Why is this happening?

[deprayb]

Here's a picture of a big almost rock like piece of ash that one my customers brought in today. I've never seen anything like it and just wondering if anyone else has? He said they are forming in his ash pot and want us to do something about it..

 

[jtakeman]

What you have there is whats called a clinker! And a big un too!

Ash fusion. Clorides(salt deposits) in the fiber fuse with the ash during the burn. Seems to happen more on higher burn settings as the temps get hotter in the burnpot.

Could you share the brand of pllets with us? These are the ones we tend to steer clear of.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

That is sintered ash, aka a clinker.

clinker = temperature + ash (salt and mineral content) + time + moisture

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Now if you can evacuate the ash from the pot there won't be enough time for sintering to happen. If the pellets ash production level is low there likely won't be the ash available, if the pellet has excess moisture (improper storage can cause this as can a poor production process) it will tend to assist the sintering process, if the pellet has a lot of salts in it the process is aided, if the ash is heavy (by weight) due to a high mineral content other than salt the process is aided.

So anything that effects burn air needs to be looked at.
Pellets storage comes into play.

The pellet is the single biggest contributer.

The fireing rate.

Enjoy they are really nasty things to have to deal with.

 

[lordgrinz]

I just learned something new, I now know what a clinker is ;-) I see them hanging off my burnpot using the free pallet of NEWP's I got with the stove.

 

[B-Mod]

That' a baby clinker, you should see the ones my little castile stove can put out burning corn for 24 hours............

 

[Xena]

You sell stoves and never saw a clinker?
I don't get em but most stove manuals
at least mention them....just sayin.

 

[lordgrinz]

I should say mine are more like stiff clumps, not really rock like, they look weird hanging a few inches off the burnpot though.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Here have a look see at a real clinker: https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewreply/559673/

 

[jtakeman]

Thats not a clinker its a meteor that fell from the sky.

 

[ironpony]

I used to work for a company that cleaned powerplants
in the boiler there was apart called the nose
there would be klinkers the size of a vw bug hanging off it
and when we would brak it loose it would fall 150 feet to the boiler floor
and get ground up in the grinders at the bottom
talk about a thud
anyhow that usually a result of the pellets you are burning
I have not had one since switching to somersets

 

[Delta-T]

thats coal.....someones on the naughty list.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

thats coal.....someones on the naughty list.

Naw, coal would never clinker, there not enough ash produced burning coal. Nope never happen ;-).

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

thats coal.....someones on the naughty list.

Naw, coal would never clinker, there not enough ash produced burning coal. Nope never happen ;-).
ETA: To the OP we sometimes call pellets that do that on a regular basis dirt in a bag.

 

[hossthehermit]

thats coal.....someones on the naughty list.

Naw, coal would never clinker, there not enough ash produced burning coal. Nope never happen ;-).

Never hung around a forge, Smokey? My uncle had a little blacksmith shop when I was a kid, useta love to hang out at his place. Trust me, coal WILL clinker up.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

thats coal.....someones on the naughty list.

Naw, coal would never clinker, there not enough ash produced burning coal. Nope never happen ;-).

Never hung around a forge, Smokey? My uncle had a little blacksmith shop when I was a kid, useta love to hang out at his place. Trust me, coal WILL clinker up.

Actually Hoss I've burned many tons of coal, you missed the the wink after Nope never happen, fer a Mainer your sarcasm detector is missing a lot.

 

[save$]

I was getting those in my Napoleon's round cast iron burn pot about every 3 days while I was burning Canadian Energex. They kind of take the shap of a bird's nest. I run my stove between four and five and the air wide open. This year, now with OAK, I started burning MWP. No ash in my burn pot. Ran out of MWP so I started in on my Canadian Energex. This time only getting nut size crumb ash rocks. Got a new supply of MWP and no more clinkers, or ash build up in the pot. I get good heat from both.

 

[P0ZBURN]

I know coal can clinker I work in a coal fired power plant. At the bottom of the boiler there is a bottomash hopper full of water that has to be dumped twice a shift. The clinkers and slag are ground up in what we call a clinker grinder and pumped out to a ash pond. Just like pellets it depends on the coal quality wether you have alot of slag or clinkers form. Like the one guy said sometimes you can have vw bus size chunks in these boliers...

 

[Taperbill]

For those of us burning Corn that is a nugget..

But in the spirit of Tax and trade.
Trade it in for a real clunker.

a volt?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

For those of us burning Corn that is a nugget..

.....

Funny the words I've heard used to describe such things never had nugget in them ;-).

 

[Czech]

We use our corn clinkers for hockey pucks here in MN, they last longer than the rubber ones.