Getting the hang now and score pics!

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CHeath

Feeling the Heat
Feb 18, 2013
273
Northwest NorthCarolina Mtns
photo.JPGphoto1.JPG111.JPGphoto.JPGphoto1.JPG111.JPGphoto.JPGphoto1.JPG111.JPGphoto11.JPG photo.JPGphoto1.JPG Never thought id get excited to get some cut up tree but hey, I guess Im getting old. Also, heres some pix of my chinmey. Some asked what liner I had so here ya go....

photo.JPG
 
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new to the uploader, sorry for the double posting on the pix. And yes, the wood arrived before I could get down my sapplings, I ll restack later.
 
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Welcome to the club........what is the black chunks on top of your chimney, looks like chunks of creosote. You may want to give the flues a professional inspection to make sure they are not cracked inside. Also, if you plan on using wood to efficiently heat your home, maybe consider putting in a stainless insulated liner sometime down the road for added safety and efficiency.
 
Welcome to the Hearth. take a snapshot down your chimney with the flash getting in there. Many here will have advice on cleaning and I will second having the chimney/flu looked at by a pro at least once before getting started. You are building a fire in your house so it is best to spend a few clams and be safe.
 
Those chunks are actually moss on the chimney. The other stuff is black caulking for flashing on the bottom of the chimney. The smaller dark hole is the woodstove hole. This home was built in 1979 and the first fire to come from it ever was 3 days ago. Its never been used. I may do a stainless liner one day but there is no way that ill put one in just because its the latest in technology. My dad had a terracota insert in his when I was about 10. He fires it hard and has been every since. Had a chimney fire before then, never had a problem since. Im 40 now.
 
Looks like you have a 7X7" flue for your stove. It's a bit large compared to the 6" circle required for your stove. But, you have a couple things going for you: a tall chimney and an interior chimney. FWIW, I use a 7X7" clay flue for my 6" outlet stove on my tall, interior chimney and it works fine.

If your terracotta is in good shape there really is no reason to line it if you get adequate draft. I would focus on building your wood supply. In the meantime, you might want to buy or find just a bit of real dry wood to see if you can get your stove and flue temps up. That will help you to know what to expect performance wise once you have dry wood to burn.
 
I would want a chimney cap to keep out rain, sleet, snow and meteorites.

A screen to keep critters out is nice but I've had just a slab of cement resting on bricks before.
 
I looked on e at for the meteorite chimney block cap. No dice

Lol.
 
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Only thing I would do with that chimney is clean up that cement cap and give it a fresh slurry coat with some sort of acrylic-polymer modified cement to seal up the cracks. Once those cracks get started like that every time you get water or snow on there and water seeps into the cracks, and then you get a freeze thaw cycle, the expanding ice will open the crack a little more, eventually busting it apart and eroding the whole top and penetrating into the chimney.
 
Going forward you're going to want to stack the wood on something other than the ground - pallets, cheap landscape timbers, scrounged 4x4's, or straight saplings.
The termites will love the way that stuff is stacked currently
Single row stacks in a windy/sunny area work best - appear you've got some sun there.

I second patching the concrete crown - a little maintenance now will save bigger bills later
The flue must have a cleanout door in the basement from your previous post?
A sooteater or square brush will be in your future, while your wood is less than optimal it's a good idea to sweep every few weeks this season and next - until you have the operation down and dry wood
 
Nice stack of firewood.
Some pallets or poles to get it off the ground would help the bottom get air & season better ;)

Lots of green in the picture.
Looks warm (compared to here in Alaska. :) )
 
Yes, kinda what I figured. Do you have three seperate spots to put a stove? This is my thought, and it's only a thought. I take it this the gent. that posted the other video with the stove in the basement? what I wood do, is depending on how much money I wood have, in my pocket. period. Me, I wood buy six inch black two foot section, and start to feed them down what I wood guess be the smaller of the clay flue tiles. Screwing them together as i ran them down, I realize that you may have to remove some of the block in the very bottom, as so you can get a connection made there. A little work, but this is what I feel, it wood work decent. Ok, this wood be a liner that is not stainless, but wood keep your clay lined flue good forever. The inner 6" pipe will keep extremely warm inside there bringing up your draft, by making a more centralized flue stream rather than going from 6" pipe to a bigger 10" square, at that point in the chiminey system it slows, because of the expansion point. it works but, not as it should. With this black pipe in stalled, lets pretend you never cleaned it out, and one day it had a chiminey fire in the pipe, thats were you want it to be. It will be able to handle it one time, of intense heat, and the clay will be a back up. so at the end of the heating year you could disconnect the stove from it, pull this whole section out the top of the stack and inspect it. If your a reliable chiminey checker and cleaner, this section should stay good for a few heating seasons. I did this with my chiminey, but I went and got a 20' stick of 6" by about 1\8" wall piece and cut the lenght, welded a plate on the top to keep the pipe from falling down. and put it down and connected it. I will pull it out when the season is done, and paint the exterior. It works, cheaper than stainless, and safer than just a clay lined flue, if you have any questions please feel freee to ask Alex, peace
"
 
Those chunks are actually moss on the chimney. The other stuff is black caulking for flashing on the bottom of the chimney. The smaller dark hole is the woodstove hole. This home was built in 1979 and the first fire to come from it ever was 3 days ago. Its never been used. I may do a stainless liner one day but there is no way that ill put one in just because its the latest in technology. My dad had a terracota insert in his when I was about 10. He fires it hard and has been every since. Had a chimney fire before then, never had a problem since. Im 40 now.
Stainless Liners are overated.
 
Right now Im trying to get coals in the morning. Little frustrated this morn, still was warm in the house but the kids are out of school because of weather and the wife is there but I am at work. I went down and had a few coals but not that many. Heres my main problem.......

I cant sit down there for 20 minutes while I get it going again on weekdays, I gotta go to work lol. This is just pure rookie, I know this. My Kindling sucks and tho the wood looks dry, Im sure its not. This first year sucks. Ill have better wood next season.
 
tonight all drafts are OFF. So many variables!!!!! lol
 
Right now Im trying to get coals in the morning. Little frustrated this morn, still was warm in the house but the kids are out of school because of weather and the wife is there but I am at work. I went down and had a few coals but not that many. Heres my main problem.......

I cant sit down there for 20 minutes while I get it going again on weekdays, I gotta go to work lol. This is just pure rookie, I know this. My Kindling sucks and tho the wood looks dry, Im sure its not. This first year sucks. Ill have better wood next season.

It will be easier once you build up your supply and you have good seasoned wood to work with. We've all been there... A word of advice-get the wife trained! At first my wife wouldn't touch the stove, was too afraid she'd do something wrong and burn the house down, etc... Now with a little supervised practice and some confidence building she's a pro. I leave a stack for her next to the furnace before I leave for work in the morning and she feeds it mid-day, then I take over again when I get home.
 
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