Any BioWin Cleaning Tips?

[velvetfoot]

Does anyone have any Windhager BioWin pellet boiler cleaning tips?

I've looked and I don't think I'm there yet. The screen says 1275 hours to go before cleaning.

I've read the manual. Just wondering what people who've actually done it experienced. Any videos out there (I've looked)?

 

[DBNH22]

I think the first time I had to clean the ash bin last year was when the LCD prompted me to do so and that was after like 2 months or so of operation. After that I think I cleaned it every few weeks when I felt like it. i don't believe I shut the unit down to do so.

As for cleaning the burn chamber, I think once every 2-3 months is ample. Obviously you need to power down and let the unit cool to do this. I generally remove the parts from the burnpot and scrape everything off all surfaces with a scraper and or wire brush and use a shop vac to get it all out. Be careful to leave the airpin in place in the center of the burnpot while doing this to prevent ash from getting into the igniter.

It's fairly straightforward.

 

[velvetfoot]

Thanks Dana!

 

[Paste]

As Dana said it is pretty straight forward. I just cleaned mine on Tuesday, so I'll try to make a video next time I do it.

Get a wire cup brush to clean the inside of the burn pot with a drill. Speeds up the process significantly.

 

[heaterman]

General rule of thumb.........clean from the top down. Start with checking the chimney connector, then the draft inducer area, (4 wing nuts) then work your way down through the firebox. Take the cast iron plate out of the top by lifting it up about an inch and then tipping it to allow it to slide out. Note if the boiler was just shut down, all of these things will be HOT. Use leather gloves.
If you see a need to clean the secondary air holes in the firepot, NEVER use anything steel to scrape it with. Use a wooden dowel to poke the holes clean if they need it. Regular steel scrapers or brushes will leave ferrous deposits on the stainless firepot and cause corrosion.
Once everything is cleaned on top you can take out the primary air "pin" and clean it. Make sure no ash gets down into the primary air tube underneath it.

From there clean out the area under the firepot, then tap the back door up to get at the chamber underneath the flue tubes. The flue tubes are cleaned by the automatic scraper and will need no attention.
After that you can remove the ask "suitcase" and dispose of what it in there.
The boiler will tell you when it needs to be cleaned.

 

[velvetfoot]

Thanks! I didn't realize that about stainless and carbon steel. However, the burnpot scraper and spatula tools that Windhager provides seem to be carbon steel. The manual also recommends poking a drill bit through the holes if needed.

When you say that the boiler will tell you when it needs to be cleaned, do you mean the ash suitcase or the whole thing?

 

[JBainbridge]

Hey velvetfoot
If you scroll through the info screen you should get to the page when it tells you how many hours left before the unit needs to be cleaned. I believe it starts at 600 operation hours and counts down from there. At that point you should do a complete cleaning as heaterman described.

Also as heaterman pointed out to me don't scrape the refractory cement on the door with the metal scraper as it's a fairly soft material.

 

[velvetfoot]

Thanks! I'm at 1275 hours right now. I was thinking that was for ash removal only. i didn't think that was for cleaning the burning area as well. Good tip about the refractory.

 

[JBainbridge]

I think the 1275 hours your looking at Is total operation hours. If you keep pressing the info button it'll scroll through different pages like current boiler output, next boiler cleaning, flue temp and a few other things.

 

[Deering]

I've only done a complete cleaning of mine once so far, but I'm approaching the second cleaning in the next month or so. Even though I had to read my way through the manual in the process, I found it to be easier than I expected. And much less nasty than cleaning out an oil boiler. Took me maybe 1/2 hour, and I can probably do it faster once I get familiar with the process.

The main objective in most parts of the boiler is ash removal from different locations. And the burn chamber of course will have a significant amount of ash to deal with before you get in there to deal with the burn pot stuff. You of course don't want that ash escaping into your house. I used a shopvac to deal with that. But if you allow the vac exhaust to blow back into the room, you'll need one with a highly effective HEPA filtration system. I'm cheap so I solved that by adding some extra hose to my cheap shopvac and placing it outside, routing the hose through the nearby door. Also gets the screaming loud unit away from me so I can think. If I recall from your photos, your boiler isn't far from an exterior door, so that should work well for you.

The firepot stuff can be a bit confusing on the dis-assembly if you haven't done it before, but once you get it apart it'll be pretty obvious. I didn't find cleaning the parts all that onerous.

Honestly I can't remember that much about the process since it was way last year. I'll be doing mine again before you're due, so I can give you more recent tips then.

 

[velvetfoot]

I think the 1275 hours your looking at Is total operation hours.

No. Cleaning is now in 1263 hrs and total run time is 203 hrs.
I've been putting very few hours on the boiler since I'm also burning wood-mostly for the upstairs once in a while and dhw and when it gets real cold. It helps to be retired.

've only done a complete cleaning of mine once so far, but I'm approaching the second cleaning in the next month or so.

Are you going by what the screen tells you-can you tell me what hours to clean you started with? I think I read that the hours are adjusted depending on the way the boiler is operated, but mine seem high. I recall heaterman saying he visits that farm with the several BioWin units going every 600-700 hours for a cleaning.

Will you clean the ID Fan area in the next scheduled cleaning? The manual seems to indicate once a season is good enough.

