GB2214597A

GB2214597A - Boiler cleaning apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2214597A
Application number: GB8900401A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David Lynch
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1988-01-08
Filing date: 1989-01-09
Publication date: 1989-09-06
Also published as: GB8900401D0

Abstract

A kit of tools for cleaning the heat exchange surfaces of a wrap-around back boiler comprises a first tool 10 of cruciform shape in transverse cross section having a stub 3 for mounting to the chuck of a power drill by a flexible connector 4. The tool 10 has scraping edges 16 which engage against the heat exchange surface to remove soot and scale. A power driven wire brush (25, Fig 2) and a scraper tool (30, Fig 3) having a handle (36) also form part of the kit. Other tools for use in cleaning heat exchange surfaces are disclosed including a spirally wound coil of steel (40, Fig 4) and a scraper tool (70, Fig 7). The handles of the tools may be up to 50 cms long. <IMAGE>

Description

Boiler Cleaning Annaratus The invention relate. to an apparatus for cleaning heat exchange surfaces and in particular to an apparatus for cleaning the surfaces of a domestic hot water boiler such as a wrap-around boiler, enclosed boiler, freestanding stove or the like.

The cleaning of the heat exchange surfaces of a boiler such as a wrap-around boiler for mounting in an open hearth fire place is a generally time-consuming and difficult task. It is, however, essential that the boiler be cleaned regularly to ensure high heat transfer efficiency is maintained.This also applies to all types of solid fuel cookers Various devices have been developed to facilitate cleaning of heat exchange surfaces particularly for wrap-around back boilers, however, while some of these are useful, to date none have been developed which can be readily easily operated and which effectively clean the surfaces of the boiler.

There is therefore z need for an improved apparatus for cleaning heat exchange surfaces, particularly for boilers and this invention is directed towards providing such an apparatus.

According to the invention there is provided a tool for cleaning the heat exchange surfaces of a boiler comprising a tool having a heat exchange surface engaging portion and a stub for mounting in a chuck of a hand-held power drill.

In one embodiment the invention of the tool is connected directly to the chuck of a power drill.

In an other embodiment the invention of the tool is connected to the drill through a flexible drive extension connector.

In one embodiment the invention the heat exchange surface engaging portion has at least two heat exchange surface scraping portions, each of which extends radically outwudly from a central shank and has an outer cutting edge for engaging against a heat exchange surface. In this case preferably the heat exchange surface engaging portion is of substantially cruciform shape in transverse cross section having for heat exchange surface scraping portions. Preferably the tip of the tool is relieved to provide a substantially flat heat exchange surface engaging tip.

In one case the scraping portion of the tool extend. for a length of approximately 22 cm.

In another case the scraping portion extends for a length of approximately 5 cm.

In another embodiment the invention of the heat exchange surface engaging portion of the tool is formed by a brush have a plurality of bristles. Preferably the bristles are of a steel material Zn another aspect of the invention provides a scraper tool for cleaning the heat exchange surfaces of a boiler comprising a scraping head for engaging the heat exchange surfaces of a boiler and a handle extending from the head wherein the scraper head is cranked intermediate the ends thereof. In one case the handle extends for a length of approximately 30 cm. In another case the handle extends for approxisately 50 ci.

In a further aspect the invention provides a kit of tools for cleaning the heat exchange surfaces of a boiler comprising one or more tools according to the invention and an additional scraper tool comprising a scraping head for engaging the heat exchange surfaces of a boiler and a handle extending from the head.

Preferably the scraper tool is a tool according to the preferred aspect of the invention.

In a further aspect the invention provides a method for cleaning the heat exchange surfaces of a boiler by applying one or more tools of the invention to appropriate surfaces of the boiler.

Figs 1 to 4 are perspective views of cleaning tools forming a kit of tools for cleaning the heat exchange surfaces of a back boiler.

Fig 5 is a perspective view of another portion of the kit.

Fig 6 is a perspective view of the tool for us in cleaning another type of back boiler and rig 7 is a perspective view of a tool for us in cleaning the heat exchange surfaces of a solid fuel cooker.

