Just Installed "turbulator" chains!

[kielka]

So I just got done putting in 8 chain lengths of 3/8" chain by about 22" long in my hx tubes. Can't wait to see what happens

 

[jebatty]

Look forward to hearing your report.

 

[flyingcow]

looking for a reply in 2 weeks? or less?

 

[afblue]

This might be a noobie question, but what are we talking about here?

 

[Nushagak]

I bought the turbulators for TARM 60 and they a huge improvement, and reduced stack temp. I wish I had done it from the start. Burning nothing but birch.
Nush.

 

[TCaldwell]

the heat exchange tubes that transfer or radiate the hot fluegas into the surrounding water jacket are smooth walled inside so the fluegas becomes cooler towards the outside of the pipe wall and the hotter gas stream stays in the middle. ideally you want all the fluegas to radiate heat to the outside of the tube wall. A turbolator is a helically twisted metal ribbon that slides inside the hx tube deflecting the hot fluegass to the pipe wall, lowering the overall flue temp having the heat absorbed into water thus higher effiency. a chain can be substituted for a solid turbulator. more reading at brock turbulators.

 

[henfruit]

Iwas wondering if my stack temp runs below 400 on average , would i gain any thing from installing turbulators?

 

[woodsmaster]

Do the new tarms have the turbulators ? My biomass came with them included and installed.

 

[flyingcow]

My Innova came with them

 

[kielka]

I was seeing stack temps in the 500-600 range. now i'm between 375 and 425. I'm very pleased to see the efficiency gains from this very cheap install. I would say I gained atleast 10% by doing this in a matter of how long a load will last so I'm happy with how it turned out. I used 3/8" chain and 1/2" all thread with nuts to hold the chain in center. so far so good.

 

[kielka]

Iwas wondering if my stack temp runs below 400 on average , would i gain any thing from installing turbulators?

I would say that is a low temp already and installing turbulators would drop it below a good performance temp.

 

[jebatty]

A 100F drop in stack temp represent about a 2% increase in efficiency -- for the low cost and ease of doing it, chain turbulators seem to be a no brainer to me. I'm in my 4th year with my chains. With clean hx tubes, 380-430F is the norm. It would be interesting for someone with "factory" turbulators to pull them out and substitute chains, and then see the difference, if any, in stack temps. And going below 300F would not be recommended due to condensation issues.

 

[afblue]

So I can see how they would help the heat transfer. Am I getting this right, the chains are slowing the vertical convection of the exhaust air, then radiating it out to the tubes? I would think a gasifier with stock turbulators would be more efficient radiating out to the tubes since they are flat surfaces, but they might also not slow down the exhaust velocity enough to convert convection to radiant.

 

[DaveBP]

I don't believe there is a lot of radiation going on with the turbulators.

From everything I've read the main goal is to stir up the hot gases while they pass through the fire tubes. This is to increase the conductive transfer of heat to the tube walls. Without something to make the gases turbulent on the way up the tubes, the hottest gases will tend to run up the middle of the tubes' cross section and not even make contact with the walls of the tube. Slowing the gases down gives them more time to transfer heat, too.

 

[kielka]

what do factory turbulators cost. my chains cost about $25.00

 

[glhenry56]

Just installed a set of chain turbulators as well in my Tarm 502. For the record, I have burning 'anthracite only' for 4 weeks (after installing the "official" Tarm coal baffle$). Went off line today to see what a month of coal looks like vs wood. Much cleaner this time - generally some fluffy ash deposit, but the wood I had been burning was not seasoned a full year.

I got the idea for (and photos of) the chain turbulators here on Hearth (thank you jebatty!), and made them out of 18" lengths of 1/2" chain. I've been back on coal for just a couple of hours, so it will be awhile before I have an opinion on how much they help.

 

[NYEDGE]

looking forward to your findings.
I've thought of adding chains also.

 

[barkeatr]

I ASSUME these turbulator chains only work with vertical tubes, not horizontal turbulator tubes.

very interesting..

barkeatr