Wood burning and aluminum cans
Wood burning and aluminum cans
(OP)
Hello,
I have been told that when burning wood fuel, adding a few aluminum cans to the fire would remove some or all of the creosote from the stack. Has anyone here ever heard of this? Is this true? What is the chemistry behind this?
thanks
I have been told that when burning wood fuel, adding a few aluminum cans to the fire would remove some or all of the creosote from the stack. Has anyone here ever heard of this? Is this true? What is the chemistry behind this?
thanks





RE: Wood burning and aluminum cans
rmw
RE: Wood burning and aluminum cans
RE: Wood burning and aluminum cans
RE: Wood burning and aluminum cans
Interesting topic, but I can't get my mind around it with respect to what I already know about the individual aspects of the process.
rmw
RE: Wood burning and aluminum cans
RE: Wood burning and aluminum cans
That said, doing a little reading I see Mg as a precipitation hardening agent for Al, and I recognize Mg as a major constituent of fuel additives for heavy oil fuels that prevents both sludging of the fuel in the storage tank, and has beneficial effects downstream of the furnace by affecting the ash characteristics.
But, I am grasping at straws here I feel.
I have plenty of experience with steel in wood furnaces in the form of tire tread steel from scrap tire rubber burned as a supplement to wood in wood fired boilers, but not Al. Some of the zincs and things that were plated on the steel for corrosion protection were real problem makers farther downstream in the boiler and scrubber as I remember.
rmw
RE: Wood burning and aluminum cans
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If you put 8 or 10 aluminum pop cans in your stove while it's hot ,it will lossen all the crusty stuff out of your stove pipe.Works better than a steel brush .. Some of the crusty stuff that falls loose may get stuck in the elbow sections and may need removin.
-- Jesus Bob (heavens@inn.com), December 01, 2002.
I'm really curious about that aluminum can idea. We have an antique wood cookstove and would like to keep the chimney (metalbestos pipe) as clean as possible. Would the soda cans work in this stove? How many should we use? Are there any other poisonous fumes released during the heating of the cans?
-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), December 01, 2002.
Marcia , I think it would work in any stove. I've never seen a metalbestos stove pipe so I wouldn't know if it would clean the pipe ? It's a chemical reaction between the 2 different metals ( aluminum can and steel stove pipe ) that causes the creosote ( crusty stuff ) to flake and fall out of the pipe. I used 8 cans and let them totally burn or disolve in the hot stove. A day or 2 latter when the stove was out ,I seperated an elbow section of the stove pipe and all the crusty stuff had come loose and was in the elbow and was emptied.
As far as poisonous fumes being released during the heating of the cans , it's aluminum. I throw the cans in when the fire is real hot and the next time I need to load the stove with wood I don't notice the fumes. The fumes should go up the stove pipe.As far as enviormental friendly , it's a poor mans or ( el cheapos ) way of keeping the stove pipes clean.
I did wonder if the chemical reaction of the 2 metals would harm the steel of the wood stove in the long run .I still don't know if it's bad for the stove .But at least the draw is good and I don't have to worry about a fire in the stove pipe.
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RE: Wood burning and aluminum cans
It seems like a weird coincident that refractory materials have high levels of aluminum oxide in them. Maybe somehow related to this concept?
This is interesting idea though. I've never heard of it before.
RE: Wood burning and aluminum cans
Not sure about wood burners, but aluminum cans have alsways been a problem with municipal solid waste incinerators and fluid bed boilers. The aluminum melts and plugs up the grid plate and nozzles, unless a suitable header-style air distribution style system is used.
You may have noticed on airplane flights that the stewardesses always put the aluminum cans in a different bag than the combustible garbage bags. Thants because the airlines have signed agreements with discrete MSW incinerators, and they absolutely may not have any aluminum cans fed to the incinerator.
RE: Wood burning and aluminum cans
On a serious note, the mental picture I have of aluminim cans on some of the grates that I have seen is their melting and plugging the air ports.
rmw