Cleaning boiler tubes (pics)

[vacornfarmer]

Just thought I'd post a few pictures of my boiler tube cleaning process. After 3 seasons of running, I think I finally found some tools that can actually get the job done with alot of time and patience.

Got the spiral scraper at the end of last season, but bout wore myself ragged shoving that thing up and down the tubes, with most the the scale not removed. This year I found some 1.5" wire brush wheels on ebay, which are a perfect fit and seem to be much more promising. The trick will be to see if I can get all 16 tubes clean before all 7 wheels wear out. Only doing a tube or 2 at a time since the drill gets kinda warm after several minutes of hard running.

Thanks to Sting for all his advice and information.










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-JR
LDJ 165K boiler

[sting]

Those tubes look really good.

But lets set the record straight -- your the one doing all the labor -- I got the EZ part

I get to look at the pictures and fantasize

and postpone a similar task in my basement
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When you turn your boiler on -- Does it return the favor?
I am sorry - My responses are limited - You must ask the right question!

[OLDdedhed]

I've been using the factory-supplied brush and access through the front upper panel every month and thought I was doing fine. This makes me wonder, though. Do you remove the top like that to clean on the recommended monthly schedule, or is this an end of season cleaning? Thanks.
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100K LDJ boiler w/ 40 gal Heat Flo indirect water heater and Tekmar 256 Outdoor Reset Control
Mobile Cornvac
75 Bu Stor-Kleen bin outside
80+ Bu homemade bin inside

[vacornfarmer]

End of season cleaning. You can see the top right four tubes are brushed clean around the top few inches, but still scale covered below that point. I've got the top halves of all the tubes done now, but the bottom few inches is the hardest to work off (see bottom tube of the fourth pic). The black tube on the right hadn't been started on yet.
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-JR
LDJ 165K boiler

[OLDdedhed]

OK thanks--couldn't see me being disciplined enough to do that every month Think perhaps I'll go on a search for some cleaning tools. Thanks for the tip!
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100K LDJ boiler w/ 40 gal Heat Flo indirect water heater and Tekmar 256 Outdoor Reset Control
Mobile Cornvac
75 Bu Stor-Kleen bin outside
80+ Bu homemade bin inside

[flyinbonanza]

I posted on this topic quite a while back. Perhaps it was buried in an odd thread.

A couple years back I had a lot of trouble drafting - not above, but below the tubes. No surprise to those reading this, the tubes were rusting shut.

I bought a good drill flex shaft at Farm and Fleet and it worked good to transmit the spin to a rather difficult place to access. However, I couldn't get the 1.5" drill brushes through as the rust had closed in too much. So, I took one brush to the bench grinder and put a nice bevel on it - VOILA! Run the bevel brush through, clean up with a full-size brush, and you're done. The bevel made a huge difference.

I do this annually now and the bevel brush isn't necessary. That first power cleaning must have had 4 years of burning though.

-My 2 cents.
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Burning since 12/2002, LDJ 165K boiler

[OLDdedhed]

Hey just wanted to let you know the results of my search for a good elliptical scraper. I saw the one someone else posted from Schafer Brush, but the $100 minimum order made me balk. Found another outfit, Hit & Miss Enterprises, in Ohio, that sells them for cheaper than Schafer with no minimum. No on line ordering but I called them today. Very nice people. I got my boiler pretty clean except for the scale in the tubes that the factory brush wouldn't touch. This ought to skin that cat. Here's the web page showing the scrapers:

http://www.hitnmiss.com/21.html


Every time I thought it was time to clean, the weather would go south again and I had to fire it up--what a "summer" this has been!
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100K LDJ boiler w/ 40 gal Heat Flo indirect water heater and Tekmar 256 Outdoor Reset Control
Mobile Cornvac
75 Bu Stor-Kleen bin outside
80+ Bu homemade bin inside

[vacornfarmer]

Wondering how one of these might work?

http://www.brushresearch.com/brushes.php?c1=1
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-JR
LDJ 165K boiler

[edmeyerii]

Those are mighty tiny... I think it would take a long time to clean the tubes!
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Ed Meyer
LDJ 165K BTU Boiler
Burning Corn since 02/05

[Jonesey]

For the last couple years I have used a homemade tube cleaner, works slick and easy. - I took a length of 3/8" rebar, bent a slight hook a couple inches from one end, and chucked the other end into my cordless drill. Take the top cover off, lower the hooked end into the tube, and pull the trigger. The offset hook makes the rod vibrate wildly in the tube, effectively removing all the scale and buildup inside. I run this down and back up each tube, and takes maybe 10 minutes start to finish. After the tubes are cleaned, I clean the residue from the top of the steel plate in the burn chamber, and the job is done. The nice brush LDJ supplied with the boiler? Hanging on a wall somewhere........

Hank
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LDJ 165,000 boiler