cleaning ashes from a Tarm solo plus 40

[sweetheat]

What is your average number of burn cycles before you remove your ashes from the primary fire box?
What is your average number of burn cycles before you clean your heat tubes?
Using Tarm solo plus 40 I heat 2352 square foot workshop with radiant infloor zone 1 and radiators zone 2, my consumption of wood is less then 4 cords hardwood used from 11/1/15 to 4/1/16, temp inside is 62 F plus domestic hot water for shower and kitchen. How does this compare to others with same setup?

 

[jebatty]

Looks like your Tarm is doing a good job and your wood burning expertise is considerable. How long have you had your Tarm? What is your practice/experience on removing ashes from the primary firebox and when to brush the heat exchanger tubes? What is your practice on removing ash accumulation in the secondary burn chamber? The winter of 2007-08 was my first year with the Tarm Solo Plus 40, so this season will mark 10 full heating seasons with my Tarm. And I regard my choice of the Tarm back in 2007 as one of the best decisions I have ever made.

 

[velvetfoot]

Sound like a couple of great testimonials!

 

[dogwood]

Sweetheat, I have a Tarm Solo Innova 50 which I believe is similar to your Tarm Solo Plus. To answer your questions:

What is your average number of burn cycles before you remove your ashes from the primary fire box?

Per the manual's instructions I clean the upper chamber and lower chamber twice a week. At an average of two burns a day this comes out to be after every 6 to 8 burns. I usually leave a little ash on the floor of the fire box as someone on site mentioned this makes the refractory floor last longer.

What is your average number of burn cycles before you clean your heat tubes?

Per the manual, I clean the tubes and turbulators every two weeks, which at two burns a day comes out to be after every 28 burns . I keep an eye on the flue temps, and have cleaned the tubes sooner if the flue temps were running higher than usual. I have an ash vacuum and have found it useful to vacuum out the area below the tubes by sticking the vacuum hose extensions down to the bottom of the tubes to clean out that hard to get to area where I suspect fly ash might pile up and block air flow.

I also have a 4 foot horizontal section of stovepipe in my installation which I will have vacuumed twice this season.

How does this (wood usage) compare to others with same setup?

Our wood usage appears to be similar to yours. We are heating our 3000 square feet home to an average 70 degree daytime temperature, but in a more southerly climate zone than you, here in Virginia. We use a water to air heat exchanger in a forced hot air system to heat our home and a flat plate heat exchanger to heat our DHW. We generally burn a mixture of approximately 2/3 hardwood and 1/3 softwood.

What is your cleaning routine Sweetheat? You appear to be getting good results.

 

[jebatty]

Dogwood, you are more diligent that I am. I allow a couple of inches of ash to remain in the primary firebox. Those ashes accumulate in a sloped manner which aids the wood load to more easily collapse and eliminate bridging episodes. Those ashes also usually have a small quantity of dead coals on top which aid a fast fire fire start and quick gasification. And I leave a small quantity of fine ash of the floor of the gasification chamber. So, no particular number of burn cycles before ash removal, just remove enough when needed to prevent excessive buildup.

Similarly with brushing the fire tubes, but this is done based on flue temperature. When flue temperature is about 20-40 degrees above the temperature with clean tubes, that is the signal to brush the tubes. With clean tubes high burn flue temp of about 410-430F results in my Tarm output of about the rated 140,000 btuH. When flue temperature at high burn moves towards 450-460F, I brush the tubes. Keep in mind that I have the chain turbulators installed in the Tarm.

Wood usage depends on a host of factors that it is difficult to compare one system/location with another. My northern MN location normally gets pretty cold in winter. That said, about 4 cords of pine per season heats my 1500 sq ft shop (14' ceiling) with in-floor pex at a constant 61F.

 

[flyingcow]

solo innova 30- clean the lower chamber apx 6 burns(not really sure, just a guess), whenever I see a decent accumulation on floor.

Upper chamber- clean about 1/2 the ashes out when I scrub tubes. Scrub tubes--same as jebatty. I get about 420ish on clean tubes, so when it creeps closer to 480 is when I scrub them.

BTW, now my wood is two yrs seasoned....less cleaning, less wood to bring tank up to temp. Pretty impressive what these boilers can do with 2 yr old seasoned wood.

I've burned as much as 8 cord of rock maple/beech, in a calendar year.

Basically I do not count burn cycles between cleaning. I go by flu temp.

 

[sweetheat]

Being on a two year seasoned rotation I just purchased 4 cord of green hardwood cut, split, delivered @ $265. per cord, my best supplier because the length are always consistent, (20") Stacking it now before the blackflies. In this milder winter I skip days and sometimes several days 3 to 4, because of my 806 open storage plus well insulated building. My cleaning is not as good as some have posted but my flue gas temps are still at 450F max and I have not cleaned my boiler tubes all heating season. I use an ash vacuum and remove all ashes from primary and secondary combustion chambers about every 8 to 12 burns always trying to be more diligent in my cleaning cycle. Very happy with my Tarm a good decision, now in my 7th year. Thanks for your replies.

 

[ihookem]

I dont have a Tarm. I have a Eko 25. I have the tube cleaner that ya just bang the tubes. I clean the lower chamber twice a day. I empty the firebox once a week at max. I dont like cleaning the firebox and tossing hot coals. I have not cleaned the back of the boiler in 2 seasons now and is most likely full of ash. I dont think it hurts but I am sure it is not as efficient. My wood is very dry . My house is 2208 SQFT. 9 ' ceilings. I will use about 4 cord this winter and won't stop for a month yet. I burn about 20 16-18 " 4"x4" logs per day avr. in winter. About 16 logs above 30 * I heat hot water too.