- Joined
- May 16, 2016
- Messages
- 1,698
Hi guys,
Wondering if someone within the collective knowledge base can help me. especially among those who heat their homes with enclosed wood fires.
I have such a wood burning heater, it is fully enclosed with combustion air control and flue damper, I burn mostly hard wood, mostly Australian red river gum, A very hard and dense wood great for high heat output and long slow burn, also use a small amount of pine just to get a good fire burning then load up with the red gum.
My question is about flue cleaning. Here in Downunder there is a product called "Smart Burn", which is supposed to clean and keep clean the flue on such a heater. It consists of a steel pipe about 1.5"dia. and 6"long the ends are folded closed but not air tight, and it contains some unidentified metal plus some other unidentified special ingredients.
In operation the device is placed in a front corner of the firebox prior to starting a fire, the fire is set and started in the normal way, with extra fuel (wood) added as required. The heat of the fire melts the metal and slowly releases the unidentified special ingredients as a vapor, which cleans the flue. I know it sound like a con, but it does appear to work. I have been using this product since the heater was first installed, and I say it appears to work as a recent inspection of the flue showed it to be reasonably clean,
My heater is 11 years old and was built into the house when the house was built. The heater is typically used for about six months of the year, I tend to run it 24 hours a day in the 3 months of winter, with 6 to 12 hours during the late Autumn (fall) and early Spring as required.
The flue gasses are not very hot as the heater has a water jacket on both sides and the back walls of the firebox which heats some 500 ltrs. of water which supplies all of the hot water needs for the house, kitchen laundry bathrooms etc. some 400 ltrs of that water is held in a storage tank and the remaining 100 ltrs or so are circulating in pipes within the concrete slab to heat the whole house.
My question for the knowledgeable members is what could the mysterious metal be and what might the magic ingredients dissolved within that metal be. The metal appears to be a bright silvery metal maybe zinc or aluminium or alloys of them. I guess I could to some tests on the metal and identify it, but more importantly what are the magic ingredients.
The manufacturers blurb states that the device should last for about three months of normal use, which means two per year with my usage, and that is what I do, replacing the device about midway through winter. The real problem is that they want $60.00 per unit, I figure there has got to be a cheaper way. If only I can find out the ingredients.
Thanks,
Bob.
Wondering if someone within the collective knowledge base can help me. especially among those who heat their homes with enclosed wood fires.
I have such a wood burning heater, it is fully enclosed with combustion air control and flue damper, I burn mostly hard wood, mostly Australian red river gum, A very hard and dense wood great for high heat output and long slow burn, also use a small amount of pine just to get a good fire burning then load up with the red gum.
My question is about flue cleaning. Here in Downunder there is a product called "Smart Burn", which is supposed to clean and keep clean the flue on such a heater. It consists of a steel pipe about 1.5"dia. and 6"long the ends are folded closed but not air tight, and it contains some unidentified metal plus some other unidentified special ingredients.
In operation the device is placed in a front corner of the firebox prior to starting a fire, the fire is set and started in the normal way, with extra fuel (wood) added as required. The heat of the fire melts the metal and slowly releases the unidentified special ingredients as a vapor, which cleans the flue. I know it sound like a con, but it does appear to work. I have been using this product since the heater was first installed, and I say it appears to work as a recent inspection of the flue showed it to be reasonably clean,
My heater is 11 years old and was built into the house when the house was built. The heater is typically used for about six months of the year, I tend to run it 24 hours a day in the 3 months of winter, with 6 to 12 hours during the late Autumn (fall) and early Spring as required.
The flue gasses are not very hot as the heater has a water jacket on both sides and the back walls of the firebox which heats some 500 ltrs. of water which supplies all of the hot water needs for the house, kitchen laundry bathrooms etc. some 400 ltrs of that water is held in a storage tank and the remaining 100 ltrs or so are circulating in pipes within the concrete slab to heat the whole house.
My question for the knowledgeable members is what could the mysterious metal be and what might the magic ingredients dissolved within that metal be. The metal appears to be a bright silvery metal maybe zinc or aluminium or alloys of them. I guess I could to some tests on the metal and identify it, but more importantly what are the magic ingredients.
The manufacturers blurb states that the device should last for about three months of normal use, which means two per year with my usage, and that is what I do, replacing the device about midway through winter. The real problem is that they want $60.00 per unit, I figure there has got to be a cheaper way. If only I can find out the ingredients.
Thanks,
Bob.