Boiler Cleaning

Ex Maine Doug

Over the last few years it seems like the oil is getting  more dirty.  There is just more crud left in the boiler. This is one of my twins after a season. They share the heating load (radiant and panel) and DHW.  Think I may go to a mid season cleaning of just the boiler. A good excuse for a party in Feb or March when there is a lot of snow.

nicholas bonham-carter

dirty twins

those boilers are certainly over due for a cleaning! they are certainly nice examples of the "dead mens" art, so well worth keeping in such good condition, as i can see they have been up until a few months ago. keep up the good work on these beauties, and you will be rewarded with quiet, even, economical heat!!--nbc

Dave Stroman

boiler cleaning

Here is a gas boiler I had to clean.  It went 4 years before it quit.  Concensate drain plugged up.  Full of all kinds of gross stuff.  I wonder why this style of heat exchanger is so popular. 



Dave Stroman

Jean-David Beyer

I am not a professional, but ...

If you have a lot of time and money on your hands, I would get that stuff analyzed to seee what it is. I.e., could it have been in the fuel? Could there be contamination (leaking) in the fuel tank, or something else? It is hard to believe there could be so much crap in the fuel as to cause that many deposits in just one season. I would think the filter in the oil line would get rid of a lot of that, and if it did not, it would plug the nozzle. Could the boiler heat exchanger be leaking into the combustion chamber and that stuff have come from the water?



Two contractors back, I had one that was not very diligent. They never took the burner out and examined the combustion chamber. When I got a different one (they bought out the other), they could not get it to fire correctly and pulled the burner and saw stuff something like that (but not as red) and pulled the stuff out by hand (big lumps) before they vacuumed the rest. It did not happen again. To have that happen in one season strains my belief that it is a problem with the fuel oil. I assume you are not trying to burn #4. ;-)

Ex Maine Doug

Filters and controls

The boilers had one season on them.  Unfortunaterly one gets to work more than the other due to the lack of being able to sufficiently adjust the Tekmar dual boiler control.  The boiler delay for starting the second boiler is not sufficient and can not be adjusted longer. Since the boilers are small, the control thinks it should start the second boiler when the water temp increase is slower than it likes.  So the result is the lead boiler fires and the second short cycles.

Every year I rewire them to swap B1 and B2 connections and wired the aquastat on the E44 Ergomat in series with the B2 boiler. I can then set the aquastat to a lower temp which prevents the second boiler from starting unless the water temp dips below about 145*.  Primative but it works.

Each boiler has a spin on filter after the pot filter so the oil is being well filtered. These have been running since 2000- two seasons with Becketts which were replaced wirh Riellos as the Becketts would not run or light consistantly.  I talked to the oil company and was told that they are seeing more trash in boilers over the last 5 years which they atribute to oil quality. Devices burning Kero are staying cleaner. I wish I could find someone with electronic test gear to get these tuned finer.    -Maine/Baltimore Doug

Robert_25

Red Dye

My boiler had some red powdery material in the combustion chamber when it was last cleaned, the man who did the cleaning said they are finding it in lots of boilers.  He suggested that it could be from the red dye added to the heating oil. 

How much fuel did this boiler burn since the last cleaning? 

Mark Eatherton

I'm glad I don't have to deal with oil boilers....

That just does not look right. I'm not an expert on oil by any means, but I think you need to find a good oil burner man to check things out.



I've seen neglected gas boilers that ran for 5 years that didn't look ANYTHING like that one. Possibly pulling contaminated air into the combustion process? Sewer gas from a dry floor drain perhaps?



Tain't right...



ME

Steamhead

Problem may be

return water too cold. Red rust indicates moisture, possibly from condensing. Do those Biasis have anything to keep the return water from coming back too cold, such as a well-designed pri-sec setup?



I have my Testos, but the travel-time might be a bit much ;-)

Ex Maine Doug

Conbustion air etc

The twins are direct vents.  The Field Controls vents lasted about 18 months so I had custom stainless vents made. One issue is that they are on the North wall.  The intakes are at about 9 feet above ground, level with the exhaust but 6 feet apart. The boilers are getting cleaner air than when they were on the supplied FC vents.

They are set up with .65 80W Delavans. By the time the oil gets to the burners it has warmed up travelling next to the pipe feeding panel rads.

I think next trip up I will call around again for another burner tech.

Ex Maine Doug

Piping Setup

The system is setup Primary/Secondary. The E44 Ergomax in in series with the primary loop to add boiler water content. There are two 007's in parallel on the P loop. Boilers have their individual 007's. The P loop is 2.5 inch copper, All piping is insulated.

All secondaries for VSI radiant floor and panel rads are after the primary 007's and before the E44 so return water is mixed in the E44 before going to the boilers. When I am not there the loop (including the series piped E44 is kept hot at 150*. The Tekmar measures the temp coming out of the Ergo on its way to  the boiler T's. The aquastat in the Ergo will turn on the second boiler if the first boiler can not keep the temp up should all thermostats call at once. It is set at about 140*.

When we are in town, I reset the min temp to 165* to boost DWH temp as doing stained glass requires more than shower water.

By the way, the circuit design came from ME back in 2000.

If NG becomes available (the town is discussing it) I will probably switch to gas.

Steamhead, if you want to vacation in Maine I will drop the keys off. Two bedroom two bath apartment in the bank. Granite counter & sink. Dual wall ovens, micro, Sub Zero fridges in drawers. Bring your Testos, I will arrange for all the Lobstah you want.

Doug