Heat exchanger clean out Tool??

[lawandorder]

I have a Tarm Solo 40 and was looking for a tool for cleaning the heat exchanger tubes. The one Tarm supplies just isnt cutting it. Anyone have a better alternative? At one point I thought there was one that Tarm sold as an accessory that was a solid piece of rod with a fitting on the end??

 

[ChiefChicken]

Find a round wire wheel (the kind you put in a drill) that is a snug fit in your heat exchanger tubes. Purchase an extension equal to the length of your tubes. Attach to a drill and have at it! I'll often keep a shop vac running near the tubes as I'm cleaning so that the dust doesn't go everywhere.

Good luck!

 

[Medman]

I found a wire bottle brush and attached it to a broom handle. Not as agressive as above, but it's only flyash in the tubes. Ditto on the vac - it makes cleanup easy. I use a drywall bag in the vac.

 

[jebatty]

Take a look at how you are burning and your schedule for cleaning the tubes. You should find that the tubes brush clean and easy. As we all know, dry, well-seasoned wood is a key, not only for high performance but also to keep those tubes clean. Another would be to minimize idle times. And a third is regular brushing of the tubes. I brush the tubes every 2 weeks on my Solo 40. There never has been any build-up or difficult cleaning. I brush 5 up & downs in a tube, then rotate the brush 90*, and do five more. Move on to next tube. I also use a wide blade putty knife and scrape any accumulation off the walls of the firebox, then push all the stuff accumulated on top of the tubes down the tubes, rake out the ash/soot from the lower chamber, and ready to go for another 2 weeks. All of this takes about 15 minutes. This will be my 5th season of burning, and all is well with the Tarm.

 

[henfruit]

I use a soft boiler brush.I would not scrap the inside of the fire box.What is attached is protecting the steel.

 

[jebatty]

I should have said "smoke box," not firebox. And my use of "scrape" probably was too harsh. I just slide the blade along the sides of the smoke box.

As to the firebox, in accordance with the Tarm manual I do scrape any creosote buildup, but I don't get down to bare metal, at the end of each season, and then seal up the Tarm to prevent any moisture intrusion, which leads to corrosion.

 

[lawandorder]

I do regularly clean the tubes however my first year burning was with wood that wasnt dry enough and I had a pretty good buildup. I was just looking for a better alternative to make it a bit easier and to hopefully do a better job. I noticed the last time I cleaned the tubes that they werent smooth on the walls but had some debris on it that the brush which Tarm provides just wouldnt clean off.

 

[willworkforwood]

I do regularly clean the tubes however my first year burning was with wood that wasnt dry enough and I had a pretty good buildup. I was just looking for a better alternative to make it a bit easier and to hopefully do a better job. I noticed the last time I cleaned the tubes that they werent smooth on the walls but had some debris on it that the brush which Tarm provides just wouldnt clean off.

No idea what kind of brush Tarm supplied, but a correctly-sized, stiff "tube" brush will remove ash, even the baked-on stuff. The really firm stuff may take some scrubbing, but it will eventually all come off. But brushes won't remove creosote - it looks and acts like epoxy. Creosote needs some kind of cutter, or chemical-based removal process. If you can flake off the stuff in your tubes reasonably easily with a flat screwdriver (or it just crumbles off), then it's probably baked ash. But if if the screwdriver just puts groves the stuff, then it's probably creosote (hope it's not).

 

[ohbie1]

I'm an old guy, so pushing the oversized tube brush (supplied by Tarm) up and down 4 - 6 times per tube got pretty tiring. Thanks to someone's idea on the forum, I looked around for a brush the same diam. as the tube(2"). I found one with a 42" handle at Grainger........cut the loop off the end of the handle......stuck it in a var. speed drill chuck and it's great. One pass down and back up and it's clean as a whistle.............and the brush is not agressive like the one from Tarm.
Number and spec. below:


3EDR3 Furnace Boiler Brush, Dia 2, Length 42

 

[flyingcow]

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/TOUGH-GUY-Furnace-Boiler-Brush-3EDR3

 

[jebatty]

....and the brush is not agressive like the one from Tarm.

My Tarm brush for the Solo 40, 3" diameter, is not aggressive at all. Just a typical steel brush, bristles bend easily, does a nice job. For another idea, though, you can get at the hardware store a wire cup brush with a screw fitting for a rod in a variety of diameters. These are quite inexpensive, and likely also would work very well attached to a drill.

 

[goosegunner]

Not sure of the science behind this but Econoburn manual says if the turrbulator lever doesn't move freely. Place 2 or 3 raw potatoes in the secondary chamber below the nozzle.

I have had times when the turbulator bar was difficult to move. I put the potatoes where directed and the lever moves very freely afterwords.

gg