EKO Owner 2nd year burning

[eekster]

Hey guys
haven"t forgot about the pictures, been busy this week. Will try to get them up this weekend.
Keith

 

[eekster]

Ok guys, here are some more close-ups, I hope these are better and will help, Let me know and I can explain it a little more.
I screwed up but it still works. The tee"s on the secondary loop should be on top of each other instead of such a far spacing let me know with your questions. It"s easier to answer questions and quicker ( I check this forum at work alot ). Pictures just take me a while. Keith

 

[Donl]

Great pictures! I can see a lot of detail. This stuff really helps me out. I'll take a close look now to see if I can figure out what has been done. Thanks for posting these.

Don

 

[eekster]

Don, did you get all three pictures? I am still learning to upload photos. On my pc I can only see one.
Keith

 

[Donl]

Yep, I see all three pictures. nice and clear. I've moved them onto my computer so I can view them with Paintshop. Real nice work there. I can't believe how much I've learned form this form. You guys are great

Don

 

[eekster]

Don, if you have any questions about the piping I can explain it without a diagram, really don"t know how to upload a diagram.
I think you have to scan it firstand than upload .? I am I correct,? Let me know and good luck.
Keith

 

[Donl]

I'll write up a few questions over the next couple of days after spending some time studying your pictures. Yes you are right you would need to scan a drawing first before you could post it. Maybe what I'll do is try to document in a drawing what you have done, I will then post it and you can tell me if I have it right or not. I can already see where I will have a few questions. For those of you who copy pictures off this forum, I have found that you will get a better resolution if you click on the picture first to enlarge it and then do a save to disk.

Don

 

[Donl]

Keith, This is my first attempt to try and draw out your system. How accurate is it? I had trouble understanding the smaller diameter copper tubing runs. Maybe you can try to explain that part to me. Also, did I miss a pressure relief valve somewhere? What is your strategy in the event of a power failure?

Don

 

[eekster]

Don, very nice drawing, You"ve got it pretty clos. Relief valve comes off the top of the boiler itself, can"t see it because it"s on the back side of the boiler. The aquastat is a strap on not a well type, this is for over run of temperaturethat turn my largest furnce blower on untill the temp drops in boiler than shuts off. I have just a 550va computer power backup for the main circulator for the boiler, should test to see how long it will run. I do need to work on a little better plan, maybe a automag valve with finn tube in garage ceiling. The only thing missing is the backflow preventer and pressure reducing valve, which you cannot see it"s behind the stack. That"s the 1/2 inch pipe you see. I'll check back tomorrow with you, have to meet one of our service guys with parts.
Keith

 

[Tony H]

Keith,

Thanks for the pictures , I like the temp gauge in the return line nice idea.

Now for a couple of questions ...... The black box on the water output is that a valve or ? Shut off / temp sender

How and what are you using with the Taco controllers wired to the zone circulators for ? Are you wired to thermo's

What does the small pipe coming off the first / top zone go to ? DHW ?

As you can tell from my questions I have alot to learn and want to wire / plumb my system to allow for different variables without needing to redo alot of work to make changes.

 

[Tony H]

Don - nice drawing it makes it a little easier for me to understand as I don't know the parts by sight.

Keith - Was the low water shut off and water connection with backflow preventer added in response to the water leak you had ?

 

[eekster]

Tony, the black box off the top is my low water cut-off. I had all of ( backflow preventer, pressure reducing valve and low water cut-off ) in place before my gasket blow out. I installed two single pump controls, if one went down I still had a second one . You can buy one controller that will handle 3 or 4 pumps if I rember correctly. I have seperat thermostats for the wood boiler. When the stat calls for heat, it energizes the pump, then I ran a two wire back tho the furnace which I installed a time delay relay to let the heat exchanger get up to temp, then it energizes the relay which inturn turns on the blower. When the stat is satified, turns the blower and pump off. But right now I have my pumps continusly circulating, seems to help the boiler cycle more often and less cresol build up in the box. May use a little more wood, but I can"t imagine that much . I'll try to send pictures of the pr.valve and backflow tonight. Keith

 

[eekster]

