Is it safe to burn creosote ?

So I just ran a good chimney sweep and I have got a TON of creosote. I'd say about 2 liters or so. Can I just leave it in a pile inside the stove and get a good fire going and it will burn safely ? Or should it be removed ?

FYI I believe most of the creosote came from the top 2 feet of the flue where there is a piece of single wall stainless attached to the flex liner that goes down the clay chimney liner. There was alot more scraping resistance in the single wall than it had further down the liner. I added a layer of insulation around this section so I'm hoping this will cut down the creosote buildup.

Woody Stover said:

Even without insulation, I think single wall/flex inside of a clay liner is kosher, as long as the clay liner is sound. It sounds weird that there's only rigid pipe for the first few feet, then flex. Normally, the rigid goes all the way down until the clay liner ends at the smoke chamber.

Dave, it think putting the insulation on that top section might help; Once the chimney becomes exterior (above the roof) the flue really cools off and more condensation occurs...or is the entire chimney exterior? My masonry chimney is exterior but, like yours, I see most of the flaky stuff in the top few feet.

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I agree it does seem like a weird setup but thats the way it is. The flex goes right from the insert, all the way up and just pops about 1inch above the top plate then the single wall is attached to get it up to the required height. I believe it is a perfectly safe setup. I wrapped a sheet of kaowool around it, ties it down with steel wire, then covered the whole thing with flashing, it actually doesn't look too bad. It is an exterior chimney. When cleaning it was really obvious that most creosote formed at the top.

So it sounds like burning the creosote is safe, but may or may not actually occur? I just dont want to scoop it out, it smells nasty so I'm hoping I can burn it away

begreen said:

Dave, can you add your stove to your signature line?

How long was the wood seasoned that was burned and what species?

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Sure, I added that info in there. It's a Lopi Declaration, an insert that I'm not entirely happy with. I think it comes up pretty short of the specs, especially on burn times. Trying to run a low burn usually leads to a smoldering mess, so I've gotten away from doing that. I think most other owners with the same stove see this also. I'm yet to hear of anyone that gets anywhere remotely close to the 12 hour burn time. I'm burning primarily Doug Fir, but also have a mix of Pine, Cedar, Cottonwood, Alder, Cherry and Madrone (wish I had more of this last one). This is the start of my 3rd season with it. First season had marginal wood. But starting last year I had good well seasoned wood that measured in the 15-20% range. This last sweep I did is from basically all of last years burning, and the start of this years "shoulder season" (I say that because around here it is basically all shoulder season).

I wouldn't be worried if it was just a tiny bit.. but this is a pretty significant amount!! Like a little pyramid 6" high.

Realstone said:

Creosote is the cholesterol of wood burning. Interesting to note that eating food with cholesterol does not add to our own cholesterol.

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Yup,
I read a recent article that indicated excess sugar consumption leads to high cholesterol. The cholesterol uptake was a natural reaction of the body to protect itself from a sugar overdose, or something along those lines.

Elderthewelder said:

Dave

Your user name and your location do not quite jive

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I know... I did live in Portland previously and started using this username, so it just kindof stuck

Backwoods Savage said:

Why not just take that black crap out and put it in the garden? Or even in a flower bed. Get better use of it that way.

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I'm sure you are correct, but I'm just trying to avoid handling it at all. Plus, my main motivation for getting a wood stove is because I'm addicted to burning things... so doing that would go contrary to my instincts

My creosote pyramid just turned into a pile of glowing coals... and ash by the end of the fire. It did seem to help get the stove up to temperature pretty fast. Didn't see any ill effects, excess smoke etc.
Yah I definately would like to find a way to limit my creosote production. It just seems with this stove there is only 1 way to burn it, fast. Trying to slow it down just leads to smoky firebox eventually. It will get good secondaries for a while, maybe even an hour if it is really up to temp, but before the load is done it just starts to die.