Eko Orlan Model 25 Nozzle Plate

[JTWALL]

Inspection and results of the nozzle plate I made last fall before the start of the 2013 - 2014 heating season.

Very pleased.

Video link:

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Enjoy!

 

[goosegunner]

Nice job! Thanks for sharing that. I need to try something like that this year.

gg

 

[Tennman]

Very nicely done JT on the guard and video! I think your idea of the row of holes is better than the undersized slot I did this season. My 3/16" plate warped badly in the middle which I attributed mainly to not enough thickness. But now that I think about it, it warped the worst in the middle where the slot was unattached side to side. I'll bet that metal between the holes helps prevent the warping I experienced. But I will also go thicker next season. Those holes have to be better at keeping larger clinkers falling thru also.

I also like your idea of the pins to locate the guard on the nozzle. I sized my plate to be positioned by the end and side ceramics which was often not precisely on the nozzle because of gunk. Positioning on the nozzle opening really makes the size of the guard far less important.

Good job.... gonna be a bunch of guys besides me copying the "JT Guard".

 

[JTWALL]

Very nicely done JT on the guard and video! I think your idea of the row of holes is better than the undersized slot I did this season. My 3/16" plate warped badly in the middle which I attributed mainly to not enough thickness. But now that I think about it, it warped the worst in the middle where the slot was unattached side to side. I'll bet that metal between the holes helps prevent the warping I experienced. But I will also go thicker next season. Those holes have to be better at keeping larger clinkers falling thru also.

I also like your idea of the pins to locate the guard on the nozzle. I sized my plate to be positioned by the end and side ceramics which was often not precisely on the nozzle because of gunk. Positioning on the nozzle opening really makes the size of the guard far less important.

Good job.... gonna be a bunch of guys besides me copying the "JT Guard".

Thank you for your nice comment. After what I went through replacing the original nozzle, I had to try and find a way to eliminate/reduce the wear.

The pins will deteriorate over time. Tip: Use stainless steel finishing nails. Drill the locating holes just large enough to allow the nail body to fit snug. Use a nail set to drive nail head flush...they do not move. When you need to replace the nail, it will be easy to remove. I welded them in the first time...big mistake!

The key is to thoroughly stir the coals to remove the ash and to make that small opening in the coals before adding more wood.
Once the stove is back in run mode, it pops right back into gasification.

The stainless plate is tough to bore through. If you have a local metal fab shop, they should be able to punch one out for about $30 (that was the quote I got; that included the material).

I made one for another fellow and he used it successfully all winter. He is burning mainly oak, which has caused accelerated wear on the plate and locating pins.
The locating pins on my nozzle plate lasted for the entire heating season (their ugly nubs, but they are still there).

Good luck!

JT

 

[woodsmaster]

Im going to try something like that with the holes, this fall when I change my nozzle.

 

[JTWALL]

Im going to try something like that with the holes, this fall when I change my nozzle.

I hope the nozzle in your boiler will be easier than the one on my Eko. It was an absolute nightmare!

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Good luck.
Thanks for your comment.
JT

 

[Tennman]

LOL!! You've got to have done this to experience the full joy of JT's video.... At least for my 60 I found someone with smaller shoulders than me that was able to kinda get in there and work. After several failed attempts spread over several months.... I beat my nozzle into a bazillion pieces with a hammer and chisel and let the pieces fall into the lower chamber. The BioMass's nozzle is trapped by the side plates...... soooo all top chamber ceramics must come out to put a new nozzle in.

And yes my welding grinder was used to "fine tune" the nozzle so it would drop in. JT... Had I been videoed during my nozzle swap I would not have sounded nearly as tranquil. Great stuff.

 

[woodsmaster]

Wow. I hope mine goes better. maybe I will patch the spot that chipped off, put a steel plate over it, and try to get another year out of it.

 

[Tennman]

WM, since you're running storage there's a good chance you'll have less goop gluing in those side plates than I did after four seasons of idling. When I do it again.... I think I'll have all new ceramics on hand so I can just beat the crap out of everything. Trying to be gentle with delicate, glued in stuff.... well... let's just say the price of all that upper ceramic stuff ain't even close to the value of the time I spent. My advice... try to get the side plates out soon because it's all about the side plates. Took me about 3-4 weeks to recover from each frustrating attempt. But I'm far more experienced now... next time I'm gonna beat the crap out of all of it.

