cleaning biomass

On the lower cleanout gasket, I've actually opened and cleaned ashes with a fire going. Wasn't really hot. I'll probably go with high temp silicone sheet to make a gasket when mine crumbles. Look online at McMaster-Carr. Shouldn't be too hard to find something suitable. I'm not going to use silicone caulk but will use 3/16" or 1/4" sheet silicone. My upper chamber gaskets are far worse, will use silicone sheet there also eventually.

Have never removed my turbs.

I unhooked the turb assembly from the handle, It dont do much for cleaning the tubes anyhow. Then I unhooked the turb on each outer end from the bar. then you can lift out and put in easy. I use a small metal rod on the unhooked turbs to keep them from falling down. This makes it much easier to clean. I dont even use a gasket on the lower access holes, but my boiler is not in a living space. Id do like tennman said and get some sheet gasket and make some...

With good dry wood and storage, it should only need the tubes cleand once or twice a year depending on how much wood you burn.

davem3261 said:

I'm in the process of cleaning a biomass 40 that I bought used in the spring. I have the turbulators out now and I was wanted to know if there are any hints to putting them back easily. Do I assemble the turbs on the cross member and drop it in or one at a time? I took them out one at a time but they didn't fall down the exchanger tubes because it was never cleaned. Also what should I use for a gasket on the lower side cover with 4 bolts? New Horizons doesn't sell one and said use hi temp silicone no gasket. Seems like the ceramic gasket is important to me.

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Hi Davem,

I just finished cleaning out the tubes today. I took pictures to show you how I have mine set up. I asked advice from some of the guys here and decided to use the turbulators suspended on an iron bar. I set the bar on top of 3 pieces of pipe. If you don't elevate the horizontal bar, the bar will get stuck in any creosote that forms across the tops of the tubes and it is a groan to get it out.
Last year I had my turbulators stuck towards the end of the season. I had to pull them out with a crowbar. I left a lot of knuckle skin inside there trying to get them up and out. After I got them out I trashed the set up with the outside lever and put together my current arrangement. It has been a success so far.
I am sorry to say we have been in the low 40s the last few nights and our house hasn't warmed up through the days. This morning the kitchen was only 62* so I finally started the boiler. Summer seemed too short this year, but I never grow tired of playing with fire.
Let me know if you have any questions or if I can help you out,

Bob

Timely coincidental question. Yesterday for the first time since installed in 2011, I inspected the turbulator springs and and cleaned the fire tubes in the Froling FHG50 installed at Deep Portage. I was surprised at how clean the tubes were, especially because of long standing problems with the Froling idling due to system design/install errors. Those problems were corrected with some plumbing changes before the start of the 2013-14 heating season, and the result being the operation that was expected from the Froling. That operation may have burned off any accumulated creosote in the fire tubes.

All of the turbulators except one pulled out easily from the tubes. Some of the turbulators were elongated a little, assumed because of sticking in the tubes when the cleaning lever was operated and creosote was in the tubes caused by the idling. The tube that did not pull out easily did come out, but then it too was elongated. The Froling came with a brush to clean the tubes. The brush fit the tubes very loosely and did not do a good job of cleaning what was on the tubes. I bought a slightly larger diameter cleaning brush, and it quickly cleaned the tubes to bare metal with little effort. Most of what was on the tubes was a coating of accumulated fly ash that the turbulators did not knock off the tubes.

Although some turburlators are elongated and therefore did not fit tubes as tightly as otherwise, it will be wait and see how they do this heating season. The plan is once a month to inspect the tubes this heating season, and then a decision will be made as to whether the turbulators need to be replaced.

When I bought the new brush for the Froling, I also bought three other diameter brushes for use on the Wood Gun E500 and the Garn WHS3200.

My Tarm Solo Plus 40 does not have turbulators. I brush the tubes 1-2 times/month during the heating season. All that is on the tubes is accumulated fly ash. Stack temperature drops 50-100F after each tube cleaning.