Boiler impossible to clean!

[04titanse]

I am having an issue with my boiler plugging up and not being able to get it clean enough. Its an older wood boiler and is set up to work with my oil boiler.

I have been burning a fair bit of cut up pallets as all my wood has been buried in deep snow. The pallets are dry and most are SPF but some hardwood. I ordered a 1.75" boiler brush, but this build up is so tough I am not sure its going to do a damn thing.

I ground down a wire wheel for a drill and put two 12" extension and that works pretty ok but after clearing 5-6 tubes its totally gummed up. Only thing I can think to do is get 5-6 more wire wheels and soak the gummed up ones in diesel to clean them and keep rotating. It seems there is some real hard crusty stuff stuck to the steel tubes but the stuff that is blocking it up it much gummier. I am guessing the stuff stuck the steel is older build up, since I never had the right sized brush it never got super clean.

 

[flyboy553]

That is creosote build up. I am gonna say you have been burning wood that was not real dry, and then letting it smolder for long periods, hence the creosote build up. You can cut way down on that build up by using dry wood. Type of wood doesn't really matter so much, as long as it is dry.

Not much fun trying to get rid of it once it gets as bad as yours is, either! Lots of elbow grease! Good luck! Remember when you were in elementary school and got caught doing something bad and had to write I will not pull Linda's hair 500 times in your notebook? Well, this is the adult version of that same punishment!

Ted

 

[NSMaple1]

Some guys have good luck making a cleaning tool out of thin steel.

Picture a small tin can, with the top already gone, and only half the sides there, in two equal pieces. Kinda sorta. Chuck it in your drill on the end of a rod like you're doing now with the brush.

That looks like it might be a Kerr boiler? If so my Dad has the exact same one. What he jimmied up was a cheap hole saw the exact right size, on the end of a looong drill extension. Gotta be careful you don't use one too big or you'll get into the steel - but with buildup like that ya gotta get rugged. He just got a cheap hole saw set & picked the right size out of it - maybe start with a smaller one & work up to the right size. Make sure it's solidly attatched to the extension/rod though, or it'll be there to stay if it comes off. Also, you can get the gunk off your tool with a propane torch. It'll make a stink though.

BTW - the dry wood thing has already been mentioned and goes without saying, but you could improve your situation a LOT if you plumbed some water storage/buffer to that thing so it could burn wide open without idling. Be a nice summer project - if you've got room for a used propane tank or two. Those boilers transfer heat pretty darn good - they just run into gunk problems when the draft door closes.

 

[Cheesecutter]

I wonder if those creosote remover products would help. Just a thought.

 

[haveawoody]

Here is a good trick on cleaning it up with very little elbow grease.

If you have a bucket of fine ash, screen any lumps out of it and add water and mix until it's much like drywall compound.
Spread it over everything that is coated in creosote and get yourself one of those power drill brush attachments (non metal) and ready to go before you ash goup everything .
Go nuts with the power drill and creosote comes off semi easy.
Remember you and everything within about 10' will look much like the black goup so for you coveralls glasses, gloves and plastic or throwaway drop sheet everything else you want to stay clean.

After 10 minutes or so remove the now creosote black goup and have a look at results.
If it's still pretty bad repeat.
Once it's pretty clean a few sheets of paper towel to get the last nasty clean.

I agree damp wood causes those sort of glazed buildups, fire waiting to happen.
IMO I would not burn anything more in it until it's clean, have a look inside the chimney pipes also because if the chamber is that bad the pipes are going to be similar.

 

[showrguy]

04, have ya given oven cleaner a thought ??

 

[04titanse]

Thanks for the responses!! I had some pretty good luck later last night cleaning the brush with diesel 2-3 times per pipe. I know the wood i am burning it not ideal and causing my issue, I have been burning with this boiler for two winters now and heating my house with wood for 10+ years. The hole saw cleaner sound interesting, something to consider as well as oven cleaner.

Also a storage tank is on my list before next winter. The stove pipe and chimney need to cleaned, but they are no where near as bad as the stove. My issues is primarily moisture related but like someone else said it need to be running the boiler widen open for a higher percentage of its run time (storage tank). This issue has become worse once we had a week of warmer temps. When it was regularly below zero the boiler was running wide open more and it wouldn't gum up so the answer is better wood and storage. Mostly I am looking for advice to clean this thing once it gets real dirty.

