AA-130 - Fly Ash in Flue Pipe

 
etribuna
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Post by etribuna » Fri. May. 01, 2009 8:58 pm

Evening all,

With warm weather finally here, I've shut down the AA-130. While doing some cleanup I noticed that the flue pipe deemed kind of "heavy" when I bumped it. Turned out there was a bunch of fly ash sitting on the botton of the (almost) horizontal sections. The layer might have been 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick. Is this normal? Seems I'll need to clean it out at least every year.

Ed...


 
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coaledsweat
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Post by coaledsweat » Fri. May. 01, 2009 9:17 pm

That is exceptional. I need to clean my hand fired stovepipe 2-3 times a year, and there is only 2' of horizontal. You are fortunate enough to own an excellent appliance, the AA is sort of a self cleaning by design. :)

 
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009to090
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Post by 009to090 » Fri. May. 01, 2009 9:29 pm

My short horizontal run of flue pipe was 30% filled with fly ash before I cleaned it. Heres a pic of one month of ash build up. Yep, gotta clean it often.
IMG_2157.JPG
.JPG | 101.3KB | IMG_2157.JPG

 
etribuna
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Post by etribuna » Fri. May. 01, 2009 10:06 pm

DCV500, coaledsweat,

Thanks for the quick responses. Learn something everyday. I knew the AA was supposed to drop most of the fly ash into the bin (and some on the floor in my case). I've got probably 6 feet of horizontal including two turns, but wasn't expecting this.

Thanks again,
Ed...

 
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PatrickAHS
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Post by PatrickAHS » Fri. May. 01, 2009 10:29 pm

A seasonal, if not even more frequent, inspection and cleaning is definitely a good idea.

 
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Freddy
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Post by Freddy » Sat. May. 02, 2009 7:03 am

ALL coal appliances will build some fly ash in the pipes. I clean my AA stovepipe every 6 months. I could go a year, but it's only a 10 min project.

 
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coaledsweat
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Post by coaledsweat » Sat. May. 02, 2009 8:10 am

etribuna wrote:I knew the AA was supposed to drop most of the fly ash into the bin (and some on the floor in my case). I've got probably 6 feet of horizontal including two turns, but wasn't expecting this.
:shock: Gadzooks! 6'? That is outstanding.

The unique (read bizarre :) ) design of the Axeman and it's many copies, makes it the most efficient of them all. Suffering through an empty stovepipe is another cross you must bear owning one. :roll:


 
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Post by Matthaus » Sat. May. 02, 2009 8:14 am

My Bethlehem (AA 130 equiv) only has a 5' run of angled pipe... no ash even the fines are out in the chimney clean out! :lol:

IMO Every coal burning appliance no matter the design needs a little maint. every year, besides it's half the fun of burning coal. :P

 
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Post by LsFarm » Sun. May. 03, 2009 7:16 pm

I have more than 8' of horizontal flue, with maybe an inch of rise in 8'. I clean my flue once or twice a season, My AA is the 260 size and I burn about 12 tons per season.. My flue usually has less than 1" of ash on the bottom after several months of cold weather burning..

The velocity of the exhaust in the pipe, the ash cyclone in the boiler and the overall design add up to very little ash in the flue pipes..

Greg L.

 
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coal berner
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Post by coal berner » Sun. May. 03, 2009 10:44 pm

coaledsweat wrote:That is exceptional. I need to clean my hand fired stovepipe 2-3 times a year, and there is only 2' of horizontal. You are fortunate enough to own an excellent appliance, the AA is sort of a self cleaning by design. :)
Key word short of They is no coal appliance or for that matter any heating appliance that is 100% self cleaning They all
should be cleaned out at least once a year some need more . The AA Self cleaning B.S. Is more of a selling Advertisement
then a fact I have seen and moved more then 20 AA units and not one did not need cleaning some were worst then
other's I give them this it is a good selling point .

 
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Post by LsFarm » Mon. May. 04, 2009 12:16 am

The self-cleaning mentioned in the AA ads is for real,, the heat exchanger surfaces are self cleaning,, they don't have any accumulation of fly ash setting on any of the surfaces in the heat exchanger.. This is not BS.. The velocities of the air in the exchanger along with the fly ash keep the steel surfaces clean. You do not have to wire brush the heat exchanger, vacuum it, or scrape it. It stays clean.

