The purchase of an Eko 25 went well here. This was several years ago. Xenon seemed to me a straight guy, he is "the guy" at New Horizon. I had one issue soon after using the boiler. He immediately sent me a replacement blower and I sent the original in return. The problem was a pinched wire in the wiring box of the blower, must have come from the the factory in that condition.
A gasifying wood fired boiler delivered for just over $4,000 US was more than I could argue. If purchasing today after years of experience, I woulda bought the 40 instead of the 25. We do well enough with the 25 and way better than previous heating implements. These Eko units are clearly not the top of the heap, but, they do exactly what they should. I compare to the Ford 300 straight six engine, not the baddest of the bad but got the job done and lasted forever.
The 25 or 40 should do well for your region unless you are heating a monastery. Had a chuckle remembering my two years near Salem, do you really need boilers? We did have our shares of wet weather in Oregon for sure but here we see minus F temps every winter. A big thing while living there was viewing Mt. Hood during a clear morning and a bonus was living there on May 18, 1980. In fact I grabbed the wife, kids and nephew to head up to Mt, Hood on that Sunday morning.
My opinion of the Eko: No worries as I am a DYI, if a leak occurs I can weld it, if an electrical issue occurs I can fix it, and well that's it. What else can go wrong? It is very basic as gasifiers go; a water jacket, a primary firebox, some refractory components, a secondary combustion chamber, some exterior cladding and an electronic controller.
It is a good idea to purchase an
extra controller ($225), extra
secondary refractory tunnel ($110) and an
extra nozzle ($94). Two of those items can be considered consumables if initial mods are not implemented, the 3rd is certainly a consumable. The nozzle can be long term if you place an overlay of stainless on the floor of the primary combustion chamber. The controller can be long term if liberated from its enclosure, there can be heat issues with the electronics of the controller. The secondary tunnel is a wear item for sure. In the shop, on a shelf, I have 1 nozzle and 1 controller. I may never need either due to the implemented mods. The secondary tunnel has been replaced once already. This replacement sold by New Horizon is of a higher grade and design, it will last longer than the original. Whenever this wears out, I will do my own thing. At $110 the refractory tunnel is a fair price, if shipped separately the cost could be more as it is heavy.
There are other mods that can be implemented, and in my opinion, done prior to the first fire at little to no cost.
In summary: The Eko boilers are money well spent if you are a DYI kind of person. The iron works of the boiler seem to be up to the long term task. If you are looking for set and forget, there are better options but at a considerable cost increase. At the presently listed prices, in my opinion, warranty is a minor concern. As stated what else can go wrong?
Feel free to ask more in this thread or by messaging.
