Can I burn nails and screws in my boiler???

Lar-Bud said:

OK, now that I've gotten your attention, I can ask. The HVAC guy is starting to hook up our wood boiler. It's an Alternate Heating E-100 Wood Gun. And I have some old pallets lying around that I'd like to burn. But I want to know if I miss a nail or screw when I take them apart will it hurt the boiler? I would think it wouldn't, but I want to double check before I do. And one other question, I read many different posts talking about "bridging". What exactly is this? Thanks in advance for any help.

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I am not familiar with the unit you're having installed. Won't get much heat out of nails and screws, but unless there is a grate system in the bottom of the firebox it likely won't hurt anything. Don't, obviously, go throwing your ashes in the driveway or road... lol It likely won't hurt anything in the boiler, unless there are grates for them to tangle in...

I've burned some wood frames that plows are shipped in that have nails. I try to take them all out, but miss a few, I don't think it will hurt anything if you miss a few.

Bridging is when the wood burns and doesn't fall down on itself and an air gap forms between the splits. When this happens the smoke will flow through the air gap and not gassify properly. This has happened to me when the wood is not dry enough, or if the splits have a branch knot sticking out holding the other splits away. My boiler likes smaller splits and kind of tight together, but not enough to restrict air/smoke flow between them.

From what I've found, dry wood and not huge splits is the key to prevent bridging, although I've been known to be wrong..lol

Get yourself a nice big magnet and just fish it around in the ashes (once the fire dies down), that should get out all the nails/screws. Unless they're stainless or brass, of course LOL

patch53 said:

Get yourself a nice big magnet and just fish it around in the ashes (once the fire dies down), that should get out all the nails/screws. Unless they're stainless or brass, of course LOL

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If you take a defunct computer and open it up, and then pull out the hard drive and open it up, you'll find one or more small but very strong rare earth magnets that'd be good for fishing out nails. Beware that they may be brittle, and may also pull so hard that they'd be hard to get off of any flat steel surfaces.

I would think as long as the nails/screws do not fall through the "nozzle" then you will be OK. If they do fall through I'm not sure what would happen if they were to reach the cyclone. Better ask AHS on this!

I'm a 1 month user of a BioMass gasser. I asked the same question about a month ago and the general concensus was it's ok. I cut up some pallets I had laying around with my chain saw just to make the pieces small enough to fit in the door. Nails end up in the ashes so the only negative I've seen is be selective where you put ashes. I've been buring these pallet sections with my regular splits, not by themselves.

No. You can melt them a bit at best, but they will not burn. :coolsmirk:

And FWIW, don't use the chain saw to cut up palets. Use something with a carbide blade. The saw chain will find the nails :-S

"If you take a defunct computer and open it up, and then pull out the hard drive and open it up, you'll find one or more small but very strong rare earth magnets that'd be good for fishing out nails. Beware that they may be brittle, and may also pull so hard that they'd be hard to get off of any flat steel surfaces."[/quote]

One more "beware" about the hard drive magnets. Be careful playing with them. As you move two of the magnets close to each other, they can snap together with enough force that they will take a "bite" out of your fingers if they are in the wrong spot at the wrong time. .....don't ask me how I know

The previous owner of my boiler burned lots of hardware. Some of the nails were sort of fused together, must have been from rusting next to each other, not sure a gasser gets hot enough to melt carbon steel.

I have just started using a similar boiler E-140 and had the same concern. I would not want any hardware to reach the draft fan, but the design of this boiler makes that next to impossible. The nails will likely fall through the nozzle slots, and you will find them in that tunnel below the slots. If one were to make it to the back of the boiler it would never make the turn into the tunnels that run forward from the back door. Just be careful that when you clean out the boiler form time to time that you don't accidentally shove the nails along the tunnels. If you keep the wood that could have nails towards the front of the boiler I am sure they will stay in the gassification tunnel.

I have burned nails from pallet wood in my EKO 40 and it caused no problems for the boiler .

I have burned nails and screws for 18 years. Never had a problem and can't see my EKO 25 caring either way.