Looking for Eko 40 advice from those in the know--(turbulators/HX tubes)

[DSSA]

Last night, while working on my new (to me) Eko 40 (2008 build date), I pulled the turbulators out as I had all of the panels off of the boiler already and want to go through it before staring to install it or tackling the bad controller aspect.

Granted, it was my first time doing it, and the previous owner didn't seem great about maintenance, and left it sit in a barn for almost a decade after moving (uncleaned), but at least it seems that they batch-burned with it as they had a 500 gallon thermal storage tank. That said, it took me the better part of an HOUR to get the damn things out of the tubes (took at lot of prying/pounding even AFTER I got the upper portion clear of obstructions), even though I had a decent amount of access to play with. Are these REALLY supposed to be pulled out and cleaned every two weeks during the burn season??? The turbulators themselves don't seem to have much buil-up, but the center one (longer than the rest), looks a little sketchy, which may have contributed to the issues of getting them out. (I'll post a picture in a reply below).

The HX tubes were pretty packed, and I'm still working on a solution to clean them. I bought a piece of 3/8" all thread and double-nutted several 1 1/2" fender washers on it at various heights, to run in my 20V Dewalt drill, but it didn't do a stellar job. I have a 36" long brush arriving tomorrow, but I bought it in 1 1/2" (based on the width of the turbulators), but I'm thinking that's going to be too small to be effective.

Main Questions:

--Do the "chain" modifications work well? If so, what size chain link works?

--What size brush diameter would work best on these?

--Any other cleaning advice? (Tips/tricks/frequency other than no burning wet wood)

--The previous owner also had three furnace bricks placed between the rear of the factory supplied refractory pieces and the HX tubes in the center--any idea why (maybe because of the warped/melted/longer tubulator in the picture in the next post?

Thanks!

 

[DSSA]

 

[DSSA]

View attachment 341201

 

[DSSA]

 

[brenndatomu]

Is there no way to "rack" the turbs every day?
If they can be moved every day, then typically you can get by with pulling them out once per year (or possibly less)

 

[DSSA]

Is there no way to "rack" the turbs every day?
If they can be moved every day, then typically you can get by with pulling them out once per year (or possibly less)

Absolutely. They manual says to do it every time you load the boiler. That noted, I did that about 50 times since picking the boiler up, and before I pulled the covers off, and the tubes were still caked and the turbulators still look a lot of pounding, prying, etc. to get them out of the tubes.

I don't think that they hit most of the tube area when you use the lever. I've seen some people saying to monitor the temperature differential at the stack to tell when they need to be cleaned, but the manual says to pull them and manually clean the turbulators and HX tubes every two weeks during the heating season. It wouldn't be HORRIBLE if this was actually needed, IF the turbulator assembly typically just lifts easily out, but if its a fight every single time...

I'm hoping that it was just a case of improper maintenance on the part of the previous owner, and the fact that the lower end of the middle turbulator was melted/bent, so I just wanted to get others experience with pulling them and cleaning the tubes.

I appreciate the input!

 

[salecker]

I have to clean the flue tubes after a couple cords of spruce which is about every two months.
I never clean the turbulators
i made a tool that works better then anything else i have used, there is a thread on here that shows it

 

[DSSA]

I have to clean the flue tubes after a couple cords of spruce which is about every two months.
I never clean the turbulators
i made a tool that works better then anything else i have used, there is a thread on here that shows it

I believe I found the thread.

I took a piece of 3/8" all-thread and put several 1 1/2" washers on it at various heights, but it didn't work all that well.

I had actually thought of making something similar to what you made, but with a piece of all-thread welded between the two "legs" with a small spring and a nut on the inside to adjust outward pressure, or to just maintain pressure if the bends weakened and slowly bent inward.

I also thought about using a small brake hone or the like, but being careful not to remove too much surface area when cleaning, thinning the HX tubes over time.

I appreciate the feedback!

