gasifier dust/ ash

[pybyr]

Hello all-

First off, for context for my question below, I am not new to burning wood- been doing it for 20 years in all sorts of devices. I understand that wood generates ash, that ash generates dust, and that very careful removal of ash is essential to not creating a film of ash dust all around. I've generally always been pretty good at minimizing the dust factor.

That said, with my new gasifier, I am finding a substantially more significant amount of super-fine ash dust both in the cellar and, to a lesser degree, in the house (as compared to my old chunkwood/ hot-air furnace) (even though I am careful to move slowly and deliberately in emptying ashes in hopes of not making them airborne).

Is this a result of:
(A) something inherent to gasifiers (do they make finer ash that spreads more readily?)
(B) needing to perhaps tighten my firebox doors? (no obvious signs of leakage, but I am left wondering)
(C) peeking in the lower fire chamber too often to see how the gasification is going?
(D) some other newbie blunder?

Have others observed this?

What solutions have you found?

Thanks

 

[sweetheat]

it's a messy job cleaning wood-stoves and wood boilers and can result in a never ending layer of dust on all surfaces. my solution was the cheetah or cougar ash vac from northlineexpress.com. reaches way back into the Tarm using 2 hose's coupled together. no need to worry about hot embers entering the vacuum machine. gets clogged up at least once per vacuum. I cleanout all stoves the house she cleans but complains bitterly about the dust. she does like the wood heat though. sweetheat

 

[WoodNotOil]

I never really put much thought into this one. I have never managed to keep my basement very clean, so the fine dust is not much different than the sawdust left from tools and sanders, etc. I just give the whole basement a good cleaning a few times per year. I put ashes into ash box that came with Tarm and when it is full into a garbage barrel. When that is full it goes out to the garden to be tilled in summer.

As far as it getting into the house, never had that problem. I have all hot water heat though and you have forced air. My guess is that it is getting sucked up in the hot to cold air cycle of your house. Do you have a dedicated cold return and well sealed duct work? Do you have filters in place in the system? Perhaps it is too fine to get caught in it.

 

[wantstoburnwood]

I am getting a fine dust covering on everything around the boiler. I have tightened the bottom door but it still needs adjustment. I think that gassifiers put out a finer dust through openings in flue pipes or door gaskets as they pressurize the gassification chamber. Yes maybe peeking does in the lower chamber does create extra dust .

 

[Piker]

I don't believe the door gaskets have anything to do with it. Our demo here at Hillside produces some dust, and I DO think it's because I am peeking in the bottom door all the time... or rather, letting customers peek in the bottom door all the time. Another issue is the barometric damper. When the boiler gets cool the draft in the chimney just isn't enough to keep up with the blower all the time, and you will get some fly-ash making it's way out of the damper. For the most part, I haven't had too much of an issue with things getting really messy in the demo area... though as I have said before, I wouldn't recommend installing one of these in a finished/furnished area of the home. Once I get the storage piped in (hopefully this weekend) I am putting on one of my timer/relay boxes which shuts the boiler down but turns on the near boiler circ to prevent the possibility of steam production from a leftover coal bed. I should be able to shut the boiler down while it's still fairly warm and the draft in the chimney is still flowing decently. We'll see if that makes any difference. Like I said though, the dust really isn't an issue anyways... at least not for me.

cheers

 

[pybyr]

the dust really isn't an issue anyways... at least not for me.

cheers

the dust is not a huge issue for me- I live in an 1830s farmhouse that is a never-ending DIY renovation project, which means that dust goes with the territory-, but as someone with allergies, and also as someone who is a bachelor slob who dusts/ vacuums too infrequently, but prefers to avoid filth (and who is a bit surprised at the dust output of a gasifier compared to prior wood heat appliances), I'd like to find a way to reduce it

 

[Duetech]

I peek at the fire now and then when I reload with wood or check for ash that needs to be removed. My unit is in an outside building and I see ash build up like you are talking about. Either the momentary times I look in to the secondary chamber are processing lots of ash or there is a door seal problem or both. I am inclined to think both as the secondary door is usually closed. My unit is a positive draft pressure unit though and I am wondering if negative pressure draft units are experiencing ash build up in the boiler area? If they are then it's a strong indication the seal has little to do with the build up. I have thought of converting my EKO40 to negative draft and avoiding the ash build up would just be incentive to make the conversion.

 

[Huskurdu]

My Eburn is in the garage, I get the same covering of fine dust. I was assuming it was coming out when I was loading the unit. I only remove the ashes once a week and have dust every day so I don't think that that is the biggest issue.
Did you install a hood and blower arrangement above your loading door? That's my goal.

np

 

[flyingcow]

I get a little bit of ash in my boiler room. So I would agree with others, its not your door seal. Baro, joints in your flue pipe, or around thimble. Cleanout doorin chimney or any opening. When I first started up my unit up, I had an extra 7" hole on my chimney that I wasn't using and did not have blocked off tight. I had a lot of dust on everything, until I blocked off opening tight. Still have a little, but also my cleanout on my chimney is not tight and I don't have my stovepipe sealed. Don't plan on sealing it, but I suppose you could use high temp chaulk, and it wouldn't be too big of a mess to take off for cleaning. As pointed out with forced air that dust would migrate to your house pretty easy. If you upgrade filters, be careful of loosing cfm's, or stressing your fan motor out.