Mid-Season Maintenance

Before this year, I would have about half that amount after a full seasons burn. That was with Superior coal. Now with summit coal, I've already cleaned my horizontal pipe twice with nearly that much fly ash. I'm shutting down today and removing the elbow and installing a "T" with a removable cap. I'll post some pictures later.

OK, that's done. Lot's of fly ash!

Thats from 3 months of burning, first time shutting it down.... I believe I'm getting blashack, but then again the last time I talked to my dealer was in October. The pictures angle is a little disseaving I believe... it was from just below the pipe and with the flash you can't see depth so it looks like a wall of ash when its really a graduale increase as it goes back.. so in all about 2" of ash which I don't think is all that bad for around 90 days of burning.

Devil505 wrote:

GettingStoked wrote:It was a good day yesterday to clean out the stove for sure.

Wow!!...Is that all from this Fall/Winter so far? If so, what coal are you burning? (I typically have just a light coating of fly ash through my horizontal pipes)

Kinda of hard to tell right now with the temps near 60 today... once we get back into the cold weather I should notice... I will be watching my baro.. it was dancing alot lately so this will probably settle it down a bit.

Wood'nCoal wrote:That's why maintenance is important. Bet the stove drafts better now. My Harman is still burning with the air inlet 1/2 turn open.

Devil505 wrote:

GettingStoked wrote:It was a good day yesterday to clean out the stove for sure.

Wow!!...Is that all from this Fall/Winter so far? If so, what coal are you burning? (I typically have just a light coating of fly ash through my horizontal pipes)

Ditto Is that the diff between a stoker and a hand fed thimble load My chimney is a straight shot up. The stove has a "smoke shelf" under the chimney collar that shows about 1/4" fly ash. The stove has three clean outs between the fire box and stove exterior. It's a double chamber and I do get fly ash accumulating there but not too much, maybe an inch max. I've used about 1.75 tons so far since October. I usually check during the January thaw that I'll be looking forward to.

It would be ineresting to see pics of others ash buildup in their horizontal pipes as we head into the mid season clean up... Maybe my coal produces alot of ash, maybe it has something to do with my setup or maybe its just normal.. not sure this is my first year burning. I've burnt just a tad over 1 ton so far this season.

I think the ash build up I get is due to the shaking and then poking up through the grate that I do. I can see all the fly ash in the stove when I do this. I'm trying to burn the stove a little cooler, the Harmony nut I have will clinker up quite a bit if burned too hot. Darkest red ash I have ever seen.

Hmm, now that you mention it, everytime I pull the ash pan out and put it back in I usually disturb some ash to the point I can see it flying around inside the stove for a bit.. maybe this has added some to the pipe.

Wood'nCoal wrote:I think the ash build up I get is due to the shaking and then poking up through the grate that I do. I can see all the fly ash in the stove when I do this. I'm trying to burn the stove a little cooler, the Harmony nut I have will clinker up quite a bit if burned too hot. Darkest red ash I have ever seen.

One practice I now follow with the Harman VF3K is not to operate the handle that cleans the fly ash off of the heat exchanger tubes while the boiler is firing. I only do when it is ideling. Otherwise alot of the fly ash is carried out with the flue gas as the draft is strongest then. Doing it when the boiler idles lets most of it fall into the ash tub below.

I have shaken the Harman and then gone outside to fill the coal scuttle and noticed little particles of fly ash floating around if the wind is calm.

Wood'nCoal wrote:I have shaken the Harman and then gone outside to fill the coal scuttle and noticed little particles of fly ash floating around if the wind is calm.

...Plus ...

coalkirk wrote:One practice I now follow with the Harman VF3K is not to operate the handle that cleans the fly ash off of the heat exchanger tubes while the boiler is firing. I only do when it is ideling. Otherwise alot of the fly ash is carried out with the flue gas as the draft is strongest then. Doing it when the boiler idles lets most of it fall into the ash tub below.

=
GettingStoked, I've not operated a stoker yet, but I'd wonder that if on high fire rates and high draft conditions, a lot of fly ash will do the reverse Santa into the thimble. Sorry if I've missed this elsewhere but do you operate the Channing with a baro and/or a manometer? The build up might be an indicator of heat "fly"ing out with the ash

There is a baro installed... I don't believe a manometer was ever used on it. I've been thinking of getting one but haven't gotten around to it.

I don't take any pipes apart to clean out fly ash,I simply once A week blow out the pipe and send the ash up the chimney and ouside.I use a 6 HP SHOP VAC with the hose reversed to blow out.I put the thin attatchment on the hose and enter it into the barrow damper and let it run for 30 seconds.The ash gets airborn and blows right out the chimney.I do it anytime I work the ash cleaning handle on my VF-3000.I then vacume out the ash pan area and am finished.Pipes stay clear of ash and no disassembly or shutdown.I also use the drywall bags in the vac and that made a big difference on dust in the basement while vacuming.I blow it out once a week, I don't let the ash build up on the bottom of the pipes.

Last night I ordered the dwyer 25.

GettingStoked wrote:There is a baro installed... I don't believe a manometer was ever used on it. I've been thinking of getting one but haven't gotten around to it.