Referring to the drawings and initially to Figs 1 to S thereof there is illustrated a kit of tools according to the invention which in this case are adapted for use in cleaning the heat exchange surface of a wrap-around back boiler mounted in an open heart fireplace of the type having a single, two or three flues which are accessed for cleaning either from underneath or above the flues. Each of the tools in Figs 1 to 4 of the kit comprises a heat exchange surface scraping portion and a stub 3 for connection to the chuck of a hand held power drill (not shown). In this case the tools are mounted to the chuck of the power drill by a conventional flexible connector 4 illustrated in Fig 5.

Referring to Fig 1 there is illustrated one tool 10 of the kit according to the invention The tool 10 is in this case of generally cruciform form shape in transverse cross section and comprises four heat exchange surface scraping portion 15, each having scraping edges 16 for engaging against the heat exchange surface to remove soot and scale. It will be noted that the tip of the tool is cutaway to present a substantially flat surface for cleaning the heat exchange surface of the boiler.

Referring to Fig 2 there is illustrated another tool according to the invention and also of the kit which in this case comprises a brush having a plurality of bristles 25 which are preferably of steel material.

Referring to Fig 3 there is illustrated another tool 30 according to the invention which also part of the kit. The tool 30 is a scraper tool comprising a scraping head 35 for engaging the heat exchange surface of a boiler and a handle 36 extending fros the head. It will be noted that in this case the scraper head 35 is cranked adjacent to the free end thereof to provide a slightly inclined front scraping portion which in use greatly facilities cleaning of the heat exchange surface of the boiler.In this case the handle of the scraping tool extends for a length of approximately 30cn.

Referring to Fig 4 there is illustrated a further tool 40 of the kit which is a length of spirally wound steel material forming a spring which in use is inserted into the flue gas passage way and moved up and down while moving across the inner surface of the flue to assist in cleaning root and scale fros the heat exchange surfaces To clean a conventional twin flue wrap-around back boiler the first step is to use the tool 40 which is inserted between the flues to clean off rough scale and soot. The tool 10 illustrated in Fig 1 is then inserted into the chuck carried by the flexible connector 4. The tool 10 is then inserted into the flue gas passageways and the drill activated to rotate the tool 10 while the user is feeding it through the passageway. The tool 10 passes through the flue gas passageways removing heavy deposits of soot and scale. The heat exchange surface of the back tank and side tanks of a wrap-around back boiler are also initially cleaned using the scraper tool 30.The next step is to use the brush tool 20 illustrated in Fig 2 which has a greatest diameter of approximately 38 mm, This tool is attached to the chuck of the flexible connector 4 and the tool 35 is passed over the heat exchange surfaces to remove further soot and scale from the flue gas passageways as well as from the exposed surfaces of the back and side tanks of the wrap-around back boiler. rn cleaning the outer surface of the front tank of a single, twin or triple flue boiler and the surfaces of the side tanks of the boiler the tools are offered up to the surfaces so that the axis of tools are substantially perpendicular to the heat exchange surface to be cleaned.

Thus, all surfaces of the boiler can be cleaned using the various tools of the kit according to the invention It will be appreciated that the kit of tools according to this aspect of the invention may be used for cleaning any suitable construction of boiler. For example for single or twin flue boilers having small additional tubular type flue gas passageways extending through one or more of the tanks the tools can be used in a similar manner for the cleaning the surfaces of these tubes. The tool 40 of Fig 4 is particularly useful for this purpose as it may be easily inserted into the additional flues to remove heavy deposits of scale and soot.

The tools according to the invention may be used to clean any type of wrap-around back boiler. For cleaning the surfaces of what are refereed to as "easy-clean" wraparound back boilers having open fronted flues which are accessed by removing a removable front plate from the boiler a kit of tools comprising the tools of Fig 2 and 3 of the kit described above and the tool similar to the tool of Fig 1 illustrated in Fig 6 and identified by the reference numeral 60 are used. The tool of Fig 6 is substantially the same as the tool of Fig 1 except that the scraping head is approximately 22cm long.In this case a flexible connector is not required for connection of the cleaning tools to the chuck of a power drill and the stubs of the tools are connected directly to the chuck of a drill. The surface of the heat exchange are cleaned in a similar manner to that described above.