 

[infinitymike]

Just a thought on the nozzle replacement.

I like the bottle jack idea.
Instead of moving it fore and aft, what if you guys cut a 2x4 the length and width of the nozzle and used the jack in the center.
It might spread the lifting load and help get it out.
Just a thought.

And if its any conciliation, the Wood Gun has 2 nozzles, one 12" and one 15" and they are both just as hard to take out.
Theres no way to fit a bottle jack or for that matter anything.

The WG gasification tunnel is just that, a 4" or 5" diameter tunnel.

 

[sfriedri]

Hi JT. Very nice job on the nozzle plate. The nozzle on my EKO40 is very worn and I will likely replace it before the next heating season. It lasted 7 heating seasons, but is now starting to drop too many coals and I think causing increased bridging.

Just curious how your nozzle plate has held up. Is there any warping occurring? I was thinking of using thicker stainless, but if your 1/4" plate is not warping then I will not bother. I have a full machine shop so drilling will not be an issue.

 

[JTWALL]

Hi JT. Very nice job on the nozzle plate. The nozzle on my EKO40 is very warn and I will likely replace it before the next heating season. It lasted 7 heating seasons, but is now starting to drop too many coals and I think causing increased bridging.

Just curious how your nozzle plate has held up. Is there any warping occurring? I was thinking of using thicker stainless, but if your 1/4" plate is not warping then I will not bother. I have a full machine shop so drilling will not be an issue.

Howdy. I came up with another nozzle plate design, which I have been using this entire heating season. It overcomes some of the issues that I had with the thick plate (this one is 1/16-inch thick). If I find a photo, I will post it for you. Second year on this nozzle - absolutely no wear. Just a suggestion, on another post the guy cut fit a piece of rigid foam inside the nozzle then simply repaired the nozzle using castable refractory. Seems a lot easier (and cheaper) than replacing the entire thing.

 

[Eric Johnson]

I put pressure on the bottoms of my nozzles with a hydraulic jack and then tapped and jacked until they popped out. Tapping inside the slot with a hammer seemed to work pretty well, and it avoids the chance of damaging the refractory.

 

[sfriedri]

Howdy. I came up with another nozzle plate design, which I have been using this entire heating season. It overcomes some of the issues that I had with the thick plate (this one is 1/16-inch thick). If I find a photo, I will post it for you. Second year on this nozzle - absolutely no wear. Just a suggestion, on another post the guy cut fit a piece of rigid foam inside the nozzle then simply repaired the nozzle using castable refractory. Seems a lot easier (and cheaper) than replacing the entire thing.

Thanks JT for the quick reply, and the suggestion about casting the refractory in place. After several years away from the forum I came back and was reading about how everyone has been dealing with the EKO nozzle wear, and this is one option that I noticed.

Look forward to seeing your re-designed nozzle plate. Already have lower gauge stainless from other jobs, so using that would be better than buying some thicker material.

 

[sfriedri]

I put pressure on the bottoms of my nozzles with a hydraulic jack and then tapped and jacked until they popped out. Tapping inside the slot with a hammer seemed to work pretty well, and it avoids the chance of damaging the refractory.

Thanks for the suggestion Eric. I have a jack that should be able to fit in the lower chamber, when/if I replace the nozzle. Have you noticed if the replacement nozzle is more durable that the original nozzle?

 

[Eric Johnson]

I haven't inspected the new ones to see, but judging from the relatively good condition of the 8-year-old ones they replace, I doubt there would be any visible wear after just half a season. However, in the process of grinding down the new ones to fit (a real pain), I noticed that the castings are infused with stainless steel strands, which I don't believe was the case with the older model. I'm going to mosey down to my local metal works and see if they'll fab me up one of those stainless steel nozzle covers. That just makes so much sense.

 

[JTWALL]

Hi JT. Very nice job on the nozzle plate. The nozzle on my EKO40 is very worn and I will likely replace it before the next heating season. It lasted 7 heating seasons, but is now starting to drop too many coals and I think causing increased bridging.

Just curious how your nozzle plate has held up. Is there any warping occurring? I was thinking of using thicker stainless, but if your 1/4" plate is not warping then I will not bother. I have a full machine shop so drilling will not be an issue.

I made up quick drawing. enjoy!

 

[sfriedri]

I made up quick drawing. enjoy!

Much more than a quick drawing... ready to sent out for manufacture (or patent)! Thanks much. Curious on the purpose of the vanes. Are they primarily to help support the bottom of the legs to reduce warping?

