New Here. Looking for advice.

[Rigatoni]

Hi.I'm tony from maine. I'm considering buying an eko 40 to heat my 1100 square foot ranch and my working garage. I'm planning on installing the boiler in my basement and piping heat underground to the garage to radiant in the slab. Is this stove up to the task? Is it really necessary to install a storage tank right from the start or can it wait a while until I can afford one? ill be lucky if I can buy the boiler & install parts before next winter so not having to install a tank would help.

 

[Willman]

You could add in storage later. Just provide a pair of valved stubs for an easier install. Not certain of heating capability of the Eko. Remember dry wood rules.

Will

 

[willworkforwood]

Welcome to the forum. You're aware of the value of storage, so you've already done some homework, which is a good thing. But in order to answer your question about the 40 being the right boiler, you need to do a heat loss calc on the house + garage, and DHW (if that applies). And yes, you can run without storage - I've been doing that for 3 years, and others here also do so. If putting extra time into running smaller fires doesn't bother you, then you can do quite well without storage. But if you have to fully load the boiler because you're away from home much of the time, it will probably idle a lot, waste wood, and maybe gunk up the HX. As Will said, incorporate the storage into the plan. Draw a full system diagram, post it here, and the hydronics gurus will help you correct any design issues. And if you're shooting for this Winter, get as much wood cut, split(small), and stacked as fast as you can. Good luck with it!

 

[Tennman]

Two years without storage here. Each year I improve and add capability so storage not essential but where you are probably preferred. My main reason for posting is don't ignore some of the other import gasser boilers. EKO is great but I took a chance on the BioMass and am glad I did. Nope, I'm not a salesman, just a guy did a design comparison and so far so good on the reliability. Lots here have done in stages to spread the install cost pain, myself included.

 

[Rigatoni]

Thanks for your suggestions & advice everyone.

I'm not 100% stuck on buying an eko 40. In fact my first consideration was a Empyre Elite. Does anyone have one of these boilers? I read that they use a non-pressurized system with no expansion tank. Other than this is the install the same as an eko 40? I'm looking at buying possibly from www.cozyheat.net They have a complete install kit for the eko 40 but not for the Empyre Elite for some reason. Just wondering if maybe it doesn't require much else for an install.

 

[afblue]

Have you considered putting the boiler in the garage and piping the heat into the house? It will keep the wood mess out of the house.

 

[tom in maine]

Hey, I like the idea of an unpressurized system without a hx!

:cheese:

 

[Rigatoni]

Have you considered putting the boiler in the garage and piping the heat into the house? It will keep the wood mess out of the house.

I'd rather have the wood mess in the basement of my house than blow myself up in the garage. I'll be painting cars in there. Plus I'd rather take up room in my basement than the garage, again because I'll be working in there.

 

[taxidermist]

If your thinking about a basement install I would look past a eko 40 and go with a boiler that has built in draft fan to pull the smoke when you open the door. I know a lot of people on here have them in their basement with no problems. I have it in a large pole barn and it smells like smoke in there all winter long. I also think the EKO is a old out of date boiler compared to the new ones out there. If I had to do it again I would look past the eko. Dont get me wrong I love my EKO 60 but its old school. LOL

As for storage.. you can add that anytime. It adds flexibility but you dont really need it right away.


Just my .02

Rob