eko new (to the us) draft fan

[Gooserider]

I think I am going to have some difficulty adapting this fan to my chimney, since I come out of the boiler and transition from 8 inch double wall black pipe to 7 inch double wall pipe. I don't know how well I can adapt the fan's 6 inch outlet to the 7 inch pipe.

I'm not that impressed with the wiring for the fan either. I think I will change the configuration for safety's sake.

The fan does move a lot of air at max speed. I think it will provide more than enough draft when loading the boiler. I do not intend to run the fan when burning normally.

I agree on the fan wiring... It looks very "Mickey Mouse" to me, and I have trouble believing that it would meet any sort of code listing... The only time I've ever seen that sort of spiral wrap over individual conductors setup is either in a non-AC application, or with a motor that is hard wired into an appliance such that the wires were NOT exposed to normal users... If temperature is an issue, they make high temperature line cord material, so that shouldn't be the reason for the odd setup. I'm not an expert on UL etc. stuff, but my recollection is that they generally want to see any sort of line cord drawing more juice than a table lamp, or anything permanently installed (which IMHO the inducer would be considered to be) to have a jacketed type cable to protect the conductors from harm, and that spiral wrap doesn't cut it in that regard... OTOH the controller wiring looks fine.

The other thing I was trying to figure out from the photos is how the unit moves the smoke through it... I assume there is some sort of squirrel cage blower or equivalent on the end of the motor shaft, but what is the air flow? Where does the smoke go in and come out? Maybe more / different photos from a different angle might help?

Gooserider

 

[Medman]

I'll try to get a better photo tonight. The fan blade is a flat assembly, seen in the second picture at the top. Smoke is drawn up into the fan shroud inside the square housing and exits through the slot at the top of the smaller 6 inch opening seen in the second picture.

I am going to put a small plastic junction box on the side of the motor itself, and run new shielded wiring from the box to the speed control. I am going to mount the speed control near the front of the boiler to have the control handy when loading.

 

[stee6043]

Here are the pictures, as promised.
Draft Fan, from the boiler end, it has an 8 inch flange, and from the stack end it has a 6 inch flange:

Also seen in the picture is the fan speed control, which is merely a router speed control adapted to the fan.

Is there any chance you could give us the "inlet to outlet" measurement? As in - how much pipe needs to come out of an existing chimney setup to put this inducer in? And can you mount it in just about any orientation? Thanks!

 

[Medman]

Stee, that was one measurement I didnt take, but I would ball-park the enclosure at 10 inches square. I think you could mount it in any position, but given the amount of flyash I get in the pipe, I would try to have the motor on top if mounting the inducer horizontally or on a 45* angle.

In my setup I may replace the 8-7 inch reducer I have attached to the boiler flue collar. The inducer would then enter the horizontal port of the 7 inch tee.

 

[stee6043]

Stee, that was one measurement I didnt take, but I would ball-park the enclosure at 10 inches square. I think you could mount it in any position, but given the amount of flyash I get in the pipe, I would try to have the motor on top if mounting the inducer horizontally or on a 45* angle.

In my setup I may replace the 8-7 inch reducer I have attached to the boiler flue collar. The inducer would then enter the horizontal port of the 7 inch tee.

Thanks, Medman. I find this deeply interesting and it seems the price you paid was less than folks were originally talking about. My application would require me to retain my existing 8" tee and 8" 90 defree elblow before installing the inducer. From there I go to 6" insulated. It could be tight for me. Thanks for the info!

 

[deerefanatic]

I don't know about the ones you got, but mine is labeled with a specific orientation.... The motor needs to be on the side, specifically the right side when facing the boiler from the front....

 

[Medman]

There were no instructions on the inducer. no labels, nothing. Does mine look the same as the one you received?

As for price, $160 was from Zenon at New Horizon. Cozy heat quoted $243, but couldn't get the fan until the end of summer.
It is entirely possible that there are two different units out there.

 

[deerefanatic]

Yes, mine looks just like yours...... Exactly.......

 

[Medman]

Okay - more pics.

Here is the exixting chimney coming apart:

 

[Medman]

Here is the 8 to 7 inch reducer I am replacing:

I paid over $90 for that reducer, and it took two weeks to get here.
Anybody want to buy a doublewall reducer?

 

[Medman]

Here is the inducer with scale:

It is 13.5" overall, with flanges being about two inches.

Matt, did you have a gap between the 8 inch collar on the inducer and the flue collar on the EKO? I am seeing a gap of about 1/4" all the way around. I think that I will use a fiberglass rope gasket to seal the gap, and drill and tap the flue collar to hold the inducer, as it is quite heavy.
On the outlet, the inducer will just slip inside the 7 inch tee fitting, so I'm good there.

 

[Medman]

Finally, here is the side view of the inducer, as requested.

