Are you satisfied with your E Classic

[Highlander]

Im new to this forum, *DanG i wish i found it months ago, anyway, im in the process of setting up my e classic and was wondering if any of you were satisfied with your owb. All the problems i have read about have me really worried about the large investment that i made on this unit. I had read about some minor issues during my reserch period but nothing like i have read on here. I have learned alot from you all and hope that all your thoughts, experiments, and knowledge will help me in the future.
Thanks for any feed back

[leeallen]

Highlander - good luck with your Eclassic. I installed mine in April of 2008 and ran it for 13 continuous months before shutting it down for the summer. Last week I decided to clean the interior and do a complete inspection of the unit.I have read of the issues with the Eclassic and after peeling out the remaining firebrick and chipping out the hardened creosote, I focused my attention on the fusion chamber. Unfortunately, I found that mine was cracked and looked similiar to pictures that have been posted on this site.

Things to pay attention to:
Keep the turbulators clean - mine have a layer of creosote caked on the interior
Keep an eye out for creosote blockage in the elbows below the selenoids that control air flow in the rear of the unit. .
Keep the air holes on the sides  and rear of the primary burn chamber clear of blockages.
Burn dry wood and watch for bridging.

Am I happy with my Eclassic????? Yes and No. With any new technology there is a learning curve to proper operation .
It requires a lot of maintainence which I have been very diligent about .
I am not convinced it burns that much less wood than the ole Classic - although I have no comparison data. I burned approximately 20 cord over a 13month period and it did heat my huge 3 family farm house and a 26 x 36 work garage. When operating properly, it does a great job.

My questions??? - Would I have been better served with an old Classic?? and What does CB plan to do to make sure those of us that first purchased the unit, are taken care of. The  circular air holes on the sides of the burn chamber on my unit have cracks that radiate out  from the holes. What will that part of the stove look like in 3 years????? As you probably know, there are other companies out there that sell gasification units similar to the Ecalssic - are those units experiencing the same issues as the Eclassic?

I must say that my dealer, Rick Young in Conway, NH, has kept me apprised of the issues with the Eclassic and promises to stand behind the unit. He recently told me that CB is working on an updated version of the fusion chamber - obviously, it makes no sense to replace the fractured unit with a duplicate.
Hope this answers some of your questions. I would be curious to hear from other Eclassic owners.

[Highlander]

leeallen,
Thanks for all your insight. When i started reserching to buy a owb i visited a dealer that had a e classic and 6048 burning side by side. He swore up and down that the classic was burning half the wood to heat the same area. He did say it was tempermental and only would burn seasoned wood though. The wood consumption that he spoke of sold me on the classic, and i have 9 cord stacked and covered, man i hope thats enough. For all the other issues, i hope that CB steps up and helps all that are having problems. I would hate for them to loose their good reputation on this one stove.

What about your connection in your home? I am undecided weather to go directly into my oil burning furnace or use a heat exchanger. The cost of the set up for the heat ex is a couple thousand. Im just not sure if i should depresurize my exsisting system. Im sure i will have many more questions to come.

Thanks

[beenthere]

..................... He did say it was tempermental and only would burn seasoned wood though. The wood consumption that he spoke of sold me on the classic, and i have 9 cord stacked and covered, man i hope thats enough. .............

I wouldn't expect wood to be "seasoned" until after at least 24 months of covered drying time.

When I was 5 years ahead on my firewood supply, and had it stacked and drying under an open shed roof, I could tell right away when I was into the 2-year old wood vs. the 3 and older. Just enough lack of heat output difference when burning the greener wood to know right away.

I hope all get some good satisfaction and solutions to their problems.
I don't ever plan to switch from my indoor wood boiler to an outdoor one, but certainly will look at the experience of members here, if I ever do.

[island]

Has anyone sent this web site to the Central Boiler people? Having just bought an E-Classic,I feel like just selling it before I use it.If I would of read this web site first I would have never bought it. I hope the problems get fixed.

[Highlander]

Im in the same boat as you island. I did talk to the dealer yesterday and he assured me that CB would take care of any issues i may have, and in his experience with his customers there was a learning curve with this unit. He also said that once people were figuring out how to operate them that they were very happy with the results. I hope he is right...

[island]

Does the learning curve solve the fusion chamber fracture,or the water chamber leakage?

[leeallen]

Highlander- I would not depressureize your system - I use a 50 plate heat ex. and it works very well. One thing I discovered that i will pass on that solved a lot of issues was using an aquastat on the 1" cooper feed pipe to the oil furnace from the heat exchanger. I installed this because my oil furnace kept coming on even though I set the wood boiler temp at 185 and the oil boiler temps at 160H and 140 Low. The temp difference can be finicky and the aquatstat gives the oil boiler a more accurate reading. The aquastat is wired into the B1 terminal on the control unit on the oil furnace .
Hope this helps.

[Highlander]

Leeallen,
I have the plumber coming over next week so ill be sure to mention that. He convinced me to keep the two systems seperate also. you said that you use a 50 plate, How much sq. ft. are you heating ? I'll be heating about 3600 sq ft and the dealer recommended a 40 plate. Its not alot more to go to a 50 plate, do you think i should jump up to that? The house is 2x6 const. and well insulated.
Thanks again

[leeallen]

Highlander - I am not an expert on heat exchangers. I would think the bigger the better. I heat a 3 family old farm that is not that well insulated and a 26 x 36 garage.
Most plumbers/heating contractors have very little experience with wood boiler hookups. My heating guy found that plumbing in a wood boiler to an oil furnace was a new experience and he returned at least 3 times to get it right.  Hope this helps.