Forensic examination of chimney soot

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SmokeyCity

SmokeyCity

Feeling the Heat
Mar 6, 2011
428
Western Pa
I wonder is there is anything to be learned from examining the soot that comes out of one's chimney or clean-out box. Here is a pic of mine. The stuff actually much darker than the picture indicates. If anyone can say anything useful about my soot please comment.

yeah, I know - it must be a slow day to post something like this.


Soot.JPG
 
Those thick chunks tell that there was some serious thick buildup.
I'd suggest cleaning every year, and checking every couple months if that is what you're getting.
That is pretty bad in my book. Not too shabby if your burning wet wood and smoldering fires.
Good burning, should produce nothing more than fine dusty ash, more like coffee grounds or smaller.
 
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I dont know guys it looks like i see burnt creosote there. It looks like some of the larger chunks have bubbles inside them if i am seeing it right you had a fire doesnt look like to bad of one but i would check things out really well for any damage.
 
I take a blowtorch to mine each time and it has never caught fire, so I think that says I'm in good shape.

TE
 
SmokeyCity said:
I wonder is there is anything to be learned from examining the soot that comes out of one's chimney or clean-out box. Here is a pic of mine. The stuff actually much darker than the picture indicates. If anyone can say anything useful about my soot please comment.

yeah, I know - it must be a slow day to post something like this.
Click to expand...
It looks a little too chunky for my liking. Burn at hotter temperatures. Try to have dryer wood and you'll have nothing more than a few cups worth of loose fine dust/ash.

Andrew
 
bholler said:
I dont know guys it looks like i see burnt creosote there. It looks like some of the larger chunks have bubbles inside them if i am seeing it right you had a fire doesnt look like to bad of one but i would check things out really well for any damage.
Click to expand...

Some of those chunks were like thin peanut brittle with air bubbles instead of peanuts. Time to get a look down into the chimney for damage to the mortar.

I have been burning dry wood in the last two years and will make a point of burning hotter. The 22 gauge pipe and will take the heat.
 
Hogwildz said:
Those thick chunks tell that there was some serious thick buildup.
I'd suggest cleaning every year, and checking every couple months if that is what you're getting.
That is pretty bad in my book. Not too shabby if your burning wet wood and smoldering fires.
Good burning, should produce nothing more than fine dusty ash, more like coffee grounds or smaller.
Click to expand...


would a BK or other good CAT stove cover my sins a bit and make the burn optimal regardless of how hot i run it?
I really like to idle my 13-NC with dry wood burning at pretty low temps

If I knew that a CAT stove would burn super clean even at low temps that might be the right stove to put on this foor.
 
Don't wait that long any more. Those chunks would have made a blow torch look like a Bic if they had lighted off. When I was burning a smoke dragon I never say chunks of creo like that.

Let that 13-NC walk and talk and you will have more heat and none of that crap in the pipe.
 
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BrotherBart said:
Don't wait that long any more. Those chunks would have made a blow torch look like a Bic if they had lighted off. When I was burning a smoke dragon I never say chunks of creo like that.

Let that 13-NC walk and talk and you will have more heat and none of that crap in the pipe.
Click to expand...


Ill crank it up. Now im a bit spooked and gotta pull the pipe off and then try to get a peen down from the top too.
 
bholler said:
so is it clay lined?
Click to expand...

no, just a 10x10 square chimney flue of brick and mortar built in 1882
but never burned in until about 5 years ago
 
Get an insulated liner in that thing. No wonder the stove burns like crap. We have learned a lot about heating our houses and not burning them down since 1882.
 
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Sounds like a case for Hearth.com CSI! (chimney sote investigation).
 
A Cat stove will burn at lower temps, but won't burn any better with wet wood.
Burning at low temps + that large clay liner is what is causing that build up.
10 x 10 is too large.
 
2012? srsly? Ok, I have never let mine go that long.

If you got all that in one season, you got major problems. Season and a half, I don't like it.

I would suggest both cleaning more often and looking into an insulated liner, folks like begreen and BrotherBart know a lot more about this than I do.

I haven't tried burning wet wood in my cat stove. However, I can burn dry wood low and slow finding cresote in the firebox that I scrape off onto hot coals for a second chance at the cat. I find about two tablespoons of light fluffy grey/brown with a few specks of shiny black per cord of wood burned when I sweep the chimney.
 
SmokeyCity said:
Ill crank it up. ....and then try to get a peen down from the top too.
Click to expand...

Don't get it stuck for Christ sake! Try explaining that to the firemen!
 
BrotherBart said:
Get an insulated liner in that thing. No wonder the stove burns like crap. We have learned a lot about heating our houses and not burning them down since 1882.
Click to expand...

Already clicked the "like" button ... but had to add that BrotherBart's suggestion isn't just about stove performance ... it's also about safety. In my opinion no one should be burning in an unlined chimney.
 
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Yes get a liner in there with out it the stove wont work right and the next chimney fire you have could be enough to set the house off. you need a liner
 
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and i see you have multiple stoves listed how many feed into that one old unlined chimney?
 
You need a liner on that stove and chimney for sure. It will be way safer burning the stove, it will be way easier to clean the chimney, and it will probably improve the performance of your stove all simultaneously. Its a win, win, win situation.
 
BrotherBart said:
Don't wait that long any more. Those chunks would have made a blow torch look like a Bic if they had lighted off. When I was burning a smoke dragon I never say chunks of creo like that.

Let that 13-NC walk and talk and you will have more heat and none of that crap in the pipe.
Click to expand...
Bart is 100% correct. If you wsnt to run at idle you have to crank the thing up at least once a day for a hour or so to try and burn that garbage off. Chimney fires are no joke.
 
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