Fine tuning EKO

[FinsterCT]

Just wanted to say thanks in advance for all the great stuff here. I'm just starting to research gassification boilers and had narrowed down to an Eko....after looking through this thread, i can see its the right direction. I'm buying in the spring and looking fwd to a warm, oilfree house next year!

 

[wayne49s]

Hi,

Not too sure if this should be in the fine tuning section, but I have an EKO40 setup to use thermostatic control. When there is no request for heat, the EKCO is suppose to periodically activate the system pump for 30 seconds. I notice that it cuts short the 30 second interval, to just a second or two; it causes the temp to rise about 15 degrees in idle. This looks like a software problem. Has anyone encounter this problem? I talked to new horizon, and he seems to think that the thermostat connections should always be shorted which means the pump would always be on; I'm off grid and need to conserve the electricity. It's a RK-2001UA EKCO controller.

 

[wayne49s]

Hi,

Not too sure if this should be in the fine tuning section, but I have an EKO40 setup to use thermostatic control. When there is no request for heat, the EKCO is suppose to periodically activate the system pump for 30 seconds. I notice that it cuts short the 30 second interval, to just a second or two; it causes the temp to rise about 15 degrees in idle. This looks like a software problem. Has anyone encounter this problem? I talked to new horizon, and he seems to think that the thermostat connections should always be shorted which means the pump would always be on; I'm off grid and need to conserve the electricity. It's a RK-2001UA EKCO controller.

I talked to the new horizon again (I couldn't get through because line was busy before), and he was able to identify that this was a capacitor problem on the controller, so problem solved. Apparently this capacitor overheated (electrolytic, 2200uF) for future reference.

 

[JTWALL]

I just finished the bonnet modification on my Eko Model 25. Hopefully, this will aid in keeping the Controller a little cooler.
Also, I did replace the 7-year old 2200 uf capacitor in the controller as a preventive measure. I used a 35 Volt version this time; quite a bit larger, but there is plenty of room.

The meter and thermocouples have really helped me tune the boiler. I discovered the "gasification flame" coming out of the nozzle was way too much and excessive amount of heat was being wasted up the chimney. Stack temps approached 400 degrees. The flame looked impressive, but it was wasteful. It would be nice if the factory units came with something like this installed.

Enjoy.

JT Wall