EKO primary air control and first burn

[Sizzler]

Fired up the EKO for the first time last night and let burn for about 6 hours with the firebox roughly 1/2 full of 2 1/2 yr dried large hardwood splits. Had a fairly steady stream of heavy smoke during most of the burn and also some puffing with smoke exiting near the flue and draft fans when the boiler temps approached 70C.

With the firebox cooled down, removed the front panel this A.M to expose the primary air adjust and both slides were in the fully closed position from the factory allowing less than 1/2" of air to enter on either side so opened both sides up to 3/4" (about 1/2 open) and relight the fire. Starting with a good bed of coals from some scrap pallet lumber, i proceed to load the boiler full of wood and let burn. Now still seeing some smoke, but much less with the new settings. The puffing issue however has not improved with the new settings. Any suggestions on how to correct this problem? My flue temps tend to be around 350-400 but are easily influenced by the sliders on the front of the draft fan and the secondary screws are backed out six full turns.

 

[bbb123]

Search eric johnson's replys he had an issue with those screws in the back. I have the Tarm I didn't touch my primary (by fan) the secondary is always closed to 1/2 closed depending on wood.

 

[bbb123]

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/16908/
a start

 

[leaddog]

have the sliders on the fans only open about 1/2 to 3/4 in in the summer and that should help with the puffing. also how good of draft do you have. when it is hot out you tend to not have a good draft if you have a short stack. it will also take a few hours to burn the plastic tubes in the secondary. they are put in when they cast the refactory and it takes a while to get them burnt out so you get full air flow into the secondary. Hope this helps
leaddog

 

[Nofossil]

For me, puffing usually means wood that's too small and too dry. After the first few minutes, you should hear a low roar from secondary combustion. If you crack open the lower door, you should see a clean hot flame in the lower chamber. If that's not happening, then you're not getting secondary combustion.

In my case, I build a fire with a piece of paper and a layer of dry kindling. I then add a couple more layers of progressively larger pieces. I light it with teh bypass damper and lower door open. I let it burn until flue temp reaches about 350 degrees (about 6 or 7 minutes). I then close the bypass damper, close the lower door, and turn on the controller. I almost always get secondary combustion right away.

 

[Eric Johnson]

Mine smoked for the first few burns, no matter what I did. After that, it was a lot easier to get a clean burn. I don't know if it's the boiler break in, or if there was some subliminal learning going on. A few more things to try: 1.) make sure that the fire is centered directly over the nozzles. If you don't have a good bed of coals or fire right over the nozzles, you'll get smoke. It's not an issue with a full firebox, but can be if you are trying to get a small fire going. 2.) open the bottom door to see if you have flame coming out of both nozzles. If not, stir the fire around until you do. A partially-blocked nozzle will not burn correctly and sometimes result in smoke. 3.) Trying to burn in warm weather might have something to do with it, especially with a brand new boiler. Somebody told me once that it takes a few months for the refractory to cure completely, and the moisture it still contains from the casting process might be influencing the burn.

Anyway, your experience is typical, from what I can tell. Don't get discouraged--you'll get to cleanburnland before long--even if you don't know how you got there.

 

[WRVERMONT]

Personally I found that my secondary screws had to be at 4 turns out for the best combustion. The plate that the secondary air adjusting screws are fastened to can sometimes move back and fourth a little on some units which can throw off the mixture. If smoke and puffing persists try turning these screws in some, probably not further than 3.5 turns out. Good luck.

 

[EJM17]

Do EKOs always smoke when you open the door? Or is this something to do with break in and/or drafting. I wanna put my EKO 40 in the basement nex to the NTI oil boiler but dont want to get smoke out. Thanks

Fred

 

[Sizzler]

Thank you to those of you who have responded.

The second burn produced considerably less smoke so I think i'm pretty close to getting things dialed in.

I have the EKO in a garage and the draft was better than expected. Very little smoke aside from startup and i just cracked the main door until a good draft was established and everything was good. We opened the main and lower doors several times during the 10 hr burn to have a look inside and very little if any smoke rolled out. The stack is 35' of 8" SS but I still had my doubts with the warm outside air and low pressure.

She must have backfired so hard during the first burn that the chimney cap actually blew off the stack. Didn't have it screwed in place at the time just a friction fit over the liner. Got that fastened down tight now.

Couple leaks to repair and then the insulation over the tank and lines.

 

[EJM17]

[quote author="Sizzler" date="1213653767"]Thank you to those of you who have responded.

The second burn produced considerably less smoke so I think i'm pretty close to getting things dialed in.

I

Thanks for the reply,

Fred