The base of the boiler gets lots of ash and fly ash accumulation around the grate and the ash pan. Some of this ash leaks out around the doors on the base. So the floor around an AA boiler does have some dust and fly ash.

I've taken my cyclone ash separator apart, replaced the ash cone, and looked in the heat exchanger, and they are all bare steel, no accumulation of fly ash. The horizontal sections of flu pipe do slowly accumulate some fly ash, but the fan forces exhaust through the flue, so it will blow fly ash to the vertical chimney if needed.. Unlike a boiler that relies on chimney draft, the AA design only needs a very small amount of natural draft when the fire is idling,, once the fan is running, the flue can go positive pressure for a few moments, it's part of the design.

Greg L

 
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Post by Freddy » Mon. May. 04, 2009 8:02 am

This being the first year that I owned an Axeman Anderson, I tore it down pretty well at the end of this season. I checked everything. When I pulled the fan out I was pleased to see it needed no cleaning. There was a tiny crust here & there, but nothing to speak about. I measured it and calculated how long it would take to 1/3 fill it. I figure it should be cleaned every 137 1/2 years. :)

 
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coal berner
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Post by coal berner » Mon. May. 04, 2009 1:58 pm

LsFarm wrote:The self-cleaning mentioned in the AA ads is for real,, the heat exchanger surfaces are self cleaning,, they don't have any accumulation of fly ash setting on any of the surfaces in the heat exchanger.. This is not BS.. The velocities of the air in the exchanger along with the fly ash keep the steel surfaces clean. You do not have to wire brush the heat exchanger, vacuum it, or scrape it. It stays clean.

The base of the boiler gets lots of ash and fly ash accumulation around the grate and the ash pan. Some of this ash leaks out around the doors on the base. So the floor around an AA boiler does have some dust and fly ash.

I've taken my cyclone ash separator apart, replaced the ash cone, and looked in the heat exchanger, and they are all bare steel, no accumulation of fly ash. The horizontal sections of flu pipe do slowly accumulate some fly ash, but the fan forces exhaust through the flue, so it will blow fly ash to the vertical chimney if needed.. Unlike a boiler that relies on chimney draft, the AA design only needs a very small amount of natural draft when the fire is idling,, once the fan is running, the flue can go positive pressure for a few moments, it's part of the design.

Greg L
When you come in for your yearly visit stop in and see Matt he as Seaval units with black soot & Flyash that you need a scraper or a needle gun to get it off in the fire pot & heat exchanger area believe me I help find & picked up most of them with him They do need cleaning I do not think he got to clean all of them up yet As far as boilers that relies on chimney
draft to keep the fire lit on idle That is what a timer is for I don't know of any boiler that does not rely on a timer to keep them lit and for Postive pressure in flue mine does that every time the blower comes on -.01 to -.02 until the chimney warms up to around 150F then it goes Neg .02.5 to .03.5 the flue temp on idel is anywhere from 85 to 95f Being that a
AA is not a sealed unit I would think you would have alot more natural dfaft coming in threw the base to also help keep
the fire going on idle where with a completely sealed unit it is relaying on the blower & timer to keep the fire going
not the chimney draft

 
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Post by Ctraffie » Sat. Nov. 17, 2018 9:49 am

LS Farm. Have you ever taken out the blower itself? If you look up my posts under AA130 blowing into ash pan, I have that problem, and it does not want to start up easily and stay running. Some on the forum think I should pull out my blower and check/ clean it , but I don’t have a new gasket and don’t know how long it takes to get one .. Thanks , Carl. This is my 5 th winter with the AA 130, and it’s acting like the chimney or pipes are blocked, but I cleaned all of them...

 
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Post by McGiever » Sat. Nov. 17, 2018 12:21 pm

Ctraffie wrote:
Sat. Nov. 17, 2018 9:49 am
LS Farm. Have you ever taken out the blower itself? If you look up my posts under AA130 blowing into ash pan, I have that problem, and it does not want to start up easily and stay running. Some on the forum think I should pull out my blower and check/ clean it , but I don’t have a new gasket and don’t know how long it takes to get one .. Thanks , Carl. This is my 5 th winter with the AA 130, and it’s acting like the chimney or pipes are blocked, but I cleaned all of them...
Gasket can ship from AA by COD or you mail them a check and wait.
It is very high quality material and is w/ 3-plys.


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