ebinmaine 63,133 #1 Posted October 22, 2018 Just wanted to take a minute to put a reminder out there to all you wood burners. Colder weather is upon us at least here in New England and my honey has fired up the stove several times already. We've been having some issues getting a good draft and yesterday we figured out why. I opened up the flue clean out which is 16 in off the floor and it was full of soot just about to that point. I went up on the roof and cleaned out the chimney from the top down and just about the same amount fell out of the chimney again. Turns out there were two dinner plate like buildups of creosote in there. Almost no opening for the smoke to get through. Good to go for another year. Please don't put it off and please don't assume it's okay. 4 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WVHillbilly520H 10,369 #2 Posted October 22, 2018 Thanks Eric, also remember creosote build up is from damp wood or not occasionally burning "hot" to help clear it out, this too, is good practice to use something similar to this...https://www.walmart.com/ip/CSL-Creosote-Sweeping-Log/30329881....https://www.amazon.com/Rutland-97S-Toss-In-Creosote-Remover/dp/B0013JR73K ... or cedar/pine/locust mixed in with your hardwoods, just my experiences with my parents stove and flu pipe, Jeff Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JAinVA 4,619 #3 Posted October 22, 2018 I clean the chimneys every season.Two years ago I didn't as I thought it would be a good thing to let my son know what it's like.He is a trained rock climber and is tied off with a safety line. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pfrederi 17,147 #4 Posted October 22, 2018 Burn Anthracite... only have to get out the ash every 4-5 years...and that only because i have an offset in my flue. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JAinVA 4,619 #5 Posted October 22, 2018 The only coal around here is what falls off the coal cars on their way to the loading piers. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ebinmaine 63,133 #6 Posted October 22, 2018 4 hours ago, WVHillbilly520H said: Thanks Eric, also remember creosote build up is from damp wood or not occasionally burning "hot" to help clear it out, this too, is good practice to use something similar to this...https://www.walmart.com/ip/CSL-Creosote-Sweeping-Log/30329881....https://www.amazon.com/Rutland-97S-Toss-In-Creosote-Remover/dp/B0013JR73K ... or cedar/pine/locust mixed in with your hardwoods, just my experiences with my parents stove and flu pipe, Jeff We do throw some of that creosote killer in the stove every couple weeks. We burn very little if any wood that has any moisture content at all. All of ours is seasoned for at least a year. We don't have any cedar or Locust here but we certainly do have pine. Hemlock as well. I'll share this with Trina. She's the one that does 95% of the burning in the wood stove. Maybe more. Thank you for the info! 18 minutes ago, pfrederi said: Burn Anthracite... only have to get out the ash every 4-5 years...and that only because i have an offset in my flue. My parents burned coal when I was a kid and I preferred that to Wood but I have 11 acres of forest and 0 Acres of coal mine. I also don't have a coal stove. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ed Kennell 35,769 #7 Posted October 22, 2018 I clean mine every 2-3 months when burning the wood stove. Most of my creosote is found in the pipe between the stove and masonry chimney. I have 2- 90s and about 3' of 8" pipe. I throw in a handful of rock salt every few days. Does it help? Like Eric found out, when the draft is not strong....clean the pipe and chimney. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pullstart 59,718 #8 Posted October 22, 2018 I had a chimney fire at the old house, one morning in my pj pants and no shirt, barefoot with about 1’ of snow outside and on the roof. I happened to have a bucket of wash water nearby, I ran out the basement, up and around the house, up the ladder and across the 3/12 pitch roof to dump the water down the he chimney SO QUICK that nobody knew I had been outside. Shut the stove down for about a month. In fear, but made myself an agreement that saving so much money heating with wood, I could afford to clean the chimney once a month. 3 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KC9KAS 4,741 #9 Posted October 22, 2018 @ebinmaine As a retired volunteer firefighter, I thank you for the reminder and totally agree....Check/Clean those chimneys! I might add....everyone switching from air conditioning to heaters....clean your heating systems and change those filters! This has been a Public Service Announcement and thank our sponsor, Red Square..The best damn Wheel Horse forum on the net! 2 4 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