 

[JTWALL]

Much more than a quick drawing... ready to sent out for manufacture (or patent)! Thanks much. Curious on the purpose of the vanes. Are they primarily to help support the bottom of the legs to reduce warping?

The vanes do a couple things. First, they limit the size of charcoal/wood embers that can fall into the lower chamber. I never get anything larger than a pea...usually just ash. The second thing they do is to help maintain the shape of the device. Without them it would warp and heave much more than it does, which is not much.

The finished plate nestles right down into the nozzle; it can't move...it is locked in place by the legs. You will have to custom-fit each piece, since, like everything else on these Ekos, the tolerances are all over the place!

You'll find that more ash is retained in the upper chamber. Before adding any more wood, I use the one stoker to thoroughly stir what remains to ensure as much ash as possible makes its way through the nozzle plate into the lower chamber. The vanes keep all larger pieces where they should be - in the upper chamber.

Before installing the nozzle plate, ensure that the area where the nozzle plate rests is clean to ensure that it is not held up off and away from the ceramic nozzle.

One final note. You might find that it is more difficult to get your unit to gasify/ignite with the plate installed. What I do is to use the stoker to open a small passageway through the coals to an opening in the nozzle plate. Doing so gives me a 95% chance of quick ignition once the the controller is back in Run Mode. Repeat the process if it does not ignite within 30 seconds or so.

Good luck! Let me know how it works for you.

JT

 

[Medman]

Here are some photos of my replacement and plate.

This is the old nozzle. Note the wood block I used on top of the jack to lift the nozzle out.

This is the jack in place. and the vacuum nozzle.

The new nozzle from New Horizon. I had to cut some off of the top of the taper, as others have described.

The old nozzle started to crack as I jacked it up. A few hits from the hammer and chisel and it broke up.

The new nozzle in place. I left it just about a 16th proud of the refractory so that the stainless plate would sit properly.

The stainless plate in place.
This is 3/8 thick stainless, 4 inch wide barstock, 20 inches long. The slot in the middle is 5/8 by 6 inches, cut by the fab shop. 4 1/4 inch stainless bolts are threaded into the plate to center it in the slot. Total cost for the fab work was less than $90, and it seems to work very well so far.

 

[sfriedri]

Built myself up a stainless nozzle guard last night. Borrowed a little from some of the above designs, so we'll call this design 1.1?

It is built with 3/16 thick stainless and also welded with stainless rod. The upper portion is formed into a flat "W" pattern to help strengthen it from warping length-wise. I decided to use two rectangular openings for the nozzle, also to help maintain the nozzle shape. Finally, I boxed in the area under each of the rectangular openings, which stick down in the nozzle refractory about 1". These should also help strengthen the nozzle plate, but also hopefully help extend the life of the upper part of the nozzle refractory.

Some pictures below of the nozzle plate, what my nozzle refractory looks like after 7 seasons, and what the nozzle plate looks like in its new home. I likely will replace the nozzle refractory before the next heating season, and the nozzle plate is built to fit snug inside a new nozzle.

 

[easternbob]

sfriedri,
How's nozzle 1.1 working so far?

 

[maple1]

I'm curious too - if I scrounge up some 3/16 stainless & some rods, I might be able to cobble something up for mine.

 

[easternbob]

sfriedri,
Looking at your design... I was thinking since I don't have any SS laying around I might buy some SS angle iron and maybe a couple pieces of flat stock to make the ends and also to set the width of the slot. Might work just as good?? and be faster to fab.

 

[BoiledOver]

Howdy @Medman. Are you satisfied with your stainless steel nozzle plate? Do you think the slot dimensions are optimum or could be larger? While at the scrap yard the other day I picked up a piece of 1/2" x 4-7/8" x 56" ss. Kinda heavy but for $1.10 per pound, I like it ok. My current nozzle has 2 and 1/3 seasons (maybe 10 cords) through it and shows some wear, not enough to replace though. How did your replacement nozzle hold up with the plate for cover, any wear at all?

The stainless plate in place.
This is 3/8 thick stainless, 4 inch wide barstock, 20 inches long. The slot in the middle is 5/8 by 6 inches, cut by the fab shop. 4 1/4 inch stainless bolts are threaded into the plate to center it in the slot. Total cost for the fab work was less than $90, and it seems to work very well so far.