Does this sound crazy?

Ken C.

A company I used to work for had a customer with a Vaillant boiler. The boiler kept shutting down due to flame rollout. My former boss told the customer that to properly clean the boiler, it would have to be disconnected from the piping and wiring and taken outside so the heat exchanger flueways could be blasted out with a pressure washer. I told some other guys in the trade about this, and they laughed hysterically. I realize Vaillants have small flueways, but they do make small flue brushes. Has anyone ever heard or done this (using a pressure washer to clean a sooted up boiler)? With all the work involved in removing the boiler and moving it outside, I would think you might as well just replace the boiler, right?

Tony_8

ever get a brush stuck ?

removal and reinstallation of a boiler w/o purchasing another boiler is certainly less expensive. "Washing" a boiler isn't unheard of. I've even washed a F.A. furnace. It'll dry. It's not cardboard. Then, and most importantly, FIX the CAUSE.

Steamhead

In Firedragon's excellent book

"Combustion and Oil Burning Equipment", he mentions spraying the flueways of these boilers to clean them- with a squirt bottle, not a pressure washer.

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Mike T., Swampeast MO

No, it really doesn't sound crazy.

> A company I used to work for had a customer with

> a Vaillant boiler. The boiler kept shutting down

> due to flame rollout. My former boss told the

> customer that to properly clean the boiler, it

> would have to be disconnected from the piping and

> wiring and taken outside so the heat exchanger

> flueways could be blasted out with a pressure

> washer. I told some other guys in the trade about

> this, and they laughed hysterically. I realize

> Vaillants have small flueways, but they do make

> small flue brushes. Has anyone ever heard or done

> this (using a pressure washer to clean a sooted

> up boiler)? With all the work involved in

> removing the boiler and moving it outside, I

> would think you might as well just replace the

> boiler, right?

Mike T., Swampeast MO

No, it really doesn't sound crazy.

I had to have the price on my OLD cigarette machine "upped" recently with a new coin counter. It had been sticking and messing up like mad. Vending company said to remove the guts and pressure wash. I was shocked, but did it. Washed, dried, lightly oiled moving parts and it's working great!

I've also cleaned commercial popcorn poppers (minus kettle of course) with a high-pressure wash.

Still say that a zero-degree (rotating) nozzle on a pressure washer is a great way to strip/clean iron radiators. MUCH easier than a lye bath--much less expensive than sandblasting. It's also FAST--you have to blast from every direction but even a huge radiator shouldn't take more than an hour.

One thing that a pressure washer isn't particularly good for is a house! It forces bulk water into places that it would never get except during a hurricane! MUCH better to use elbow grease and a flood of low pressure water (hose) on a house.

Tony_8

I don't even own one

(a pressure washer that is), I just used a garden hose. Forgot to mention that little part.

Dave Stroman

So let me get this stright, you can strip the paint off a radiator that has had layers of paint gobbed on it for the last 80 years? If that is so I will be buying a pressure washer tomorrow.
Dave in Denver

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Yes, because the first coat was most likely on there for decades and the first recoat most likely had little or no preparation.

The later coats will just fly off.

Dave Palmer_3

just

dont hit any body parts with the spray(hands/legs)can cut you bad

Ranger

Yep,It's allegedly true...

...I've heard of this technique on commercial porkchop &
scotch marine style boilers (as an apprentice I got 2 use the 2-1/2" brush,the soot-vac and a-l-o-t if bags.)anyway I can't comprehend the mess this would make.But I've heard the same story from many a old timer.(and a few new ones).And 4 the kat in Colorado,There is a conpany in Denver called Wash-On-Wheels.Thay'll powerwash or steam clean just about anything...

Mark Eatherton1

Yup...

Been there, done that numerous times. It's a heck of a lot cleaner than trying to do it in their basement. There are two types of carbon that I've run into in the field. The dry fluffy type, that is generally associated with dust in suspension (sheet rock, pollen etc)improperly adjusted air shutters etc, and the wet type associated with dryer lint and wet condensate dripping down onto the burner and fouling the combustion process.

The second one gets so tighly packed into the flue gas passages that you HAVE to pressure wash it in order to get it properly cleaned.

Another word of caution for those who like to do the job insitu. Carbon, in suspension in the air, under the right conditions becomes EXTREMELY dangerous. All it takes is a spark and KABLOOEY, you're a boiler mechanic in heaven.

Remember, it's particles of unburned energy you're delaing with. Kinda like coal dust. Extremely volatile under the right conditions.

Be safe out there...

ME

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