Cleaning turbulators

[ohbie1]

What have you found to be the best way to clean turbulators? I took them out and used a brush with the shop vac turned on to catch the ash, but this is kind of slow.

 

[Hansson]

I use this for my innova
You can use a elektric screw driver.The tubes gets very clean.

Tarm "baxi" sweden sells this.

 

[flyingcow]

someone on this site has pics of basically the same thing, but not quite as fancy. Basically a long rod with a small wire wheel that fits on drill/grinder.

 

[Tarmsolo60]

maybe bring them outside before wire brushing to eliminate the shopvac. I'm guessing they are the same as my tarm solo plus 60. I haven't found a very good way yet.

 

[Chris Hoskin]

I just knock them together to get the worst of the deposits off. Not too critical to clean the turbulators themselves, but worth the extra effort to wire brush the tubes themselves. I am still pondering some kind of device that combines Hansson's brush with the shop vac.....

BTW we sell both the wire brush style and the fancier coarser 'brush' like the one Hansson showed if anyone is interested, just give Brian a call in parts.

Chris

 

[Duetech]

On my EKO40 I went to a long rod with a slightly trimmed 1 1/2" washer welded to the rod and then I hook the rod into my drill and it works fast.. I use a putty knife on the turbulator blades if they need it.

 

[jebatty]

I use the home-made chain turbulators. Just take them out, rattle a couple together, and they are clean and ready to put back in. It's so easy I clean them this way each time I brush the hx tubes, which is about every 2-4 weeks during high season, less at other times.

 

[sdrobertson]

On my EKO40 I went to a long rod with a slightly trimmed 1 1/2" washer welded to the rod and then I hook the rod into my drill and it works fast.. I use a putty knife on the turbulator blades if they need it.

Cave2K,
If possible, could you post a photo of this tool that you made up. Is this washer welded straight or is it slightly slanted? I made up a steel brush that I put on a long rod that I hook to a drill but it gets coated with creosote rather quickly from the heat of it spinning against the walls of the tubes so I have to stop and let it cool down and remove the creosote from the brush before continuing. This might be perfect for the first pass and then use a brush.

 

[fabguy01]

I use the home-made chain turbulators. Just take them out, rattle a couple together, and they are clean and ready to put back in. It's so easy I clean them this way each time I brush the hx tubes, which is about every 2-4 weeks during high season, less at other times.

Just curious, for a future project of mine.Do your chains fit rather loose or are they close to the same size? I never thought of using chains but it sounds like an exelent idea

 

[Duetech]

On my EKO40 I went to a long rod with a slightly trimmed 1 1/2" washer welded to the rod and then I hook the rod into my drill and it works fast.. I use a putty knife on the turbulator blades if they need it.

Cave2K,
If possible, could you post a photo of this tool that you made up. Is this washer welded straight or is it slightly slanted? I made up a steel brush that I put on a long rod that I hook to a drill but it gets coated with creosote rather quickly from the heat of it spinning against the walls of the tubes so I have to stop and let it cool down and remove the creosote from the brush before continuing. This might be perfect for the first pass and then use a brush.

I'll try working on a photo but I'll give a description of the tool. The 1/4" rod is 4' long. the heavy 1 1/2" washer has the back side cut off so that id looks kind of like a capitol "D" with a small opening (just big enough for the rod to fit in) in the center of the straight line. The rod is inserted into the small opening and centered and then welded. No angles are involved. The edges of the washer have to be trimmed a little to fit inside of the heat tubes and you have to remove the turbulator blades of course so the job is not all that spiffy quick. The quickest part of the whole task with this tool though is the cleaning of the tubes. the dis assembly and reassembly are what takes the most time. This is also a great time to gauge the wear and tear on the cotter pins that the mfg uses to hold the turbulator retaining clevis pins. The cotter pins will probably have to be replace.

 

[jebatty]

I use the home-made chain turbulators. Just take them out, rattle a couple together, and they are clean and ready to put back in. It's so easy I clean them this way each time I brush the hx tubes, which is about every 2-4 weeks during high season, less at other times.

Just curious, for a future project of mine.Do your chains fit rather loose or are they close to the same size? I never thought of using chains but it sounds like an exelent idea

Take a look at Chain Turbulator

These come up in several discussion threads, so a search on "chain turbulator" should find those discussion links. There's really not a lot to add, though. I've used mine for two long winter seasons, and they remain as good as new. I welded a 20d nail at the top of each chain to make it easy to hang and remove each chain. The could hang loose on the nail or a small diameter steel rod. When I started using these, my stack temp dropped 100F and more, and I tried them because I had high stack temps due to high draft plus burning very dry pine.

 

[Duetech]

sdrobertson,
I re read my description of my tube cleaning tool for the EKO and didn't think it accurate enough plus the rod is 5/16" not 1/4". When finished the tool should look like an arrow shaft with a round arrow head. The exception to the "roundness" is indiscernible but I trimmed the sides of the washer where it would come in contact with the tube while in use so that it would not bind on anything. Hope that helps......