Clinker

[Salty]

Maybe someone on here can help answer this for me... Isn't clinker formed by high temperatures reacting with the ash in the burn pot?

Is lack of clinker related to low burn temp? Or is it a product of the pellet wood fiber burning?

 

[Lousyweather]

actually, yes....clinkers for when the silica in the ash fuses together......usually, this fusion temperature is greater than 1000 decgrees, and it doesnt really happen in the burn pot...not hot enough, but when chglorides are added to the burn, this fusion temperature lowers to the point where you can get silica fusing in the burn pot. Dont confuse clinkers, which are glassy and gritty, with carbon, which is black and hard, which can also form in the burn pot.

 

[Salty]

So let me ask this then. Is lack of clinker a sign of a poor burning/low heat output pellet? Or is it more related to the type of wood fiber used in the pellet?

 

[imacman]

......more related to the type of wood fiber used in the pellet?

Yes, and also the quality of the pellet making process. Little or no clinker is a good thing.

 

[littlesmokey]

Reading around your question, the lack of a clinker is a good thing. It means the ask is being blown clear of the burn pot before it can heat enough to fuse. If you have a low ash build up, you have the right combination of feed rate and combustion air to efficiently burn your fuel. If you have lots of ash and it is black and gritty, you need to adjust the air/feed rates. I have burned good and bad pellets over the years. The bad ones need more attention, and sometimes needed to be paired with better quality ones, but I could always get them to burn in my manual stove.

Hope this gets to your question, or what are we missing?

 

[Salty]

perfect! Thanks guys!