Don and Tony, , here is my version of my scanncer and download, found it easier to do it this way since I know now how to upload pics. Some different shots of the itemes we discussed. Right now I do not have a DHW hooked up, first on the list come spring. What I was told by Danfoss when I faxed them my drawing the tees should be closer together so if return water cools for some reason( lack of wood) the valve closes and with the pumps running they can circulate easier. He (Danfoss said it should probably be ok.) So far no problems. Hope I"m not posting too many pics on this tread for all others who read. Myself I enjoy seeing things, sometimes it"s easier to understand..."a picture"s worth a thousand words."
Keith

 

[eekster]

Here"s a couple more pictures that I couldn"t fit on the last post.
Keith

 

[rsnider]

could you post a pic of inside upper chamber and lower chamber some time i would like to see . does anyone have the inside
dimensions of the upper chamber of the 40 or 25? how much wood can be put in at one time maybe pic one load of wood it will take. thanks ryan

 

[Tony H]

Keith - thanks for the pics I agree it's much easier to understand when you can see a picture or drawing. BTW you can input a drawing like Don's or the one from tarm and then make notes or changes to it and upload it it you would like.

Many of the MFG system diagrams do not show a water fill what was the reason you put one on yours?

 

[Donl]

Getting closer? Where does the 1/2 copper coming out of the back flow preventer go?

 

[eekster]

Tony, In MI. when you install a residential gas boiler, per code, you must have a backflow and pressure reducing valve. So I just tried to keep the boiler the same. Water was easily available, I also installed a bypass( fast fill loop) for purging the air out. It works quite well.
Don, the 1/2 in. pipe off the backflow is just a drain if the prv fails. Mine will just drain on the floor. My garage has quiet a pitch to the floor so water is not an issue. I made a copy of your drawing, I will try to post some changes( how my boiler is set up) from your drawing in the next couple of days. There are many different ways to pipe these systems as you know from reading this forum, not saying mine is the only way, maybe get feedback from some of the other hvac guys. I know I"ve learned alot from them, their knowledge has me always thinking.
Ryan, I would be happy to give some pics of my load of wood for the night.
Keith

 

[markpee]

Guys - I know this is an old post, but I am curious about your issues with wood size (eekster). Are you saying that the wood should be larger than what is put in a fireplace? Can you go into detail about this? My EKO 40 will be here next week, and I want to avoid any issues you might have had. Thanks.

 

[Northwoodsman]

Thanks for sharing your EKO 40 system with us. The system looks quite impressive. I also recently purchased an EKO 40 from Dave at Cozy Heat and plan to start the installation soon (I live in Northern Michigan/by East Jordan). I will be hooking it in parallel with my current Burnham Boiler and plan to convert the entire house to radiant floor heat (the living area above my garage is currently radiant floor heat) in addition to heating my DHW and hot tub with the EKO also. I also have (2) 500 gallon propane tanks that will be part of the storage for the system. I have done much research/calculations and the radiant floor heat w/ storage will provide the largest amount of stored/potential heat energy (due to the fact that I can heat my tanks to 180 F and my floor tubing will work efficently at temperature down to 120-130 F- this results in approx. 450,000 BTU or stored energy).

I was going to start the permit pulling process this week but from the way you talk maybe I'll rethink this idea (and just have the insurance company approve my installation). Are you saying that the local building department will not issue a permit because the unit is not ASME coded? Are there any other reasons other than the ASME coding issue?

How was your insurance company to deal with as far as getting it Ok'd? I currently heat with a Pacific Engergy wood burner and had the insurance company (my local independent agent was great) come out and take photos when I installed it many years ago.

Regarding the firewood, you mentioned that the EKO 40 did not burn as well if the pieces of wood were too small. I finished cutting/splitting and stacking 15 faces cords over the 4th of July and quartered 90% of the wood. I am also performing an experiment with both whole/halved and quartered pieces of wood to see which ones will lose the moist moisture before winter (in the first month and half they have lost 10-15% of the moisture).

If your ever in the area maybe you could stop by and we could chat/share information.

Thanks Again !

 

[Hansson]

The EKO specs call for wood between 15 and 30 percent mc. So yes, your wood can be too dry. It's too early in the morning for me to think through what the consequences would be, but I think puffing is one of the symptoms.

People here have problems whit puffing have solt it whit a draft damper
http://www.pellets.info/viewtopic.php?t=7274

http://translate.google.com/transla...iewtopic.php?t=7274&hl=sv&ie=UTF8&sl=sv&tl=en