Econoburn tube cleaning

[NCFord]

Hey I am just finishing up cleaning my boiler tubes and need to know what type of sealant/stove cement to use to seal up the top plate. I just took the top plate of to get the turbs out as others here have suggested. It has a cloth gasket, but it looks like it also had some high temp silicone as well.

As a side not, my boiler tubes were pretty dirty, almost an 1/8 inch of creosote. A regular steal brush would not touch it so I got a boiler scraper. I will try to post a pic of it later. It worked great. I had everything clean in about 10 mins. with the scraper on a power drill. It was only about $40 from Mc-master carr.

 

[goosegunner]

My Econoburn had a black gasket cement holding down the flat gasket. Some of the gasket pulled up because it oozed through the gasket. I bought 4' of the flat gasket and just cement it down if any is damaged. The gasket was a dry fit on mine and I hope keep it that way.

Please post picture and model number of the boiler scraper if you can.

gg

 

[Mauler]

ditto on the scraper model number/picture please, I'm guessing its the same one I was gonna get. I just used a wire brush, and basically left plenty of scale on the tubes

 

[airlina]

I just cleaned my 100 last week. I saw on this site some photos of a homemade cleaning tool (search econoburn cleaning tool) posted by one of the posters so copying his design I made one up from a old bandsaw mill blade I had . As a test ,I ran my normal wire brush on a drill shaft thru a tube first. Then I connected the new tool and ran it thru the same tube and wow, I could not believe how much crud ended up in the lower burn chamber after a few passes . This new tool cleaned the tubes to the metal while the brush essentially did nothing. When i reinstalled my turbulators, I was amazed at how easy they moved up and down with the handle. The flat side of the tool is the cleaning side the sawteeth do nothing. Note that the tool is slightly wider than the diameter of the tube (I have to squeeze the ends together to get it in the tube) then the spring of the steel provides the push to keep the legs of the tool against the tube . Bruce

 

[NCFord]

Here is the pic. I don't know the part number, but its a 2 inch boiler scraper from mc-master carr.

 

[JTWALL]

I just cleaned my 100 last week. I saw on this site some photos of a homemade cleaning tool (search econoburn cleaning tool) posted by one of the posters so copying his design I made one up from a old bandsaw mill blade I had . As a test ,I ran my normal wire brush on a drill shaft thru a tube first. Then I connected the new tool and ran it thru the same tube and wow, I could not believe how much crud ended up in the lower burn chamber after a few passes . This new tool cleaned the tubes to the metal while the brush essentially did nothing. When i reinstalled my turbulators, I was amazed at how easy they moved up and down with the handle. The flat side of the tool is the cleaning side the sawteeth do nothing. Note that the tool is slightly wider than the diameter of the tube (I have to squeeze the ends together to get it in the tube) then the spring of the steel provides the push to keep the legs of the tool against the tube . Bruce

Excellent idea, thanks for posting!

 

[OldDedHed]

I have used the same elliptical scraper as NCFord on my tubes as well. Here's a link to where I got mine: http://www.hitnmiss.com/21.html

 

[Mauler]

Here is the pic. I don't know the part number, but its a 2 inch boiler scraper from mc-master carr.

yeah that's the one I was thinking about. I believe that one is adjustable diameter right? I "almost" made something like airlina's and had seen the other posts on the DIY version but settled on using a steel brush. Not perfectly clean but got most of it. I'm probably gonna get that scraper from McMaster, just to see how sparkly I can get the tubes.

on a side note I recently cast several of those angled bricks that protect the bottom chamber so that I have a few backups. Works great and for the price of one delivered from econoburn I made 3 from one bag of castable refractory.

 

[b33p3r]

Where did you get the castable refractory?

 

[Mauler]

Where did you get the castable refractory?

local mason supply ordered it for me, the one I got is called "Heatcast 40"

 

[b33p3r]

local mason supply ordered it for me, the one I got is called "Heatcast 40"

Thanks!

 

[Nofossil]

Wow - a tool that I don't have!

I've cleaned my tubes with a wire brush on a drill, twice every year. I've never had creosote, but I do get a small amount of thin hard scale. It takes a couple minutes to get the visible scale off, but a real cleaning sounds like a good idea.

 

[salecker]

As a side not, my boiler tubes were pretty dirty, almost an 1/8 inch of creosote. A regular steal brush would not touch it so I got a boiler scraper. I will try to post a pic of it later. It worked great. I had everything clean in about 10 mins. with the scraper on a power drill. It was only about $40 from Mc-master carr.

Here is the pic. I don't know the part number, but its a 2 inch boiler scraper from mc-master carr.

Hi All
I thought i would get one of these to try.
I did and was disappointed in the results.I used it till it didn't seem to scrape anymore.There was still a good layer on my tubes it wouldn't touch.
I went back to my homemade one and it continued to remove buildup.
So is there any special way to use that tool to make it work better?When i ran my drill in reverse and a slower speed it seemed to cut better,but once it got to a certain point it just seemed to ride over the buildup.
I'm going to take it apart today ant try to modify it to put more pressure on the tubes.
Any other tools anyone has tried?
Thanks Thomas

 

[NNYorker]

This is the same type of brush I use http://www.grainger.com/product/TOUGH-GUY-Flue-Scraper-3EDE1? s_pp=false&picUrl=//static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/3EDE1_AS01?$smthumb$ followed up with a regular boiler brush. Works OK but it's a lot of work for the job it does. Considering this next http://www.amazon.com/Engine-Cylind..._6?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1421897638&sr=1-6 I like the different stones with different grits...........

