Spring Cleaning...

I did my annual sweep yesterday. I've burned probably 2 full cords this season, oak and hickory mostly. The sweep produced about 1.5 cups of very fine soot, no granules or tarry junk. I took off the Class A chimney cap and brushed it down and hosed it off, and it is shiny new (SS) on the outside. I"m loving the Jotul Castine for the clean and efficient burns. As I'll be burning the same fuel next year, this will be the last cleanout until March 2013.

Yeah, that was about our low in Birmingham last night. I love to take the chill off the living area on these cool nights, while still sleeping with the window open in the bedroom. I've swept it once a year just out of caution, but I could skip a year I've found. Still, I do get some satisfaction and peace of mind by doing every year.

Thanks Backwoods. My only complaint about the clean-out is a problem I knowingly created. I have a straight run of connector and Class A, top exit. I have no clean-out tee, no collapsible connector and no way to disconncect the flue from the stove...I built it from the top of the stove up. As a consequence, I can't clean it without taking the top of the stove off, which is a gigantic pain in the neck. As you know, there are only two 10mm bolts holding the top on, but if you have hands bigger than a Ken doll, it is a lesson in frustration and skinned knuckles, especially if you don't remove the top baffle, which is a pain in its own right. I know that some don't even bother re-bolting the lid, but something about that scares me...a hard back puff and you have a serious situation. As a compromise, I only hand tighten the bolts. Well, it is only once a year....

Do you have to break yours down to clean it, or do you have a clean-out or ability to disconnect?

Oh, you're good. Nothing else needs to be cleaned. The high temps inside the secondary chamber keep everything pretty much blasted clean. Everything you sweep down collects at the back of the secondary chamber, directly under the flue exit colllar. I have no doubt you are getting all of that with your vacuum cleaner wand. The telescoping connector allows you to NEVER have to disassemble the stove, and that is a good thing. I wouldn't do that unless you had a real need, or are just curious how it is assembled.

Like I said, I knew what I was doing, when I did it. I just wanted a one piece connector, mainly for aesthetic reasons. Now, I'm not sure it was a good idea. I can disconnect the connector from the Class A, but it would require lifing the entire chimney run (which I can do...it is supported on a bracket suspended on chains, with turnbuckles) and that would break my seal at the storm collar.....a bigger problem to deal with. Well, it was designed and built by yours truly, so I can't blame the engineer or contractor!

You know though, I might could unbolt the flue collar and maybe slide it out far enough to drop the connector. I might try that next year. Maybe somebody here can tell me if they've done that on a Castine or similar stove?

Yeah, I built it as is, knowing the options.

The more I think about it though, the more I'm thinking I could slip off that flue collar and VIOLA!