How can you tell when a pellet boiler chimney is dirty enough to hinder the boiler’s performance? Can a pellet boiler operate with a dirty chimney, and for how long? How frequently should you clean the chimney of a pellet boiler?
For heating with wood or coal, chimney cleaning should be done at least once a year, depending on the quality of the fuel and the settings of the boiler, as well as the quality and temperature of combustion. Often, the interval is shorter, necessitating chimney cleaning even during the heating season.
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One of the advantages of heating with pellets is that chimney cleaning is typically done once a year. This is usually done at the end of the heating season, during April and May, preferably along with the annual service and cleaning of the boiler itself.
However, sometimes, albeit rarely, if you get a batch of poor-quality pellets, cleaning might need to be done before the heating season ends, usually near its close. It’s also not uncommon for someone to skip cleaning the chimney since the last season, resulting in insufficient airflow in the chimney during the next heating season.
Identifying Problems with a Pellet Boiler Chimney
With wood boilers, the problem of a dirty chimney manifests as smoke returning back into the room. With pellet boilers, the circulation of gases is both natural, as warm air rises, and forced, thanks to a powerful fan.
That fan is the loudest part of the boiler. If the chimney is dirty enough to block the flow of gases, most boilers will exhibit shaking and noisy operation, with loud sounds indicating that something is wrong. This typically occurs when the boiler switches from standby mode to active mode, which can be monitored on the boiler’s display.
Additionally, smell of smoke may appear in the room where the boiler is located, indicating that it has found its way out of the chimney. Since the fan sends gases into the chimney, which doesn’t have sufficient airflow, the gas pressure increases and finds another exit at one of the connections.
Respond to any smell of smoke and monitor the boiler’s start-up process
In this case, the boiler should be shut down immediately to avoid more serious damage and costly repairs. Under these conditions, the motor in the fan can fail quickly due to operating under heavy load.
The boiler is often located in the basement, so this problem can go unnoticed for a long time. Therefore, you should respond to any smell of smoke and periodically monitor the boiler’s start-up process and its achievement of full working temperature.
By listening for unusual sounds or smells and watching the messages on the boiler’s display, you can easily determine whether chimney cleaning is needed and avoid costly boiler repairs.
Foto: Alfa Plam