The effect of burning subpar Firewood

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Fredo

Fredo

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Nov 24, 2011
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Hello to all my friends here at Hearth. I just installed my wood stove last December. I purchased Ash and Oak about a month before stove was installed. The ash was cut on demand and had a dozen or so face cords delivered. The oak was seasoned, I do not know how long but I purchased 6 faced cord.
Dennis, (BackWood Savage) along with others here at Hearth warned me that the Ash that I purchased would not be seasoned enough and that I would face some challenges burning due to its higher moisture content.
Even though I am able to get my stove up to its proper operating temps, I know from monitoring Stack gauge and Stove Top gauge, I am still suffering from Creosote issues.
I took a picture of outside Chimney Stack and asking if I am in danger of it catching fire? It is pretty disgusting what has formed at the top of my Chimney and below Chimney Cap and flakes of black are starting to litter the ground beneath Chimney.
Thanks for any input

Sincerely, Fredo
 

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It's worth a check. How much wood have you burned?
 
I suggest you go ahead and get it swept. Rick
 
Combined, I probably have burned around 2-3 face cord of both Ash and Oak. I am just guesstimating the amount of wood burned but I did brush out my chimney around a month and a half ago.

A couple of weeks ago I removed two sections of stack that are above my stove and brushed them. I didn't brush up the rest of chimney because there really wasn't that much deposit on inside of stack.

Fredo
 
At this point there is no down side to an inspection and sweep, if needed (and I suspect it does). Just do it.
 
What truly concerns me are the pieces of (puffy) black charcoal on roof and ground below. There are a few pieces on roof and some on ground but I am wondering if I had a chimney fire? I read on line 9 signs of a chimney fire and I have one of them. Puffs of Creosote!

What does a stack look like after catching fire? Is it a blackened color? My stack below cap is a light brown color and so is the outer cap ring the same color.

I looked through a pair of binoculars to get a close up of chimney cap and there is quite a bit of black gunk formed on inside.

I am waiting for my stove to cool down and brush.

Fredo
 
Fred, I highly doubt that you have had a chimney fire. Those black flakes you are seeing I always read as a warning; time to inspect the chimney! Your cap and the top of the chimney will turn color but yours has just turned color a lot sooner, no doubt because of the quality of the fuel. Also realize that the worst creosote will almost always be right at the very top and, of course, the cap will be the worst because it is the coolest.

So at this point, you are doing the right thing by cleaning the chimney. You will notice a big change next year as your fuel will be much better. Which brings up the point. Have you done any calculating on the wood supply yet? That is, how much have you burned in what length of time. Then try to figure next winter's needs by what you'd done so far. Just remember that this year is one of those very unusual years and I would expect the wood usage to be a bit higher next winter.
 
Hi Dennis,

It is good to hear from you my friend. I hope all is well with you and yours. As for the amount of ash/oak that I have burned, I guesstimate between 2-3 face cord? Don't hold me to to those numbers but it's the best numbers I can give at this point. Like I mentioned, I brushed two sections of stack that rise above my stove recently. I used a flashlight to look up rest of stack and there wasn't alot of black deposit in it.

I am going to brush out my chimney this week Dennis just to be safe and responsible. Like always, thanks to you and my other Hearth brothers/friends for all your help...

Fredo
 
As far as the brown/black deposits on the outside of the pipe below the cap, normal. It'll wash off in spring rains. I always get some, have never ever had to clean it off. Now, it does look in the photo as if there is some gunky stuff up in there inside the cap and that could either be just because the uninsulated cap is cold and the gunk just needs to be scrubbed out after burning season or it could be indicative of the same gunk down inside the pipe....not a good thing. I have had some in my caps a few times over the yr. and when I pulled the cap the pipe inside was fine, just the cap needed cleaning out. But do check it out and see how that pipe looks inside.
 
I am stuck burning crappy-for-this-stove wood this year

I open my cleanout every two weeks and inspect. I have had to sweep twice thus far.

It's funny, when burning less than perfect wood, this stove seems to produce more creosote than the other stoves I have had/dealt with in the past burning the same wood. The solution is simple, So I'm not too worried about it.
 
Fredo said:
Hello to all my friends here at Hearth. I just installed my wood stove last December. I purchased Ash and Oak about a month before stove was installed. The ash was cut on demand and had a dozen or so face cords delivered. The oak was seasoned, I do not know how long but I purchased 6 faced cord.
Dennis, (BackWood Savage) along with others here at Hearth warned me that the Ash that I purchased would not be seasoned enough and that I would face some challenges burning due to its higher moisture content.
Even though I am able to get my stove up to its proper operating temps, I know from monitoring Stack gauge and Stove Top gauge, I am still suffering from Creosote issues.
I took a picture of outside Chimney Stack and asking if I am in danger of it catching fire? It is pretty disgusting what has formed at the top of my Chimney and below Chimney Cap and flakes of black are starting to litter the ground beneath Chimney.
Thanks for any input

Sincerely, Fredo
Click to expand...

Our first year we burned 6 month cured wood and we cleaned within 1 month and it was a mess too! I have learned that if you don't go a minimum of 1 year cut split stacked no matter how hot you burn it will leave a large amount of creosote behind especially on the cap. Our cap gets very dirty no matter how seasoned the wood the pipe gets a discoloration to it that tends to go away after the burning season. if you see flakes then it is definitely time to check as that usually indicates there is buildup in the chimney. In my experience a chimney fire usually leaves behind a black popcorn looking soot . Ash will burn even fresh however it won't be clean at all and you will need to clean frequently through the season as we did the first year.

Good luck
Pete
 
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