EKO Maintenance

[Eric Johnson]

The EKO manual suggests painting motor oil on the door gaskets periodically, presumably to keep them pliable. Does anyone do this? If so, how often, and what kind of oil do you use?

I also notice that scraping the creosote off the walls of the primary combustion chamber is recommended. I've noticed that it burns good when it falls down into a bed of coals, but the smoke produced makes it difficult to do the cleaning when there's much of a coal bed. Same question as above on the creosote scraping. Also, are there areas it pays to concentrate on?

I don't understand how creosote scraped off the firebox walls will burn when it hits hot coals, but it won't ignite when growing on the boiler plate. What's up with that? You'd think a firebox coated with a flammable substance would burn off periodically. Is the cooling action of the water on the other side of the steel plate what keeps it from burning?

 

[hkobus]

Erik,

That must be a translation issue again, reading some of the original material. The way I read it is "graphite oil" in their world this may not mean "oil" as in liquid, but as in "lubricant". This would make me use any type of graphite powder or we have a product called "slipplate" used for painting on gravity bins and a powder to add to seed to make it flow in seeders.
I would not use oil, it would do the same as creosote and make the cords sticky and rip when the fibres get stuck to the steel.

Henk.

 

[WRVERMONT]

That creosote won't burn on the boiler wall because it can't get hot enough. The water on the other side pulls the heat out of it before it can burn. A solution in some boilers is to cover the gasification chamber with refractory. This way temps are higher on the "fire side" thus burning any build up off as well as reducing it's formation. I have personally been struggling to get my loading door to seal better. Always get a little (non-visable, but noxious smoke and am tired of it. I would like to locate a silicone gasket or something for a better seal. Any ideas out there? Trying out another fiberglass type tonight.
There is such thing as high-temp graphite based oil. I found some surfing the web at one point but don't remember the site at the moment.

 

[Nofossil]

I don't do oil on the gaskets, but I did use a thin bead of high-temp caulk and a sheet of saran wrap to build up a section of gasket to match an imperfection in the boiler opening lip. Solved the invisible but noxious fume problem, and has been fine for two seasons now.

I don't worry too much about creosote deposits in the top chamber - I figure that they protect the boiler plate ;-)

 

[mack7]

I also have a problem with my upper door sealing, I have adjusted the hinges but still get that small leak occasionally. Keep me updated on any new cures to this problem. As far as the creosote buildup in the upper chamber I am with nofossil on that one, it just adds another layer to the boiler plate.