Brushing soot off raised flue pans

[tyrod2]

Brushing soot off raised flue pans, can you do it ok through the firebox doors or do you take the pans off the evaporator? I have new brushes coming for my 2x6. Thank you

[Pete33Vt]

You should be able to do it through the firedoors , all you have to do is add on some pipe to your brush to be able to reach the back of your rig. Then just take your time its not bad after you have done it a few times. And you figure out how to hold your face just right then it will brush throught pretty good.

[Russell Lampron]

I have a piece of 1/2" conduit for a handle on mine and I brush my flues before every boil through the fire doors.

Russ

[markcasper]

Your supposed to brush the flues every 10 hours of boiling, or before a boil that lasted 10 hours or more. I find it to be A PAIN IN THE !@#&*^$$#. I just try to tell myself that I am saving at least 1 hours worth of fuel and time for each 10 hours that I am boiling. At least thats what the instructions say you are saving, don't know how close to the truth this is.

Hey, it would be a good research topic! Efficiency gain/loss between unbrushed flues/brushed flues.

A 2x6 is a piece of cake to do compared to a 12 footer.

[Fred Henderson]

Your supposed to brush the flues every 10 hours of boiling, or before a boil that lasted 10 hours or more. I find it to be A PAIN IN THE !@#&*^$$#. I just try to tell myself that I am saving at least 1 hours worth of fuel and time for each 10 hours that I am boiling. At least thats what the instructions say you are saving, don't know how close to the truth this is.

Hey, it would be a good research topic! Efficiency gain/loss between unbrushed flues/brushed flues.

A 2x6 is a piece of cake to do compared to a 12 footer.

Do you remember when all arches had a door at the stack end? That was so you could brush the flues while boiling. I know a guy that has got a 3x10 Leader and he brushes his every 1/2 hour. When boiling of course.

[brookledge]

Unless the brush is made of steel you can't brush while it is hot. Most flue brushes that I have had are made of a coarse nylon or some kind of plastic and it will melt if you try it while hot.
For me it is easier to brush from the back of the arch through the drop door but it can be done through the fire box door however in most cases the fire box doors are not as wide as the flues are so it is hard to get the flues on the side. That is why it is easier to use the door under the base stack because it is wider.
Keith

[Bucket Head]

Do both drop and raised flue arch's have these door's? I could see how a drop flue could be cleaned this way but I would think a raised flue would be hard to do.

It would be impossible to do it this way on a raised flue that has fire brick's or sand up to the bottom of the flue's. I have fire brick's right up to the flue's except for a few inches at the end's.

Steve

[PA mapler]

How fussy do you need to be with cleaning the soot? I have a 2x6, and take the whole rig outside at the end of the season and clean it inside and out. I use a toilet brush and hose to clean and scrub the soot out of the flues as best I can, but you still can't see much shiny stainless showing thru the black after the water runs clear. Can that hard black soot build up and damage the pans?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Soot shouldn't hurt the pans but make sure you get them dry before putting them back on the arch as soot and water mixed will turn to lye and could eat thru the stainless.

[PA mapler]

Good point about the lye- never would have thought about that! The flues are as dry as sunny and 70 can get them. Thanks!

[hookhill]

I am not sure how clean you could get a raised flue pan by going through the doors to brush the flues. We turn the pan upside down and really but some elbow grease to it. One thing noticed how much cresote was stuck to the flues. I ended up taking a 1" wide x 18" piece of flat stock with a sharp edge and scraped off the cresote. Only took 4 hours. God sugaring is alot of work!!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Are you burning good dry seasoned wood??????

[Breezy Lane Sugarworks]

The hotter you can keep the fire, the cleaner everything(in the firebox/ soot side of pans anyway) will be.