EKO temp setting

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Tony H

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Oct 24, 2007
1,156
N Illinois
For an EKO 40 with no storage what do you keep the thermo on the controller set at ?
 
Hi Tony,
My scenario is 1700 sq. ft. old MI home which is a 1 1/2 story with included unfinished basement. Side arm water heater and a water/air heat exchanger. Nothing fancy. In the shoulder season and during the summer (I heat my dhw all year long via my EKO 40) my control is set to 76*C (as recommended by Dave@cozy). For the heart of winter I go to max (81*C for my stove) or the blower on my furnace never seems to get much rest in high winds. My thermostat for the boiler heat is set to 1/2*F sensitivity and normally room temp is set at 70-72*F. The insulation on this place is not so good though getting better. The hard part of winter I had to fill three times a day and geared down to two fills, or a little over, when the storms passed. This is our third season with this set up. My boiler is not in an insulated room so I lose some efficiency to ambient air. Though most of my pipes are covered fairly well my pumps are not covered at all. I'm in process of designing my storage and having an insulated shed for both my boiler and storage but winter seems to be flowing in faster than the cash that would make it more comfortable.
Hope this helps...Cave2k
 
Yes Cave2k that's very helpfull.
My setup is similar with the sidearm heater and the boiler in a shed about 60' from the house that is a 1 1/2 story about 2700 sq feet but only heating the first floor right now 1800 sf and the newer 1/2 of the house is pretty well insulated and the old half not so good. Do you have a remote "house " thermostat connected to your controller ? I do not but am thinking it might be helpfull in getting everything out of the boiler.
I also have a pump with 3 settings and wondering what difference it would make going to low or high. I also have the older controller with the setting in C and I recall a post about a modification to allow a little higher temp setting , will have to search for that. I see now why this is a learning experience that will lasts for years.
Just met a fellow today that has about 20 trees for me to take down and by the end of our discussion he was going to fell the big ones and get them ready for me and when I cut them he will haul them to the road with the tractor for me to pick-up What a guy and he's 86 and used to own a tree service for 37 years.
 
Hi Tony,
No I don't have a remote thermostat connected to the boiler. Mine is a very primitive set up. A primary circulator that just pumps boiler water and a secondary that feeds from the primary line and returns downstream. No termovar or mixing valve. The primary runs when the water is hot enough (65*C) and a second aquastat controls the secondary. Cooler return water blends in the boiler primary line before getting to the boiler. When the boiler temp goes down the secondary and primary pretty well stop simultaneously unless I bypass the secondary aquastat and put it in manual.
I have the older controller as well and there is a setting on the back to boost the temp setting but I have never attempted to adjust it. I will when I have storage and am learning the way of stratification. I have simple Taco 007's so I don't really know much about multi setting/speed pumps. The learning curve for me is so big that it seems like a straight line. So it does sound like I'm going to be busy for a while. I think that"s good though...Stay warm...Cave2k
 
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