End of year clean down?

I like to clean it all out, sweep the flue, clean the glass(if needed) and touch up the paint. I like it to look brand new for the summer.
But there is nothing special that needs to be done.

Stick a tub of Damp Rid in there to keep rust from forming in the humidity.

I've never seen any rust in my stoves.

If you don't have a screen on your chimney cap you should put a bag over it or block it off in some way so that birds and bats don't take up housekeeping in your stove during the summer.

Yes, clean it all in the spring and you will be ready to burn on those cool late August nights!

Nick Mystic said:

If you don't have a screen on your chimney cap you should put a bag over it or block it off in some way so that birds and bats don't take up housekeeping in your stove during the summer.

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My installer recommended to wait to sweep until fall, that way there's no chance of a nest or something that happened over the summer causing problems when I start burning again.

webby3650 said:

I've never seen any rust in my stoves.

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If I don't put a plastic bag on the top of the liner, I have a problem with warm, humid air getting into the stove and condensing on the cooler steel, and that can rust it.

I too have never seen rust in a stove. Certainly nothing to worry about.

I also sweep early in the summer after burning is finished. The roof isn't as hot, and I don't want that corrosive creosote in the flue just setting there. Also, I clean the top of the chimney on the outside real well so it is pretty and nice to look at all summer and not a smoke stained metal stick with black/brown crust on top.

We don't have problems with birds, bats, or bees entering the chimney caps (no screens either).

Highbeam said:

We don't have problems with birds, bats, or bees entering the chimney caps (no screens either).

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I always wondered what attracts birds to some chimneys and not others. I definitely have to have a screen on mine.

I would like to do it at the end of the season for the exact reasons Highbeam says. I have good intentions to get it done, but we seam to burn to June. Then the roof is to soft to put ladders on. So it all gets done in the fall.

What I would like to do if I could get around to it, I would drop bucket and screen over the cap to stop the rain water and birds. I do get a bit of dampness on the floor of the stove after summer downpours. The blue birds will follow each other into the chimney. We have had 4 at one time in the stove.

xman23 said:

What I would like to do if I could get around to it, I would drop bucket and screen over the cap to stop the rain water and birds.

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If you have a problem with rain coming in during the summer, then you also have a leaky chimney in the winter. Why don't you fix the problem? A chimney should never leak.

I pay to have my stove dealer come in and do a complete tear down, clean and reassemble.

I guess it must be different over there then. We do get strong winds, I'm up here near Enumclaw, and rains but I suppose I've never lived out East so anything is possible.