In loving memory of Kenis D. Keathley 6/4/81 - 3/27/22 Loving father, husband, brother, friend and firewood hoarder Rest in peace, Dexterday

Mid season maintenance

Discussion in 'OWB's and Gasification Boilers' started by Creekin, Dec 14, 2018.

  1. Creekin

    Creekin

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    Was thinking the other day, what kind of mid season maintenance do you guys do to your boiler system.

    Or just let-er-rip till shutdown in spring and deal with stuff when it happens
    I kinda do a half-azzed visual to make sure nothing's self destructing every so often. But thinking there's gotta be some things that I could do
     
    Felter and Screwloose like this.
  2. Felter

    Felter Banned

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    I usually have to clean out my square chamber that runs thru the water out. its similar to a crown royal design. but that's about it. i try to check the water treatment in spring and fall. I'd say that's about it for mid season maintenance.
     
  3. JCMC

    JCMC

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    I just shovel out the ash, scrape the loose stuff from the sides check for leaks and clean the smoke outlet and stove pipe, spray WD-40 on damper solenoid. Then relight and let her rip till Spring cleaning. I do make sure that I stir the ashes daily and use the recommended Ashtrol Firebox PH Neutralizer
     
  4. yooperdave

    yooperdave

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    Ash cleaning is about it. I don't even pull the fires for that any longer. I used to pull the fires and put them in a metal pan on the ground (coals and small burning chunks) and then shovel them back in after the ash clean out job.

    Now, Its just let her burn down (with no loss of water temp) push the coals/chunks over to one side and shovel all the ashes out. Then, I roll the "fire" over to the cleaned side and shovel the rest of the ashes out. Works great and seems to take no more than 20 minutes.

    Of course, checking the water level weekly; not allowing ash build on the door frame area; keeping an eye open for any "wet spots" or unexplained clumping of ashes; not letting debris buildup on the outside area of the OWB; checking the door operation (opening/closing/latching). Which reminds me............time for the door gasket to be replaced...........:salute:
     
  5. Creekin

    Creekin

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    Figured i would update what i did today, sorry no pics, (poor connection), will try at work tomorrow but here goes

    The other day i noticed that the turbulator shaker felt a bit funny, shook it a few more times and it got super easy, kinda like it came unhooked somewhere

    Fast forward to today. Let the firebox go cold this morning to clean ashes out in the second chamber and pull the flue access panel off the top
    Yikes! All the connecting pieces to the turbs were off from the handle shaft and laying beside the flues

    So, removed all the turbs and some were really tight, but with some wiggling managed to get them out

    I wanted then to see how plugged the flues were so i grabbed a piece of pipe i had laying around and shoved it down there, WOW! Some were completely blocked with ashes! Out if the 16, 6 were blocked, now what
    Grabbed my shop vac and butchered a 3/4" piece of pex onto it and it actually worked out really good!

    Now to figure out how to reattach the links,
    They used two pieces of flat bar onto each turb about 5ish inches long, one with two holes on each end the other a tang on either end that gets folded overto attach everything together, some of the tangs were busted off, so I grabbed a bunch of 3/8" bolts and bolted them together
    Because they still need to swivel, i double nutted them so they were tight but free to move, not ideal but should work for now (lock nuts would work better, but didn't have any on hand)

    Tightened everything back up, made a fire, the shaker handle moves freely now

    Wondering how long some were disconnected, would have to affect efficiency if they were blocked

    I think i will use compressed air to clean out in spring after shutdown
    Hopefully this helps anyone with a heatmaster unit,
     
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  6. overactor

    overactor

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    Central Boiler here, I go out weekly and clean the ash out of the "reaction chamber", Clean the chains, and the when I need to I clean ash out of the burn box. I let it burn out while I was out of state for 4 or 5 days and cleaned it good before I relit it weds. Doesn't seem to be much clean up needed
     
  7. lukem

    lukem

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    I clean the ashes out of the reaction chamber once a month and shake the turbulator handles once a day. That's about all it seems to need.
     
  8. Creekin

    Creekin

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    Take note how the turb handle feels, that was my first clue something was wrong, will add checking and cleaning at the end of the burn season

    Just checked the boiler, noticed temp comes up way faster now!
    Let it go cold this afternoon, starting temp of 74°, hour later its already 112°, house and shop both calling for heat
     
  9. lukem

    lukem

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    They always feel free.