Econoburn Modifications 2022

[salecker]

Hi All
Cumminstinker was the go to guy for trying to make the Econoburn a better boiler,he has moved on to a different make,so i have a couple i did this fall.
My boiler building has always been covered in ash and the white paint is getting greyer.
Last year i sealed the chimney pipe joints,seemed to get worse so this year i have modified the plate that covers the flue tubes and turbulators.It was sealed with flat gasket material and one bolt in the middle of each end.
I added 3/4" angle around the lid that fits inside the opening in the boiler,then i am going to use rope gasket which will squish down in the sealing area,plus the lip around the opening will help to keep the fly ash in the boiler.
Then last year added some wings to the bottom of the turbs to slow down the flow through the flue pipes,a mod tried by Cumminstinker,this year i added ones on the top of the turbs to hold the heat in the flue tubes a bit more.
Last year saw my flue temps come down a bit,hoping to drop them a bit more with the additions to the top.
I had to place the one set lower to keep the ability to swivel the turbs to remove them when cleaning.
To clean the Econoburn boiler the only part you need to remove to get the turbulators out is the top plate on the back of the boiler.I have never removed any other plates.When the boiler was new i tried to remove the turbulators by just removing the top plate and it worked even though the vidios show removing more of the boiler to clean it.

 

[cumminstinkerer]

@salecker thanks for the acknowledgement, the gasket idea is a great one, I hope your flue temps come down some more. I passed my boiler on to a friend that helped me with the control system, he is going to use it to heat his pool, and knowing him he will be modding it some. I've got some stuff to do around the new boiler yet, unfortunately it is too tall to fit in the garage so I am going to build a shed around it just to keep the snow away so the wife will not complain when she has to load it.

 

[mark cline]

Good to hear from you both , hope you a had a good summer. I was busy with my improvements also . I welded a piece of angle iron to the bottom of each turb, 6 or 7 in all on my 300. Flue temperatures came down dramatically, after a full reload the temperature was at 500-525 then settled back down to 450 for the duration of the burn . Today I did a test to see if my setup would thermosiphon in the event of a power outage. We have had 2 in the last 2 weeks with the boiler running. I was able to get my generator up and running within 10 minutes and the power was out for 8-10 hrs. So today on a full reload, boiler was at 525 flue temperature and boiler water was at 170F . I shut the power off and watched the boiler temperature and pressure for 35 minutes. Boiler temperature went up to 180F and pressure stayed the same. With my thermometers through out my system, I could see the system was thermosiphoning to storage and held at 180f boiler water . Next , I need to change the aquastat , it’s been shutting down the blower at 185F, then putting in a 50 gallon Crown indirect water heater to run off the boiler water , should be up and running in 2 weeks.

 

[salecker]

I will hopefully start my fire soon
Typical fall everyone wants everything done once the snow shows on the hills
Personally i have been nursing a bad shoulder for a couple months,then the pain moved into my neck which manages to distract me from working a fair bit.Not getting a full sleep is starting to add up.

 

[salecker]

So i am a couple weeks into burning this year
I did not clean my flue tubes last year when i shut down the boiler.I tried to clean them when i had it apart to do the modifications.The hard coating on the tubes laughed at any attempt to clean them.
Last Sunday i cleaned the flues,total of a couple hours to remover the top panel,pull the turbulators,clean 6 flu tubes and reinstall the turbs,top cover,clean up.
The next burn had the boiler acting normal again,adding BTU's at the rate i was used to.Clean tubes make a difference.
As for stack temps. They are consistently sitting at 400F according to my cheap gauge. I have seen as high as 600 shortly after a reload.
I think the angles i added to the top made more of a difference than the ones i added to the bottom

 

[mark cline]

The angles at the top seems to be a better solution, I would think. Wellall of my turbs are at the bottom and I’m seeing about 525 on a reload dropping back to 400 after an hr or 2 . Got my Crown indirect hot water tank installed and running like a charm. My boiler water coming into the house maxes out at 120 so it’s keeping my water tank about 115-117 which is plenty hot for dishes and showers. I put my 19 gallon electric water tank above it so when summer rolls around, I’ll flip a valve and run off the electric tank and the Crown tank will act as a tempering tank.

 

[salecker]

So we are in day 4 of -45C ish nights warming to -40C during the day.
The Mods i did to the turbulators are working noticeably better in the cold weather. I noticed a differance at normal winter temps,it's more noticeable durring the long burns.
In the past any temps -40C or colder would mean using a cart of wood a day.
Now i have wood left in the cart after a -40"s day of burning,and the burn time has dropped about an hour off what i used to burn at these temps.
So there is a small savings in wood,maybe 10% or less.
Flue temps on my cheap ass gauge are always around 400 F and spiking to around 600 F after it's been reloaded.
So the seat of the pants dynomiter says the mods on the top of the turbulators are worth the time to do.
The fly ash in my boiler room seems to be down as well so the mod to the back access has slowed that leak

 

[cumminstinkerer]

Glad to hear man, glad we arent down that cold yet, we are headed below 0 F the next few days, will be a good test of the Polar, my econoburn struggled when it was that cold, but it was only a 100, so far the G2+ has done great and is actually using less wood than the econoburn did. I will have to report back after the cold snap and Christmas.

 

[brenndatomu]

so it’s keeping my water tank about 115-117 which is plenty hot for dishes and showers.

Just an FYI/reminder, that is darn close to Legionella territory there...which is about 68*-113*F

 

[mark cline]

I have a whole house UV sterilizer , which is frequently maintained to the manufacturer standards , I’m not worried about it. Have always kept the water heater at 115F for the past 40 years. My cousin fell into scalding hot bath water when he was 6 years old because my aunt was a germophobe .

 

[MickMorley]

@salecker

A little too late but here is my tool I made to clean the flue tubes. I welded a rod coupling to the end of a piece of rebar which threaded into the whole saw bit adapter.

I used a 2” whole saw but I found a 2-1/16 that may be better. I’ll try that size next year.

 

[MickMorley]

@salecker

Also I tried to pull the turbs out through the top in one piece but it didnt work. I had to unbolt each and pull them out separately. Still worth it versus taking the back apart. I use vise grips to pull each up once the bolt it out.

 

[salecker]

Hi Mick
I have thought about trying a hole saw,i had some reservations since they will cut steel. I have found if i sharpen the edges of my tool after each hole it cuts the crud a lot better.
I have a rope pulley system for pulling the turbs,you have to take them up in short stages till you get the header bar out the top opening.My next cleaning i am going to turn the bolts around on the linkages that hook to the leaver.That will give an extra 3/4" of room. The mods i made to the turbs don't effect pulling them to much.Your arrangement is different than the 200,and looks a little more of a pain.You could try hanging chains instead of the turbs to simplify removal. Plus don't wait till the boiler is cold to clean it,the coating on the tubes just laughs at the attempt to remove it.
Also try @cumminstinkerer he had the smaller Econoburn and may have some tips on turb removal for yours.
I recommend adding to the turbulators if you are experiencing high flu temps.The addition i did to the tops of them was the best one i tried.
This year the highest i have seen on my cheap gauge is 600F with 400F being the cruising temp. It will spike right after stirring up the coals and adding wood. The wood usage has dropped a bit,maybe 10 %
I am cleaning after 2 rows of wood about 2 1/2 cords of spruce,this year.