 

[salecker]

More follow up on cleaning.
Last Sunday i did a thorough cleaning on my Econoburn 200 tubes.
The elliptical tool from Mcmaster was a dud.I ordered one for 2" tubes and it did nothing other than remove a little ash.I used my homemade tool to get the tubes clean,and i tried the elliptical tool after they were clean and it doesn't even touch the tubes.So I'm thinking that i need a bigger one.Maybe it was mispackaged.
I had a good hard coating on my tubes under the ash,i had some less than optimum wood i burnt after New Years which I'm hoping was the cause of the hard creosote on my tubes.I have 6 cords of premo spruce to get me to spring now.15% or less Moisture content on the splits i tested so i hope that ends any buildup other than ash.
My homemade tool cracked near the end of my cleaning,so i need to build another one,and come up with a type II version that works better and faster.I may try ordering a larger elliptical one,but maybe i can modify the one i have to get it to work.
I'm thinking of making a 4 bladed one with something to give it more outward pressure to cut the coating better,i needed over 1/2 hr per tube to get the coating off.
Thomas

 

[maple1]

I'm thinking that with 1000 gallons of storage, you should be able to limit any buildup to close to zero? The only thing I get in my tubes is ash, I am still using the original tube brush that came with my boiler 2 1/2 years ago. Of course, your schedule & routine might force you to idle at times even with the storage though.

 

[salecker]

Hi Maple
We get very little idle time,so i contribute the buildup to crappy wood.The first year i just had ash,then i had a controller malfunction that caused the boiler to run to cool which resulted in buildup as well.
Now i need to figure out a strap on aquastat that will not allow me to get maximum temps into my storage.It shuts down the boiler when all my temps read around 170-180.It's -40 here now and i would love to pack my storage to at least 190 or more.I'm goin to try and move it down the pipe a ways.Or get one that goes to 240F,this one is a 200F one.
Thomas

 

[maple1]

We've got different boilers, and this is kind of sidetracking the thread a bit, but I have changed my operation up so that I don't drive my storage as high as I used to. A few factors prompted that. I can let it fully deplete, and it keeps my house warm until I have to light again the next day, so I am not usually losing any coasting time or enough to impact my routine - unless I know I will be away from home for longer than usual, then I might throw that extra half load in at the end. By starting a fire when storage is fully depleted, I keep my boiler temps as low as possible (restricted by 140 min. at the return of course) for as long as possible, which I am pretty sure increases the efficiency during the burn by it then being able to pull more heat out of the gases before they hit the flue. Less time when boiler is hot (say 190 at top) is less heat up the flue. Then there is less standy loss when storage is not as hot - most of the loss is into the house, but some also goes down too. Not sure how it all adds up, but I am quite sure I am burning less wood doing this. People can usually see the effect of this, in that it usually takes quite a bit more wood to get storage from 180 to 190, than it does from 130 to 140.

Which all makes me wish even more for more storage volume - although it would take a lot more to be able to skip burning days in the winter, and what I have gets me to the next day OK.

 

[huffdawg]

I think your theory is right maple. I burn less when doing what you do also. I only get fly ash in the tubes and it makes a big difference in my exhaust temps. I clean every 2 weeks.

 

[salecker]

Hi Maple
The theory you use less wood for 130 to 140 than 180 to 190 is there are less BTU's in the water at lower temps than higher temps.At least that was how it was described to me.So if you add more BTU's that means you can extract more BTU's.And it takes more wood to add the extra BTU's.
But i'm just a hack with a chainsaw and wood to burn.
I do believe that the higher you can get and keep your storage the longer you can draw from it.I look at it like a big flywheel when it's turning fast you can add a load and you will only get a small drop in speed,but add the same load to a slow turning flywheel you run the risk of stalling it.It takes a bunch of energy to get up to speed and once up to speed the flywheel will coast along without needing much energy to keep going.
Thomas

 

[huffdawg]

I don't really know the thermal dynamics behind it, but it sure seems to take a lot more wood to heat from 180 to 190 than it does from 130 to 140. I think the larger delta T at the lower temps and the lower delta T and higher heat loss to the atmosphere at high temps might have something to do with it. My wife burns less wood in the two weeks I'm away from home for work then I burn when I'm at home for two weeks . The outside temps being the same. I generally take the storage temps 20 degree'e higher.

 

[maple1]

I think its simply that 140 water can pull more heat out of the tubes than 180 water.

 

[Bob Rohr]

Yep, the basics laws of thermodynamics, hot goes to cold, always. And the rate of heat transfer is directly tied #1 to the temperature difference. Large delta Ts on start from cold tank you will see a fast increase in energy transfer.
#2 the type of transfer material also plays into the transfer equation. Copper, great, gold better yet. Steel, aluminum and plastics, not so good.

As that delta t tightens so does the transfer rate, from hot to cold or hot to warm

A cool boiler, like a cool solar collector, is a happy boiler. Stay above condensing conditions, of course.

Also working against you is the heat loss from boiler, pipes and tank. Higher operating temperature = higher losses. Mother nature is always grabbing back a portion, no stopping her.

So the balancing act is how hot of a tank provides you the best "useable" thermal energy, and at what exchange rate chemical energy- thermal energy.

Seems my system gets to 170- 180 fairly easily and quickly. Trying to drive it hotter as others have observed is a slower more wood intensive ride.

So find your "sweet spot' and consider lowered expectations as for stored temperatures. The poster above are finding out first hand how the balancing act goes, thanks gentlemen.

 

[Fred61]

The rule is to only work with temperatures high enough to achieve the required result and no higher. It makes no difference if I bring my storage temperature to 175 or 180, on my batch burn, I still need to light a fire the next day.