As far as non-ferrous cleaning tools for the burn pot go, what have you used or plan to use? I found some copper and stainless brushes in the paint section of HD. Also scrubbing pads like Scotch Brite. They have in stock a 3" stainless cup brush, but I think that's meant for a grinder. They have for ordering a Dremel 1/2" stainless cup brush-I think that might be best. As far as a non-ferrous dowel to clear out the holes, I have no idea.

 

[velvetfoot]

Are you going by what the screen tells you-can you tell me what hours to clean you started with? I think I read that the hours are adjusted depending on the way the boiler is operated, but mine seem high. I recall heaterman saying he visits that farm with the several BioWin units going every 600-700 hours for a cleaning.

Well, I answered my own question, or rather Marc did. Since I have a smaller unit, the 100/150, the cleaning interval hours are higher. Makes sense!

 

[velvetfoot]

I just bumped down the output to 10 kw and the hours to clean went from 1259 to 1859. Things happen more slowly, which on low load use is what I'm shooting for I guess.

 

[Deering]

I wonder if the boiler estimates cleaning interval partly based on the number of starts, and/or amount of pellets run through it?

 

[velvetfoot]

I think mostly on the amount of pellets run through it.

 

[JBainbridge]

I think mostly on the amount of pellets run through it.

I think your right.

I just cleaned mine out for the first time today. I still had about 180 hrs left before i actually needed to clean it but it was a nice day out so i decided to take it apart. So far I've ran 2 tons of pellets through it since the beginning of October and there was only about 2.5 to 3 gallons of ashes in it. It amazes me at how efficient this thing runs and how completely it burns the pellets to almost nothing.

 

[velvetfoot]

i decided to take it apart.

Did you take the fan apart too? They say it's only a once a season type of thing.

 

[JBainbridge]

Did you take the fan apart too? They say it's only a once a season type of thing.

No. I'll do that at the end of the season. I did remove it to check the heat exchangers and it was pretty clean. There was just a small amount of fly ash i vacuumed up

 

[Karl_northwind]

My biggest tip is to make sure you have a fine particulate bag for a good shop vac. 90% of the cleaning is shop vac and the paintbrush for removing fly ash from nooks and crannies. other than a dowel and shop vac (I used the paintbrush for the secondary air holes, and the forward facing camera on the phone to inspect the near side of the burn pot) I don't keep any other tools for cleaning them other than a brass brush. (I keep them around for cleaning other SS boilers inside.

the one I did today had 1400 hours on the clock. first cleaning, and other than some ash buildup in the lower burner chamber (to be expected) it was pretty clean.

karl

 

[velvetfoot]

That's good news.

 

[Deering]

Just cleaned mine today. Took me at most 45 minutes. Could probably do it in 20 once I was familiar with it. Only real buildup was on the cone inside the firepot. I soaked it in a bucket of water while I was doing the rest of the cleaning and that made it a lot easier to scrape off the buildup.

Make sure you clean off the temp probe above the firepot. Mine had some buildup on it that I was able to rub off by hand.

Also cleaned the ID fan. Simple process - fan just had some loose ash on it. Everything else in there was just coated with fine dust.

When doing any hand brushing, keep the vacuum wand nearby to capture the airborne ash. And again, as I mentioned above, it worked great to have the shopvac outside the building using a hose extender. I had to run about 20 ft, but that presented no problem for this work.

 

[velvetfoot]

Thanks.
Did you do the cleaning when the control panel told you to?
What tool did you use to scrape the cone? Was it stainless steel?
Did you have to clear out the holes in the burnpot assembly, and if so, with what?
I use a hose on the exhaust when I brush the insert. Not sure yet if it'll reach the basement window.
I'm not burning near as much as you are, but I'm using the wood insert a lot and it's a smaller place.

 

[Deering]

- Yes. Ran it almost down to zero hours.
- Used the spatula included w/ the boiler, then used a stainless wire wheel brush to finish. Soaking helped a lot. Otherwise I'd probably power up a brush on my drill.
- Used a drill bit, by hand, as called out in the manual. Not sure a dowel would be as effective for the crusty stuff. Holes only slightly clogged up.
- Using about 7% fewer Btu's/HDD than with oil. House and occupancy hasn't changed. Likely due to higher efficiency of PB with the thermal storage and modulation.

One other tip: When cleaning the ID fan, make sure nothing falls down into the tube area, such as one of the wingnuts or your hand brush or a vacuum wand attachment. Could be a devil to fish it out... You'll see what I mean when you open it up.

 

[velvetfoot]

One other tip: When cleaning the ID fan, make sure nothing falls down into the tube area, such as one of the wingnuts or your hand brush or a vacuum wand attachment. Could be a devil to fish it out... You'll see what I mean when you open it up.

I've cleaned out that area before, just to see what it looked like, and I know what you mean. Once a year will do it for me, and by then it'll be warmer.

then used a stainless wire wheel brush to finish. Soaking helped a lot. Otherwise I'd probably power up a brush on my drill.

Does that mean you used a 'stainless wire wheel brush' manually, i.e., not connected to a drill, dremel, etc? I have to acquire a stainless wheel-maybe Dremel.

 

[Deering]

Does that mean you used a 'stainless wire wheel brush' manually, i.e., not connected to a drill, dremel, etc?

Yes. Was too lazy to hook it up to drill, and was doing it just to clean off a couple small stubborn spots. The firepot assembly is easy to get out, so I'll probably pull it out a few times per year for a quick clean. According to Marc it's critical that these components don't get enough buildup to inhibit mechanical operation, or it can be a whole firepot replacement, which is probaby an expensive and crappy task.