Anyone know of a gassification boiler that has primary and secondary combustion chambers like the EKO or Tarm, but has a refractory lined primary combustion chamber?
I'm considering testing this with my EKO to see how it affects the performance. I'm reasonably happy with the way my EKO currently performs, but I find it still produces a small amount of smoke when it is idling or when the nozzle does not have a good cover of coals. What I call a small amount of smoke is if it dissipates completely with 5-10 feet. I may be holding the unit to a high standard, because I'm comparing it to our Pacific Energy wood stove, which makes absolutely no smoke. The rain cap on the chimney for the wood stove is still bright and shiny after several seasons and I have never cleaned the SS chimney - it is clean. The cap on my EKO chimney is already brownish with only a couple of months of operation.
The EKO does burn cleanly with absolutely no smoke some of the time, but not all the time. I'm thinking of lining the primary chamber for a couple of reasons: 1) to get a higher burn temperature in the upper chamber to reduce the possibility of incomplete combustion after the gasses pass through the secondary chamber, 2) to allow me to run the boiler and storage tank at a lower temperature (say 150*F) when I don't have a high heat load, and 3) to reduce the amount of creosote that forms in the upper chamber. The only thing I'm concerned about is that lining the primary chamber means I may get less heat transfer to the water in this chamber.
I'm thinking of using a heavy weight ceramic fiber board to insulate the chamber, something like this: (broken link removed)
Anyone have any comments on how they think lining the primary chamber will affect performance?
I'm considering testing this with my EKO to see how it affects the performance. I'm reasonably happy with the way my EKO currently performs, but I find it still produces a small amount of smoke when it is idling or when the nozzle does not have a good cover of coals. What I call a small amount of smoke is if it dissipates completely with 5-10 feet. I may be holding the unit to a high standard, because I'm comparing it to our Pacific Energy wood stove, which makes absolutely no smoke. The rain cap on the chimney for the wood stove is still bright and shiny after several seasons and I have never cleaned the SS chimney - it is clean. The cap on my EKO chimney is already brownish with only a couple of months of operation.
The EKO does burn cleanly with absolutely no smoke some of the time, but not all the time. I'm thinking of lining the primary chamber for a couple of reasons: 1) to get a higher burn temperature in the upper chamber to reduce the possibility of incomplete combustion after the gasses pass through the secondary chamber, 2) to allow me to run the boiler and storage tank at a lower temperature (say 150*F) when I don't have a high heat load, and 3) to reduce the amount of creosote that forms in the upper chamber. The only thing I'm concerned about is that lining the primary chamber means I may get less heat transfer to the water in this chamber.
I'm thinking of using a heavy weight ceramic fiber board to insulate the chamber, something like this: (broken link removed)
Anyone have any comments on how they think lining the primary chamber will affect performance?