Rough deposits of soot and scale are first removed by using the scraper tool 30 of Fig 3 and the heat exchange surfaces are thoroughly cleaned using the tool 66 of Fig 6 and then using the brush tool 20 of Fig 2.

Referring to Fig 7 there is illustrated another scraper tool 70 according to the invention which is adapted for use in cleaning the heat exchange surfaces of a solid fuel cooker. The scraper tool 70 is substantially similar to the tool described above with reference to Fig 3 except that the handle is in this case approximately 50 cm long and is particularly useful for cleaning solid fuel cookers having a gap between the oven and the boiler through which access to the heat exchange surfaces of the boiler can be gained. Where space is limited, for example where the oven is tight against the boiler in a solid fuel cooker a scraping tool having a shorter length, typically in the order of 30 cm may be used for cleaning the heat exchange surfaces.It will particularly be noted that these scraper tools have B cranked scraper head which greatly facilitates the removal of scale and soot from the heat exchange surfaces.

The cleaning tools and kit of cleaning tools according to the invention allow the heat exchange surfaces of practically any construction of boiler or solid fuel cooker to be easily cleaned quickly and easily1 thus allowing the heat transfer efficiency the boiler to be maintained with considerable advantages in cost savings.

Many variations on the specific embodiments of the invention described above will be readily apparent and accordingly the invention is not limited to the embodiments hereinbefore described which may be varied in both construction and detail.

Claims

1 Roller heat exchange surface cleaning apparatus

for cleaning the heat exchange surfaces of a boiler comprising a tool having a heat exchange surface engaging portion and a stub for mounting in a chuck of a hand-held power drill.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the tool is connected directly to the chuck of a power drill.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the tool is connected to a power drill through a flexible drive extension connector.

4. Apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3 wherein the heat exchange surface engaging portion has at least two heat exchange surface scraping portions, each of which extends radially outwardly from a central shank and has an outer scraping edge for engaging against a heat exchange surface of a boiler

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4 wherein the heat exchange surface engaging portion is of substantially cruciform shape in transverse cross section having four heat exchange surface scraping portions

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 5 wherein the tip of the tool is relieved to provide a substantially flat heat exchange surface engaging tip.

7. Apparatus as claimed in any of claims 4 to 6 wherein the scraping portion of the tool extends for a length of spproxlmately 22cm.

8 Apparatus as claimed in any of claims 4 to 6 wherein the scraping portion extends for a length of approximately 5cm.

9. A tool as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3 wherein the heat exchange surface engaging portion of the tool is formed by a brush having a plurality of bristles.

10. Apparatus as claimed in 9 wherein the bristles are of a steel material.

11. A scraper tool for cleaning the heat exchange surfaces of a boiler comprising a scraping head for engaging the heat exchange surfaces of a boiler and a handle extending from the head wherein the scraper head is cranked intermediate the ends thereof.

12. A tool as claimed in claim 10 wherein the handle extends for a length of approximately 30cm.

13. A tool as claimed in claim 10 wherein the handle extends for approximately SOcm.

14. A kit of tools for cleaning the heat exchange surfaces of a boiler comprising one or more tools as claimed in any of claims 1 to 9 or 10 to 12 and an additional scraper tool comprising a scraping head for engaging the heat exchange surfaces of a boiler and a handle extending from the head.

15. A boiler heat exchange surface cleaning apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings.

16. A scraper tool for cleaning the heat exchange surfaces of a boiler substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

17. A kit of tools for cleaning the heat exchange surfaces of a boiler substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

18. A method for cleaning the heat exchange surfaces of a boiler comprising the step of engaging one or more of the tools as claimed in any of claims 1 to 17 against appropriate surfaces of the boiler to clean the heat exchange surfaces of the boiler.