First firing, Bottom door on EKO smoking

[stoney28]

I fired it up for the first time today. As I'm waiting for the temperature to rise to operating I have noticed that smoke seems to be seeping out of the bottom door even though it is sealed. Is this a problem? Should I be worried?

Also, should I keep the circulator that controls the main loop off until water in the boiler gets up to temperature? I have it running to heat up the thermal storage tank.

 

[Nofossil]

I fired it up for the first time today. As I'm waiting for the temperature to rise to operating I have noticed that smoke seems to be seeping out of the bottom door even though it is sealed. Is this a problem? Should I be worried?

Also, should I keep the circulator that controls the main loop off until water in the boiler gets up to temperature? I have it running to heat up the thermal storage tank.

Smoke should not be seeping from around the bottom door for three reasons:

1) Except for the first few seconds after closing the bypass damper and turning on the controller, there should be NO smoke in the secondary chamber.

2) There should be enough draft to have a slight negative pressure in the secondary chamber. You should be able to open the door without getting much (if any) fumes coming out.

3) The gasket should seal well enough to prevent smoke from escaping, even if neither conditions 1 or 2 is met.

I'd work my way down the list, starting with reason #1. Why is there smoke in the first place? Are you getting secondary combustion?

 

[stoney28]

I opened the bottom door. There is an orangeish bluish flame coming from the nozzle and no real smoke down there.
By draft you mean chimney height? (I'm still new at this) I've got a little over 6 feet of chimney

 

[stoney28]

The smoking seems to have stopped. Is it possible that it was burning off some coating from the factory? The wind has died down here too, maybe that had something to do with it.

 

[sdrobertson]

Probably a combination of the two. It takes a few fires to "break in" the boiler. The refractory will have a little moisture left in it and the secondary air tubes have plastic that was used to form the air holes and this has to be burnt out. If you have orange flames already, just relax and enjoy the first firing.

 

[Nofossil]

The smoking seems to have stopped. Is it possible that it was burning off some coating from the factory? The wind has died down here too, maybe that had something to do with it.

I'll buy the 'burning off coating' theory. They may use something on the door gasket. Sounds like it's OK now. My big concern was that you might not be getting good secondary combustion, as some folks have had problems with as-delivered adjustments.

 

[Duetech]

Be sure to coat your door seal as recommended in the owners manual. It will help prolong the life of the seals and make a better seal...CAve2k

 

[mhearts]

If smoking continues you may have to do what i did. I own the EKO 40 and after a few weeks of operation I noticed smoke escaping from the bottom door along the top while under certian conditions. I inspected the gasket and noticed it was not sealing well along the top edge. It was low gasket material in that area. The gasket is not sealed in and I was able to pry it out and stuff some fiberglass material behind it to build it up... Now the lower door gasket seems to be doing its job.

 

[deerefanatic]

Cave2K mentions coating the door seal for longer life...... What would one coat it with?