funny ash on cast iron above pilot

J.C.A._3

In my experience, condensate, mixed with a little bit of sulfer and exposed to the boiler firing back up after a long "off period",or falling down enough to be effected by the pilot.

A boiler being off for long periods of time,like say the whole summer....will get bits of water forming on the pins due to temperature and humidity differences in the house, and when no natural draft is present.(warmer out side than inside) These then form The fluffy stuff you see. If you look closely at it....it is a bit yellow in color,kind of like a Mereange (sp) topping on a pie,with brown edges, due to the sulfer in the fuel. Chris

Mitch_6

Ash

I went on a no heat pilot out call. Boiler is a Burnham P205 installed 1983 gas fired FHW standing pilot natural drat As part of my basic practice I always check smoke pipe and flue passages. I removed the vent hood looked into the breach and saw light pure white fluff on the pins.
I removed the gas logs and looked up with my mirror and above were the pilot would be looked like marshmallow fluff. with some clumps sitting on the base of the fire box. I brushed out the boiler, cleaned the pilot assembly, changed the thermo coupler, cleaned the logs. fired it up and all looked good. What caused this and is there anything I should do. Also I did find a lot of lint in the area of the boiler.

Mitch,

bob_50

Good question

Mitch, I've seen the same stuff and wondered the same thing. bob

Mitch_6

ash was light (just a dusting) on the upper pins but a solid white above the pilot, like vanilla frosting. The boiler was off for a while. Draft was excellent. I tried turning down the pilot a little.

rich pickering

> ash was light (just a dusting) on the upper pins

> but a solid white above the pilot, like vanilla

> frosting. The boiler was off for a while. Draft

> was excellent. I tried turning down the pilot a

> little.

rich pickering

High humidity combined with a large pilot often results in this. I had a furnace once with the cell above the pilot totally plugged so that the flames rolled out the frot. The other cells were clear.

Mitch_6

We have been servicing this boiler for a while this is the first time we saw this anyway to cure it other than running the boiler during the summer.

Mitch,

Timco

did it look like this?

T

Mitch_6

No just a dusting of white on the pins at the top of the breach and solid white frosting on the cast iron above the pilot.

rob_26

Is there a drier and vent close to the boiler or perhaps sheet rock dust maybe high mosture in the basment

Unknown

It is the result of

the Ethyl Mercaptan which is mixed with the gas to give it an odor. It is a sulphur based product and if too much is added it will coat metal objects with a white powder substance. It is to the best of my knowledge harmless. I have noticed through the years that areas that are very damp tend to add to it volume. The pilot burning all the time without the burners operating would allow it to build up.

I once took samples of it and had it tested and this is what they told me it was. The gas industry denied that this could happen.