits the nail on the head for OWB's.... In fact, we ought to re-name OWB's to "Smokifiers" ..... LOL!!

 

[Eric Johnson]

Yes, that's my rig in the manual. There are a few others that were posted here as well. The manual is better, but it's still not as thorough and comprehensive as it ought to be. Like everybody else, Zenon's got a budget.

Dave at Cozy Heat told me when I bought the boiler that the sweet spot for gasification starts at around 170 degrees. You can certainly make it happen at much cooler temps than that, but 170 and higher is optimum.

And yes, "smokification" is a very catchy term.

 

[Nofossil]

Set a new record for cold start yesterday - four minutes from ignition to gasification. EKO controller showed 32 degrees (about 90 F). My goal for some time has been to reduce the smoky startup phase as much as possible.

 

[slowzuki]

I wonder what a propane ignitor in the burn chamber could achieve? I hate that spell where smoke is rolling and it catches to beautiful flame, then goes out, lights again, then out.

 

[Eric Johnson]

I'm back to using charcoal, yellow birch bark and some old fire starter sticks to try to achieve quick gasification on cold starts. I think the yellow birch bark is the best. Seems like the wintergreen oil acts as an accelerant. Plus it smells really nice. My routine is to get a brisk fire going with the bypass damper and lower chamber door open. When I close the bottom door and the bypass damper, I usually get an instant rumble, followed by relative silence. If I hear a smaller rumble starting up after about 30 seconds later, I know we're good to go. If I hear nothing, then I know I've got a boiler full of wood gas and need to jump start it again. Having a nice bed of unburned coals helps, too, but that doesn't usually happen after a good burn.

 

[skidsteer]

just stumbled on a neat trick for those of you that have storage .
The morning after my burn i load my furnace (econoburn 200 ) with what i would normally start my fire with and let it sit in the fire box witch is still very warm and it makes it a lot easier to get burning and in turn gasification seems to start very quickly

 

[muleman51]

What are you using to keep you return at 170. Where did you get whatever you are using. My plumber says I don't need anything (He's a garn guy). He says maybe just a three way valve, I don't know anymore I'm so confused after last year. Trying to get my storage in before it gets to cold. I'm getting sick from hearing my furnace cycle on and off.