soot stick? do they do ANY good?

Hollis

I know that nothing equals brushing but in some situations its hard to get all areas. A few old boilers like GE downdrafts its hard to get to the sides,..



 Also mid season when I understand even a small amount of soot is slowing down heat transfer can a soot stick really help or do they do nothing of consequence? 

icesailor

Soot Sticks:

My High School auto shop had a saying he shared with us regularly. "You can't but a mechanic in a can". It has been my experience in life that he was right.

They make something similar for wood stoves. Those that depend on them have chimney fires.

If you run it warm start with a 400 degree stack temperature, there will be hardly any soot in the boiler. In fact, it may be just a dark brown ash that when brushed, leaves the CI boiler sections clean. If it is cold start, it will be black soot that you must wire brush and soot saw out. There will be a whole tribe of boiler boogers living in there. Soot sticks are as useless as mamaries on a chicken.