old school eko controller...

[barnartist]

Hi fellas. I havent used my Eko controller to start my pump in quite a while. I thought I would give it a whirl again today, and now I remember why I gave it up. It likes to break the Eko fuse. It was OK when I plugged my pump (011 taco) in while the boiler was up to temp, but sure enough when the temp dropped it cut the pump as it should, then when it bounced back up to heat it blew the fuse. Im I running to big a pump on it? Without this feature, it is much harder to restart from a consumed fire.
I plan to get the newer controller for next season. I hope this does not also happen on the newer controller.
Oh, I use a 2 amp? fuse. Would installing a bigger fuse be a mistake?

 

[Kemer]

My brother had the same thing happen to his today.Zenon said with a taco 11 pump you need a 4 amp fuse or a relay set up.He said the factory ok's a 4 amp fuse.

 

[barnartist]

OK, good to know. Anyone else second that?
How about the new controller?

 

[Kemer]

The directions are a poor translation but I'm new to this and I'm sure I will understand them as I get familiar with it

 

[KarlK]

Just put in 4 amp fuse and all seems well started my eko 60 for the first time yesterday I m having a little trouble working the bugs out any suggestions would help. I cant seem to always get gasification.

 

[Eric Johnson]

Mine smoked at first. I think everyone's does. Part of it may be due to your air settings. Leaddog and I have found that on the bigger EKOs, you should have your secondary inlets set to about 6 full turns out from being seated. When I did that, my smoke problems disappeared. Another cause of smoke (usually blue smoke) and inadequate gasification is wet/damp/green wood. It needs to be in the 20 percent range, IMO, to burn correctly. Firewood can look very dry and still not be dry enough. Put another way, "dry enough" would be cut, split and stacked for two years, the last six months of which should be under cover, and preferably under a roof. If you don't have very dry wood, start your fires with dry wood and then you can add some that's not quite so good once you have a good fire going.

Finally, these things take some time to break in. The refractory (nozzles, etc.) takes a month or two to completely dry out. Figuring out how to fire and tend the thing also takes awhile, though it's usually an unconscious process. After awhile you just intuitively know what to do. Mounding the coals over the nozzle openings before putting in new wood is one good example of that.

The manual is pretty worthless. If you need help finding/adjusting the secondary air intake, just ask.

 

[KarlK]

I have the adjusters on the fan housing opened about 1 inch and the screws out about 5 and 1/2 full turns when I do get it to gasifie the flames are not as crisp as on the vidio maby its not really burning hot because its not very cold out so im not calling for much heat ? I dont have much wood on the fire Im trying to have small fires till I get used to it . Any tips you could give me would really help. also what temp should Iset the boiler to? Thanks

 

[Eric Johnson]

I'd turn the screws out another half a turn. I have mine set at 80 C, which is the max for my controller. You may not get the big flame without a big load of wood. That's what it's really designed to burn. And, as I said, it will gasify better after you've used it regularly for about a month, IME. Don't freak out if it goes into idle. It won't hurt anything, just smoke a little if it's early in the cycle.

Also bear in mind that gasification works best when the refractory is nice and hot. Glowing red hot is nice if you can get it there. You can see that in the Econoburn banner down below. My dealer (Dave at Cozy Heat) said these boilers work best at sustained water temps over 70. I've found that to be the case.

 

[KarlK]

Thanks Eric I am going to turn out another 1/2 turn and see if it helps. Any thoughts on a draft inducer so when I open the door to load I dont get smoke?

 

[barnartist]

I just spent some coin on an inducer and I still get plenty of smoke. Really sucks...or it doesn't...

 

[KarlK]

Right now I think my fan that keeps the fire going is coming on to much im making all my heat off of the firebox instead of gasifing im using the factory defaults witch is 6 minutes can you tell me how you have yours set ? also is it called fan work time or fan pause time in manual ?

 

[Eric Johnson]

The blowers should run continuously until the boiler temp reaches the setpoint, which on the old controllers like mine, maxes out at 80C. Above 80, the blowers stop, only coming on every 5 minutes or so for just a second to keep the coals alive.

Are you saying you're not getting gasification (i.e., no flame coming through the bottoms of the nozzles)? If so, it's either wood that's too wet or an air supply problem.

The best way to avoid smoke coming back at you, in my experience, is to let the fire burn down to coals, then shut the blowers off before you open the upper firebox door.

Scott, do you still have your 60 hooked up to a 6" chimney? If so, I think that's probably a big part of your problem.

 

[KarlK]

What I think is happening is the blower to keep the fire going is set to run every 6 minuits for 5 seconds and that alone is keeping my water at 190 degrees

 

[Eric Johnson]

It's idling. It won't gasify when the blowers are not going. Your blowers run all the time when you're starting it up and running at temps below around 175, right?

I guess I'm not following what your problem is. Are you saying the boiler is running too hot during idle and you want to set the "puff" interval to a longer time between fan startups. Is the boiler heating the space you want it to? Does it gasify when it's not idling (fan is running for extended periods)?

 

[WRVERMONT]

Hi Karlk,
What is your heat load? Sounds like your not using up the heat from the boiler or there is some circulation issue?

 

[KarlK]

You were right my problem was in the circulation I had some air trapped in the lines I thought I had it all out but somehow I didnt and it would not fully circulate. Now I can get it to run long enough to gasifi.