Tarm HS4.0 burning "cleanings" from grain etc, smoldering hopper issue

[turbulator]

For obvious reasons I've started looking for alternative biomass to burn in my boiler.
I've tried corn, it works, but still relatively expensive. I have a local farmer who makes bird seed, and has started giving me a few different variations of cleanings to try...last one was corn dust and sun flower seed shells... It burned fantastic actually...I mixed a little bit of pellets in with it, and had really good luck.... Not quite as hot as pellets alone, but this stuff is free, so I'll roll with it lol. Maybe 2x the amount of fly ash to deal with, but I can deal. I also mixed in some barley at some point, but I doubt I'll be burning that as it's still somewhat expensive as well.

Onto today - I had mixed in a batch of oates cleanings...looked a lot like barley. He wanted me to try that as he is going to have about as much as I could ever use.... Maybe a bag of pellets mixed in.. It seemed to burn VERY hot....enough that the boiler went into idle once it hit temp... Well that's where the problem began. The fire burned right up the auger into the hopper and I had a smoldering mess.... I cleared most of it out, but wow that's some scary stuff right there.. Odd thing the Tarm has a fire suppression system, and I've tested it more than once lol...it works and works well, but it isn't catching this smoldering issue... I am guessing once in idle, it's burning up the fines really fast and just going right up the auger tube?

So, Oats are burning hot, boiler hitting temp at 175 and house not calling for heat. I turned down the dump zone hydrostat so that it will bleed off some heat to keep the boiler out of idle....as that's where my issue is...that auger needs to keep turning. Good thing is that my garage will stay warm

It's 14deg F outside, prob zero with wind chill..... 3000 sq ft house is 70 deg and my garage is now heating up....

If I can control this, I may have a great solution here, but I need some advise.... What could I mix these cleanings with? Keep in mind this Tarm system is far different than a small pellet stove - it's not too finicky about what is put in it - if it can auger, it'll burn....but I don't want to burn the house down either.

 

[Anradhn39]

If the hopper that holds the fuel is vented , it will allow the auger to have draft up through into the hopper.
Regarding the auger not turning, have a tech look at it or pull up a diagram and see if there's a possibility the auger fire melted some wires or something that may run outside the auger cavity. Unless the auger is jammed from burnt material or something.
As far using that chaff as supplementary fuel, you'll need to play with the mixture and find out on you're own, which you'll be using your boiler as a test prototype, so don't leave it unattended and have an extinguisher handy.
I've tinkered with alternate fuels on various systems, and found it's not worth it financially in the end.

 

[rona]

For obvious reasons I've started looking for alternative biomass to burn in my boiler.
I've tried corn, it works, but still relatively expensive. I have a local farmer who makes bird seed, and has started giving me a few different variations of cleanings to try...last one was corn dust and sun flower seed shells... It burned fantastic actually...I mixed a little bit of pellets in with it, and had really good luck.... Not quite as hot as pellets alone, but this stuff is free, so I'll roll with it lol. Maybe 2x the amount of fly ash to deal with, but I can deal. I also mixed in some barley at some point, but I doubt I'll be burning that as it's still somewhat expensive as well.

Onto today - I had mixed in a batch of oates cleanings...looked a lot like barley. He wanted me to try that as he is going to have about as much as I could ever use.... Maybe a bag of pellets mixed in.. It seemed to burn VERY hot....enough that the boiler went into idle once it hit temp... Well that's where the problem began. The fire burned right up the auger into the hopper and I had a smoldering mess.... I cleared most of it out, but wow that's some scary stuff right there.. Odd thing the Tarm has a fire suppression system, and I've tested it more than once lol...it works and works well, but it isn't catching this smoldering issue... I am guessing once in idle, it's burning up the fines really fast and just going right up the auger tube?

So, Oats are burning hot, boiler hitting temp at 175 and house not calling for heat. I turned down the dump zone hydrostat so that it will bleed off some heat to keep the boiler out of idle....as that's where my issue is...that auger needs to keep turning. Good thing is that my garage will stay warm

It's 14deg F outside, prob zero with wind chill..... 3000 sq ft house is 70 deg and my garage is now heating up....

If I can control this, I may have a great solution here, but I need some advise.... What could I mix these cleanings with? Keep in mind this Tarm system is far different than a small pellet stove - it's not too finicky about what is put in it - if it can auger, it'll burn....but I don't want to burn the house down either.

Try wheat or corn as both will work. Oats is too lightweight and soybeans has oil that will make a mess unless you use a very small amount. Sunflower hulls, cherry pits will work. Dusty fuel is not good. Mixing a blend sometimes works quite well but keep a eye on things like you are doing until you know what will happen ahead of time.