 

[deerefanatic]

Mine was a TIGHT, VERY TIGHT fit on the boiler collar.... I had to pound it on with a rubber hammer...... 2 screws for security's sake and then I sealed it up with RTV silicone.......

I will add, that the way you have the inducer sitting right now, is the correct orientation....

 

[Medman]

Must be a manufacturing difference between the 25 and the 60. Thanks for the input.

 

[stee6043]

I placed my order today for thew fan and the new gasket. I'll post some pic's to your thread here. I'm interested to see if I get the same unit you received. Sounds like there may be some variability out there....

 

[Medman]

I'm back from vacation and have completed the install of the draft fan and variable speed control.
Here is the completed draft fan:

You can see the box I attached to the motor to house the wiring, the new wiring that runs to the speed control, and the speed control mount on the right side of the loading door.

 

[Medman]

Here is a detail of the screws I used to attach the flange of the inducer to the boiler.
Cleanout of the chimney is still accomplished the same way - I take off the bottom of the tee and use the shop-vac to reach up and into the inducer, and I reach through the upper chamber and clean out the by-pass damper with a long extension on the vac.

 

[Medman]

In case any of you are wondering why I chose to run the chimney this way, it's because I am using an existing chimney in my workshop that had previously been installed for a woodstove. It had not had a stove connected for several years, and when I removed the insulation stuffed into the thimble I discovered several mummified bats! So far this summer I have had three or four more bats find their way down the chimney. If they are still alive I try to capture and release them, but most often they are dead.

 

[stee6043]

Looks good. And funny story about the bats.

I'll have to post some photos when I get mine installed. Mine was pretty heavily damaged when I received it so it's taken me a week just to get it running. Zenon offered to work with me but I didn't want to be sending bits and pieces back and forth.

Let us know how yours burns. I'm most interested to see how well the unit holds up to high temps. Especially the foam pad between the motor plate and the blower housing. I can see that needing to be replaced with some good 'ole RTV sealant after not too long...

 

[Hydronics]

Looks like a quality inducer.
Is the speed controller variable or multiple steps?
Are you guys planning to use them only while loading? If so I wonder how well the motor will withstand the heat without spinning to cool it.
It should be helpful when getting a fire going initially, even with the bypass door open.

 

[Medman]

Speed control is a smooth action pot for variable control, not a stepped switch. It is an off-the-shelf woodworking router speed control box.

For now, I plan to use only when loading. There is an air gap between the inducer and the motor which should help reduce the heat, and I only see stack temps of 300* or so anyway. I think I will try to use the fan when starting as well.
Stee, the foam does concern me. I know deerefanatic has fired his boiler with the inducer in place. Matt, any comment on the foam gasket?

 

[stee6043]

Speed control is a smooth action pot for variable control, not a stepped switch. It is an off-the-shelf woodworking router speed control box.

For now, I plan to use only when loading. There is an air gap between the inducer and the motor which should help reduce the heat, and I only see stack temps of 300* or so anyway. I think I will try to use the fan when starting as well.
Stee, the foam does concern me. I know deerefanatic has fired his boiler with the inducer in place. Matt, any comment on the foam gasket?

Yeah...as discussed earlier in this thread the "controls/wiring" on this unit are less than impressive, but seem functional. I'd love to hear some feedback on the foam. I can get stack temps of 400 when things are really cranking, depending on the weather and the wood of course. But for me 400 seems to be the sweet spot for gasification.

Like Medman I plan to use this when starting and when loading. I think it'll be a big help for me on the REALLY cold days. When highs are still below zero I have a heck of a time getting draft since my chimney is external with only a chase around it...

 

[rsnider]

the motor seems to be the same one on my biomass boiler (dayton). i had my boiler for a week and the motor stopped working (overheated) or something like that. after changing it out with the new motor found the flapper for exhaust was hitting the fan blade i fixed that and problem solved. my second motor worked great all winter but this summer i went to start up the fan blade just to make sure everything still looking good motor doing same thing as old one just sit there and hummmmmm and then make odd noises. time to call zenon again for new motor. by the way no other problems with boiler works great just the fan motor burning up.

 

[stee6043]

the motor seems to be the same one on my biomass boiler (dayton). i had my boiler for a week and the motor stopped working (overheated) or something like that. after changing it out with the new motor found the flapper for exhaust was hitting the fan blade i fixed that and problem solved. my second motor worked great all winter but this summer i went to start up the fan blade just to make sure everything still looking good motor doing same thing as old one just sit there and hummmmmm and then make odd noises. time to call zenon again for new motor. by the way no other problems with boiler works great just the fan motor burning up.

Odd...my motor is an A.O.Smith brand. I can only assume it was previously intended to be used to power vent domestic hot water heaters....

 

[deerefanatic]

I'm not sure on the foam in the inducer..... I have a feeling it's actually some kind of hi-temp fiber board.....

Either way, I've only fired twice with no probs so far.... Winter will tell.......