Cleaning Heat Exchanger Tubes

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RJP Electric

Member
Jul 3, 2008
113
N. New Hampshire
In my Biomass my flap bolt came loose which caused creosote to drip into my heat exchangers. The lever to the corkscrews to clean the tubes is frozen and hardly any air is circulating though any of them. Is there some sort of industrial creosote remover I can use and dump down the tubes? I also have an access at the bottom of the boiler at the lower end of the tubes. It will be a big job to remove each corkscrew, but still I need to get them loose. Any ideas?

Bob
 

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I'm not sure how the turbulators are made in the biomass but if you can get to them from the top and use some sort of slide puller you should be able to hammer them out. The creosote should bust up as it comes out unless you were burning real damp wood. Once you get them out you can use a wire brush to clean them. a scraper or a spade drill setup works also.
leaddog
 
You can try Leaddog's suggestion first because it's easy, but last year I tried a whole bunch of stuff that didn't work. I finally ended up using wood ash mixed with water to disolve the creosote, and completely clean the tubes. Here's the way it goes, if busting them out doesn't work, and you want to give it a shot. I can PM the full write up of the procedure I used, but it sounds like you need to free the turbulators (aka corkscrews ;-) ) first. Your turbulator linkage should have a bolt connecting each turb to the rod. Disassemble all of that so you can work each turb separately. I would do only one at a time - at least until you get the hang of it. Mix wood ash with water in a fairly watery ratio - it will need to run down the tubes. You want to get the mix onto as much of the surface area of the heat tube as possible. Apply 1 coating, wait for 15 minutes or so, then another and wait another 15. Now the glop will be starting to react with the creosote, and you can use the turb as a scraper to help remove the creosote. This may be a slow process, depending on how much creosote is in the tube, and it might take multiple recoatings. But you should be able so see the turb moving more over time, and that means the creosote is coming off. Once the turbs are out, you can finish cleaning the tubes with brushes. Be aware that the ash/water mix is corrosive, and may damage metal if left on. Make sure you catch and remove the dregs that drop down. Also, clean all metal surfaces with water, and dry completely. I finished up by coating the dry metal surfaces with WD40. Good luck with it!
 
Bob

Your boiler is very similar to the Econoburn boiler in design. When I clean the Econoburns, I find it easiest to pull the entire rack of turbulator out as one unit. If yours are that stuck you may have to unhook each one individually and pull them out. I made a pulling rack that allows me to hook a ratcheting chain hoist to the cross bar and pull the entire rack of turbulators out as one. I have not seen them stuck so bad that I can not get them pulled out as a whole unit. You definetally can't do it by hand. I have seen several turbulators that were bent by a homeowner who tried to pry them out with a pry bar. Sometimes it takes a bit pf persuasion to get them out, but they do come out. After they are out it will take some serious brushing to get the tubes clean.

If you are getting that much creosote in the tubes the boiler must be at an idle a bunch (Over-sized boiler)or using not fully seasoned firewood. I would think about cleaning the HE tubes much more often. It is a pain in the a$$ but much easier than fighting with them when they get stuck.

One other thing I would check is the linkage that connects the turbulator shaker arm to the turbulator. I have heard and seen where some folks have actully bent the linkage which makes one think that they are actually stuck. That may not be the case with your unit, but well worth looking at.

As led dog stated, some type of spade bit if there is a lot of buildup in the HE's after the turbs are pulled out. Looking at your posted picture, the HE's look like they have dry tan colored build up, not black gummy creosote. I'll bet the linkage is a bit bent.
 
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