 

[brenndatomu]

Absolutely. They manual says to do it every time you load the boiler. That noted, I did that about 50 times since picking the boiler up, and before I pulled the covers off, and the tubes were still caked and the turbulators still look a lot of pounding, prying, etc. to get them out of the tubes.

I don't think that they hit most of the tube area when you use the lever. I've seen some people saying to monitor the temperature differential at the stack to tell when they need to be cleaned, but the manual says to pull them and manually clean the turbulators and HX tubes every two weeks during the heating season. It wouldn't be HORRIBLE if this was actually needed, IF the turbulator assembly typically just lifts easily out, but if its a fight every single time...

I'm hoping that it was just a case of improper maintenance on the part of the previous owner, and the fact that the lower end of the middle turbulator was melted/bent, so I just wanted to get others experience with pulling them and cleaning the tubes.

I appreciate the input!

Stack temp/differential is exactly what tells you when the tubes need attention. As long as the turbs themselves aren't so dirty that they are restricting/blocking the tubes, it really doesn't matter how clean they are themselves, the tube walls are the important part.
If the OEM ones are a PITA, I'd modify things to make it work better/easier to live with...you could get a different style turb that may(?) allow them to be removed without taking a bunch of other stuff off? There are tons of different types of turb designs out there, the only thing that matters is that they slow down the flue gasses, and keep them from taking the path of least resistance, which is right down the middle, instead of out against the tube walls, where HX can happen.
There are a number of companies out there that will make custom turbs...here's one... https://www.fuelefficiencyinc.com/turbulators
We have turbs in a large gas fired boiler at work that has turbs that are of a design that would allow you to pull them out of a side access panel if needed, instead of straight out, as is the most common setup.

 

[DSSA]

Stack temp/differential is exactly what tells you when the tubes need attention. As long as the turbs themselves aren't so dirty that they are restricting/blocking the tubes, it really doesn't matter how clean they are themselves, the tube walls are the important part.
If the OEM ones are a PITA, I'd modify things to make it work better/easier to live with...you could get a different style turb that may(?) allow them to be removed without taking a bunch of other stuff off? There are tons of different types of turb designs out there, the only thing that matters is that they slow down the flue gasses, and keep them from taking the path of least resistance, which is right down the middle, instead of out against the tube walls, where HX can happen.
There are a number of companies out there that will make custom turbs...here's one... https://www.fuelefficiencyinc.com/turbulators
We have turbs in a large gas fired boiler at work that has turbs that are of a design that would allow you to pull them out of a side access panel if needed, instead of straight out, as is the most common setup.

After getting these out and looking at the design, my mind immediately went to a design similar to the "Twisted Tape" version shown on the link you sent me, and wondering why they didn't design these like that. The only thing about that design is the aspect that buildup on those (as opposed to on the HX walls) could contribute to issues with slowing down the draft to the point where it could become an issue, and "raking" them up and down, while they would be more efficient at cleaning the walls as opposed to the current design, would also take a lot more movement to shift the fly ash downward until it hit the lower box. It would definitely be more efficient a at directing the heated air towards the HX tube walls. I'm just too smooth-brained to know/calculate the both of the aforementioned aspect (slowing draft/cleaning ash) vs. the improvements they would offer. With *0* ash/creosote (which we know whouldn't happen), that, in my mind (with a tight-ish tolerance) would seem to promote the most heat transfer (especially with something adjustable to induce draft enough to speed up or slow the draft to the best velocity balancing being fast enough to promote a clean burn vs. slowing it enough for heat transfer).

On an aside, I was considering cleaning the turbulators before I trim off that melted/bent portion of the center unit, and had planned on just hitting them with my pot blaster outside to FULLY clean them. After consideration though, I then planned on just leaving them as is, as they aren't too badly coated and A) the size increase due to the slight accumulation (and roughness), would slow airflow a bit, and the coating would also insulate them a bit to prevent further melting.

Now back to getting these tubes cleaned while I continue onward with testing/fixing/doing maintenance on this unit before I start spending time on figuring out the best way to position it in the building it's going to be homed in, the system design, and getting the heat from it to the house....

Thanks! Much appreciated!