After eight years with the Red Bell
Nov 5, 2023 9:48:53 GMT -8
Dan (Upstate NY, USA), kymetro, and 5 more like this
Post by peterberg on Nov 5, 2023 9:48:53 GMT -8
Our own batchrocket mass heater was built in 2015. The core was placed onto a steel pedestal, to lift it from the floor of the bell which incidentally is also the floor of the room. Because of so much space at the lowest level (23 times the csa of the system) very fine dust tend to settle on the bell's floor. About once a year I checked the chimney and the dust collection. Last year the chimney was sweeped for the first time in 8 years of being in use. Nothing spectacular, half a 5-liter bucket of blackish dust and that was all.
At the start of this season, I fired the heater like normal and noticed there was something different. The fire seemed to be a bit sluggish, wasn't really motivated to rush through the fuel, as it were. At some point I had to keep the door ajar all the time, otherwise the fire tend to go down to a slow pace.
In order to find out what was wrong, I dismantled the chimney pipe and looked up into the chimney. No blockage at all, I could clearly see the revolving chimney cowl. I checked the pipe, just a thin crust of easy to remove soot, that was all. So this couldn't be the cuase of the sluggyness burning.
So I kneeled down, looked through the stove pipe hole into the bell cavity and could see the dust on the floor. During former inspections, the dust looked like to be very evenly spread. But not this time, it looked bumpy and uneven and maybe a just a bit higher than last year. It might be that dust hanging on the walls has been falling down due to too much weight that formed the bumpy top layer.
Looking more closely, the level of dust was at the edge of the exhaust hole. I took out the shop vac and vacuumed most of it out. It turned out to be a fairly thick layer, 7 cm or almost three inches. I didn't get it all out, at the far end and around the corner there seemed to be more but I didn't bother. I assembled the pipe back where it belongs and proceeded to light the heater.
Mind you, the whole of the thing was still warm so starting should be very easy. And much to my surprise, this time it was. The fire picked up instantly without any hesitation. My old roaring red dragon was alive again!
But... what was the reason the fire was sluggish and why is it now its old self again?
As can be seen on the website: the exhaust opening was lifted from the floor so the gas stream was able to enter the chimney pipe from all around its perimeter. Due to filling up the distance between hole and floor, at least a squarter of the opening's perimeter couldn't be reached anymore so the fire couldn't get upto steam, as it were. I always recommend to have the exhaust opening at least half of the pipe's diameter from the floor. Now here's the reason why!
If your batchrocket bell heater has been in use for a number of years. Depending on the amount of fuel that's been consumed it might be time to empty the dust collection on the bell's floor.
Highly recommended!
At the start of this season, I fired the heater like normal and noticed there was something different. The fire seemed to be a bit sluggish, wasn't really motivated to rush through the fuel, as it were. At some point I had to keep the door ajar all the time, otherwise the fire tend to go down to a slow pace.
In order to find out what was wrong, I dismantled the chimney pipe and looked up into the chimney. No blockage at all, I could clearly see the revolving chimney cowl. I checked the pipe, just a thin crust of easy to remove soot, that was all. So this couldn't be the cuase of the sluggyness burning.
So I kneeled down, looked through the stove pipe hole into the bell cavity and could see the dust on the floor. During former inspections, the dust looked like to be very evenly spread. But not this time, it looked bumpy and uneven and maybe a just a bit higher than last year. It might be that dust hanging on the walls has been falling down due to too much weight that formed the bumpy top layer.
Looking more closely, the level of dust was at the edge of the exhaust hole. I took out the shop vac and vacuumed most of it out. It turned out to be a fairly thick layer, 7 cm or almost three inches. I didn't get it all out, at the far end and around the corner there seemed to be more but I didn't bother. I assembled the pipe back where it belongs and proceeded to light the heater.
Mind you, the whole of the thing was still warm so starting should be very easy. And much to my surprise, this time it was. The fire picked up instantly without any hesitation. My old roaring red dragon was alive again!
But... what was the reason the fire was sluggish and why is it now its old self again?
As can be seen on the website: the exhaust opening was lifted from the floor so the gas stream was able to enter the chimney pipe from all around its perimeter. Due to filling up the distance between hole and floor, at least a squarter of the opening's perimeter couldn't be reached anymore so the fire couldn't get upto steam, as it were. I always recommend to have the exhaust opening at least half of the pipe's diameter from the floor. Now here's the reason why!
If your batchrocket bell heater has been in use for a number of years. Depending on the amount of fuel that's been consumed it might be time to empty the dust collection on the bell's floor.
Highly recommended!