Hi all, I am hoping someone can help me out with this issue. I have an econoburn 100, have been using it for about 2 years now, and both this year and last year I am noticing I am having alot of ash buildup in the tubing that connects to the chimney for the unit. I have only been burning since early/mid november this year, and when i checked my tubing tonight, it had about an inch deep of ash going up it to the chimney. It is cold here so far this year, but not ungodly so, so I havent been burning crazy amounts of wood, but this ash buildup is a bit concerning. I am including some pics of my setup, incase anyone can tell anything from that. I havent gotten around to calling dale yet, as I wanted to see if it had anything to do with what I was burning this year, but I am burning nothing but old oak and hickory, so it is very well seasoned, so I am kinda stumped. I had a licensed HVAC guy do the chimney work for me, but beyond that, I am a bit of a novice at this, so any techie jargon will pretty much fly over my head, so if someone can tell anything from my setup, or I can provide additional info, I would appreciate it. thanks!
ash buildup... any ideas?
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I have never seen an econoburn or any gaser for that mater. You have fly ash build up. it's not a huge deal. don't have clue what is recommended for this unit. Here is what I see! Check the draft and see if you can loose a little weight on the barometric damper. this will allow the ash to fall out. I would consider putting a tee where the 90 degree elbow comes out of the boiler with a cap for clean out. If cutting down on the draft still lets the furnace operate correctly - you will have less ash to start with and the added tee should capture the ash as the velocity will be lower and gravity will take over and will be easier to clean
Don't knot about econoburn either, but I had a lot of ash getting into the back of my stove too. I have started to adjust the primary air control which is a damper on the blower fan. This will restrict air going to fire and secondary burn which has slowed down some of the velocity going up chimney. However you don't want to adjust past the point where you start to loose gasification. Before making this adjustment I would throughly clean stove so you have a good base line for existing operation.
Fly ash means you're getting a good, hot, clean burn. By all accounts it's quite normal for a gaser.
What I kinda don't like about your setup is that the ash has nowhere to go but up. Most gassers I've seen (mine included) have a tee right at the outlet of the boiler. This gives the ash more room to fall down instead of going up. I actually added another 12"+/- of pipe below my tee for more capacity to catch fly ash. I pop the bottom off about twice a year to remove several inches that collect in the bottom...
What I kinda don't like about your setup is that the ash has nowhere to go but up. Most gassers I've seen (mine included) have a tee right at the outlet of the boiler. This gives the ash more room to fall down instead of going up. I actually added another 12"+/- of pipe below my tee for more capacity to catch fly ash. I pop the bottom off about twice a year to remove several inches that collect in the bottom...
stee6043 said:
hey thanks for the good advice on installing a t at the bottom. "stee6043" could you upload a picture of what yours looks like so I can get an idea on what I can do to fix this? like I said, I am new to the boiler game, and dont have alot of know how when it comes to tinkering with it. thanks!
I also get a lot of fly ash in the horizontal and diagonal portions of pipe between my Econoburn 150 and the chimney. I installed Tees rather than elbows at each turn to make it easier to get in and clean out.
This year I'm trying the approach of trying to really remove any loose ash in the lower chamber on a daily basis. I used to wait until it seemed like a significant accumulation. I am hoping that by keeping the lower chamber more clear of ash, less ash will be blown up into the flue run. Time will tell whether this makes a big difference, but it can't hurt.
Also, not to nitpick, but what are the clearances between your single wall flue pipe and that plastic insulation covering? I'd want a lot of space between, or else some sort of non-flammable barrier.
This year I'm trying the approach of trying to really remove any loose ash in the lower chamber on a daily basis. I used to wait until it seemed like a significant accumulation. I am hoping that by keeping the lower chamber more clear of ash, less ash will be blown up into the flue run. Time will tell whether this makes a big difference, but it can't hurt.
Also, not to nitpick, but what are the clearances between your single wall flue pipe and that plastic insulation covering? I'd want a lot of space between, or else some sort of non-flammable barrier.
Maybe it the photos but it looks like there is a negative (downward) incline immediately coming out of the unit and again going into the chimney. That creates back pressure and restricted airflow which allows the ash to settle instead of going out the chimney. Another thing to look at is the type and moisture content of the wood you are burning. I found that pine types and low btu hard woods created lots of ash in my EKO40 and too high mc created poor burns too and that created ash build up pretty fast.
I have been burning really well seasoned oak and hickory this year, no pine or cedar. So hopefully that shouldnt be an issue. The pictures dont really show it well, but there is about 3 feet clearance between the single walled tubing and the insulated basement wall, and the building inspector thought everything was kosher when he inspected it when we had the boiler put in ( we put it in when we built our new house 2 years ago). And, I went down and checked just now, the angle on the photo is weird, because there isnt really an immediate downslope coming out from boiler, it just looks that way from the angle of the pic. I will try the idea of installing T's rather then elbow joints in the single walled tubing, so hopefully that will help me to clean it with a bit more ease. I have also been cleaning out the bottom chamber about once or twice a week, but I can try cleaning it out more frequently then that to see if it helps with buildup. again thanks for the tips, and if anyone could send me a pic or two of how their tubing looks coming out of the boiler, so I can try to emulate, I would appreciate it. thanks!
My flue is vertical, but the same principles apply. I Tee out of the boiler, and have a Tee BELOW that. I put the baro damper in the lower Tee (works fine). When you can see the fly ash when the damper is open, put in your GLOVED hand and scoop it out into a bucket. Or add the 1 foot below and clean it once a year or two.
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I had a T out like Hunderliggur but with only about 9" of pipe instead of a foot extending below the T. I didn't get a year but I think 3 weeks was the shortest time between clean outs. With my set up though I idled a lot. the hardest part of the clean-out was the horizontal part of the T.
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