 

[haveawoody]

04titanse,

Your most welcome.
Try the ash paste routine works quite well to break down the creosote without damaging the chamber.
Good thing the pipes aren't to bad, glazed pipes are a royal pain to clean.
The tiniest bit of ash paste will remove the worst creosote stains on glass with virtually just a couple wipes and damp paper towel so it's very non abrasive.
The price is just right on ash paste

Oven cleaner won't help much in your case since it needs lots of heat to work and that's the last thing I would suggest on a chamber that bad.


Whatever works to clean is whatever you find best for your situation but for you the next fire after cleaning I would have a real hot full air couple hour fire.
Then whatever the great scrub missed the hot fire will remove.

 

[brenndatomu]

The price is just right on ash paste

Not to be confused with

Sorry, I'll go to my room now...

 

[NSMaple1]

Along with adding storage, return temp protection should be a must also. If your return water is less than 140, it will cause very much increased creosote condensation. That is not as big an issue as it could be if you keep your boiler hot & are just running through baseboard, but if you are running through in-floor or something else with lower return temps, and especially if you add storage, it is very important.

 

[04titanse]

Just running the water through baseboard as well as an indirect hot water tank. My return side pipes are always still way way too hot to touch although I have not checked the actual temps.

 

[cantoo]

I would use the steel hole saw method. Just grind the outside cutting edge off the cutter and it won't damage the steel tubes. A cheap holesaw will dull quickly anyway. One of those times when cheap built Chinese crap is a good thing.

 

[TeeMan]

Not to be confused with

Sorry, I'll go to my room now...

Good to see a product started in Louisiana...even if it is for diaper rash!

 

[Cheesecutter]

 

[Oxford]

Just as an aside, too hot to touch doesn't mean very much. For most people, that's no more than about 130, and that's way too cool to run return water. You're going to have oxygen problems right now if that's where you're running things. Not saying you are, but if I were you I'd figure out a way to make sure.

The storage tank sounds good, but what happens when it gets hot? You're not adding load, you're just making a wide spot in the line. Add some load to that boiler and improve your fuel, you'll be good to go.

 

[04titanse]

Oxford,

The reason the storage tank would help is that you can run the boiler wide open for several hours while your home and there to keep it stuffed full. Once its up to temp you can throttle down the boiler for several hours. Currently the boiler does quite a bit of on and off. Adding load to the system would also work, only down side is your wasting btu's heating something just to add load not because it needs heating.

 

[Oxford]

Not to argue, but throttling it down for several hours is what got you here. Unlike a gas boiler, you can't turn the fire off, you have to maintain some minimal combustion and the water side temperatures are going to make everything condense on the walls of the tubes, especially given low velocity flue gases due to the throttling. I get that you don't like the cycling and that it's contributing to your issue, but your net time at low fire isn't going to change with a tank.

 

[04titanse]

Oxford, you make some good points. I'll have to do some thinking. Maybe the answer is to add load like you were saying.

 

[Motorsen]

It's just like an diesel engine. Run it with to low a load to "nurse" it will only create problems like bore polishing and gunking up things like rings and so on, besides the lube oil not up to clean things off at low temps. Once you got it up to operating temp run it like you stole it.
Same thing with your boiler. On/off and no idle. Well in stove/boiler world it's ON and then it's OK to idle on the ember bed. But to fill the box with wood without keeping an eye on demand in the other end of the line be it house/buffer tank need/temp will create the above mentioned gunk problems. And then above all only use properly seasoned DRY wood.
Now to solve present problems you could fire your boiler up to operating temp (with dry wood) then add some zink plates from roof plating or such and keep drafting the beast. Run it real hot with zink in the belly will loosen things up.

Best of luck

Motorsen

 

[NSMaple1]

Storage lets you burn wide open until the fuel is gone. Then when you need heat again & your storage is depleted, you light a new fire. Batch burning to storage is the cleanest & most efficient, and most comfortable, way to heat with wood - once you get over the 'hangup' of having to light a new fire every day. I did & won't be going back.