mouse turds on Munchkin HX?

R. Kalia_4

My first year with a Munchkin T80, so I've been monitoring efficiency. Over time, nat gas usage (therms per degree-day) has increased 20%. Now the weather is the same as last November, and the Munchkin is using 20% more gas per day than in November.

I opened it up today. The HX has a large number of little loose pellets on it (see photo). They are dark gray, irregular pellets less than 1/16" in size. Some crumble when squeezed, others are quite hard.

Now I'm an amateur and I've never opened up a boiler before. (Yes, I was able to vacuum and clean and put it back together, it seems to be running fine and not leaking, although I haven't had time to measure efficiency yet.) So my question is, are these pellets normal?

Also, there is some white powder, coming from the ceramic backing. Is this normal?

Chuckles_3

Interesting that the original mouse turds thread has been completely erased after someone added a new post recently. It had useful information.