Cleaning Flues on Propane Burners

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mattmason
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Cleaning Flues on Propane Burners

Post by mattmason »

Question I have for you all is how you clean your tubes of you have turbulaors in your flues. I’ve thought of steam cleaning them or blowing sand (sand blasting) through the tubes.

I have a 1” scale propane burner and it seems to be starting the struggle of keeping up steam. It is a copper boiler with copper tubes with stainless turbulators inside. Tubes have not been punched since at least 1990, probably longer. Steams fine sitting and can build pressure even while the injector is on low. But is can’t keep up running and with the injector on. It can run, but drops pressure very slowly while just running without the injector.

I pulled one turbulator our, but it doesn’t want to go back in, so trying not to do that (but may have to).
Matt Mason
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cbrew
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Re: Cleaning Flues on Propane Burners

Post by cbrew »

i have not cleaned the flues on mine since i converted from oil to propane ~ 2004. do you have soot build up?
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mattmason
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Re: Cleaning Flues on Propane Burners

Post by mattmason »

I do have soot build up. My Beas guess is that it hasn’t been cleaned since 1980, was just being safe by saying 1990 for its last cleaning.
Matt Mason
my2cents
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Re: Cleaning Flues on Propane Burners

Post by my2cents »

If you are getting soot in a propane fired locomotive you have a problem. Soot is sign of incomplete combustion.
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Bill Shields
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Re: Cleaning Flues on Propane Burners

Post by Bill Shields »

DO NOT USE SAND UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES unless you are interested in retubing the boiler.

Like others, I have a propane fired boiler decades old that has never had the flues cleaned.

Fix your burner problems before you do anything.

Is this a vertical or horizontal boiler?
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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Dick_Morris
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Re: Cleaning Flues on Propane Burners

Post by Dick_Morris »

What does the water side of the tubes look like? I've seen the space between the tubes packed with scale.
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rrtrax4501
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Re: Cleaning Flues on Propane Burners

Post by rrtrax4501 »

Matt, every couple of years I brush my 1 inch engines tubes. My pilot flame doesn't get a good clean burn so I get some soot. I brush it like my coal burners.
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Harlock
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Re: Cleaning Flues on Propane Burners

Post by Harlock »

If your burners don't combust perfectly you may need to clean them out every few years. I did so as part of a larger boiler cleaning process so I don't know how much of a difference it made by itself but I think it helped. I did see a small amount of stuff come out. With the marine boiler it's hard to get sufficient and even oxygen below the burners so they have some yellow to the flame.

Not a big deal and easy to do once in a blue moon. Used to do it every day running on coal so doesn't bother me.

-M
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