Need Advice on How to Move an EKO 60?

[rickh1001]

This weekend my son and I are going to pick up our EKO 60 and get it into position. Since it weighs 2100 lbs or so, I am trying to come up with a clever way to get it from the truck to where it needs to go. Luckily, it is all on a single level. I need to slide it off the truck onto a set of concrete steps, through a 36" door, then across 35 feet of carpeted space, through another door, then only about 20 more feet over a clear concrete floor.

I still don't have a real plan, but I am guessing manhandling it isn't going to work. I will need to remove the two base steel rails it is bolted to, as they won't fit through the doors. I can't really roll it on pipes through the doorways. Across the open rooms, I can probably put the rails back on and use pipes rolling over wood planks. I can remove the doors and frames if need be, which would give me about 40" to work with.

I have been thinking about possibly using 4 furniture dollies, one under each corner, or possibly piano dollies, but it is hard to figure how the furnace would sit on them.

Anyone willing to share from their experiences on moving these beasts around? BTW, the 37" LP tanks will be coming in the next day right behind the furnace. Thanks in advance!

 

[MrEd]

Having just moved a Tarm 60, a few weeks ago and yesterday a 500 gallon propane tank, all by myself with no assistance, I can tell you that 4 pieces of 2" PVC pipe, cut into 4' lengths, a crow bar, and a few pieces of scrap wood is all you will need.

Use the crow bar and scrap wood to lift one end enough to get the PVC pipes under it, and then it rolled along w/out a problem. As the piece at the back comes out, move it to the front etc - will be easier with 2 people, but I was amazed that I put a 500 gallon propane tank into place yesterday barely breaking a sweat.

I was amazed that the pipe didn't crack or break, and the smooth surfaces made it easier to slide in any direction effortlessly.

Why won't the pipes work for you? If there is a threshold roll the pipes upto it, and then put another pipe on the otherside to take the weight, you don't need to be able to roll over it.

Good luck.

 

[rickh1001]

Mr. Ed,

Thanks for the tips and encouragement. This sounds like the best way to go. I am surprised the plastic pipes wouldn't split under such weight.

 

[mtnmizer]

Just took delivery of a econoburn this week. I called
a crane service and used a boom truck to unload. Expensive
but nice way to go.

After unbolting from the crate, we (4 guys)
levered it up and slid 3/4 steel pipe under the base and rolled
it over onto a skid made of 1/2 ply with 2x4 frame that was
an old concrete form. After that it was quite simple to move
with the pipe rollers. A pallet jack would have made it very
simple. Or a dolly with steel castors.


I would suggest laying down some
osb or similar on the carpet to roll over.
A selection of 2x4 pieces, some pinch bars
and pipe rollers is a must. A couple of
extra hands it a nice touch..

Don't get underneath it if it falls.... MM

 

[Tony H]

A buddy of mine is a locksmith and I helped him move a huge safe one time by rolling it over 1" pipe it worked very nicely. The idea of using some osb to protect the carpet is also a good idea. The hard part might be getting it off the truck, we loaded my 40 in the bucket of the skid steer to move it from the end of the driveway about 400' to the shed. Can you use a liftgate truck and lower it to the steps ? It might be worth the rental cost. Make sure you have some long solid steel bars to pry with I had some not so solid ones that bent when I tried to lift the boiler with them. A 3 ton floor jack also came in handy to get the unit off the pallet and onto the floor.

 

[free75degrees]

I got my 1200 lb tarm 40 off my truck by sliding it down 2 2x10 ramps. I used stacked bricks to support the ramps half way down so they wouldn't break. I was suprised that the Tarm was so heavy that it actually did not want to slide down and i couldn't even push it down! I ended up using a come-along to pull it down the ramp.

 

[rickh1001]

Thanks for everyone's good advice on moving our new EKO 60. My son and I moved it into the cellar yesterday without a hitch, and hardly breaking a sweat. We used pipes and crowbars to work it off the truck and the 50 feet or so into position.

The EKO's come bolted onto a steel pallet type base. This base was way to wide for our 36" doors, so our distributor unbolted it, replacing it with 2 4X6 runners that he lagged the boiler feet to. That was the key. The pickup truck tailgate was about a foot higher than the platform at the door entrance. I jacked up one end of the boiler using a small floor jack and piece of wood to distribute the weight, then placed several pipes under the skids, jacking it high enough to get a pipe past the 1/2 way point of the skids. Lowering it down, it came down on the pipes, and we could easily push it inch by inch backwards. The biggest problem was making the foot drop from the tailgate to the concrete pad. By careful placement of the pipes, we made if gently pivot as it passed the balance point, until the front of the skids touched down on the front pipes. The skids were extended beyond the front of the boiler by about 2 ft, which let them touch down early, so the boiler wasn't tilted much at all.

The trickiest part was getting the last of the boiler off the truck. Basically, we got it so only a foot or so remained on the tailgate (the rest was already half through the door). Then we jacked and blocked up the rear of the boiler until the weight was off the truck, pulled the truck away, then jacked and lowered one side at a time, removing one 2X block each time, until we were back to pipe level. After that, we just kept moving it forward slowly over the pipes. It would drop off occasionally, in which case we either jacked it back up, or pried it, to reposition the pipes. It took about 4 hours total, but no one got hurt, and no damage except the tailgate did get a little bent. I would have avoided that if I had longer steel pipes to distribute the weight while passing over the tailgate area.

I did have to cut 2" or so off both of the 1/2 steel pipes at the top of the boiler on each side, since they totalled over 37" in width, but I left enough to re-thread both pipes.

The only problem was I used 2" PVC schedule 40 pieces of pipe, since I could buy them pre-cut at Lowes, and didn't want to buy steel pipe and cut pieces. The pipe "sqooshed" with the weight, but never broke. However, by lowering the height, it was difficult to get the front of the skids to roll over onto the new pieces in front. We had to use a small sledge at times to force the pipe under the front of the skids each time. Steel pipe would not have deformed, and would have worked much better. That PVC is amazing stuff though - it never cracked or anything, even when a roller would have so much weight as to almost compress it flat. Overall though, steel pipes would have made the job easier, and worked much better.

So anyway, the thing real trick that made the job easy, and allowed the boiler to fit through the doors, was to bolt two strong rails to the base, in lieu of the steel pallet. The longer the rails are, the better.

Next week we move in the LP tank. I intend todo the same thing, and bolt some rails to the feet of it. After the EKO, my son and I feel like we could leap tall buildings and lift a wimpy little 500 gallon LP tank with one hand!