Soot after insert install

fhopping1234 · Mar 4, 2015

My in-laws recently had a wood burring fire place insert added to there open brick fireplace. Its was professionally installed and has a blower unit also. After the unit was installed my mother-in-law noticed that she would dust the house and a day later you could run your finger across something and there was black soot. She had the company come back out and check everything but they said that everything was normal. I told her that this could not be normal, but I have no experience with how and why this is happening. If I could come up with a solution, I would be her favorite son-in-law for life!

Anyone have any ideas?

pen · Mar 4, 2015

Is the father-in-law cleaning out the ashes? Think he's being careful doing it? Ash can go throughout the house if it isn't cleaned up carefully.

To help keep ash dust down, I use a coal hod for an ash bucket

I stick the nose of it right in the stove, and carefully let ashes slide off the shovel and into the bucket. Keeping the "action" of moving the coals in the stove as some of the dust can just get sucked up the chimney so long as there are still some coals in the stove, and the unit is a bit warm so that there is still a draft in the chimney.

pen

begreen · Mar 4, 2015

Make sure that the insert blower is not running when cleaning out ash and that the hearth is thoroughly vacuumed before the blower is switched back on. Also make sure that the furnace blower is not on when cleaning out ash.

What insert is this? Is this a flush insert with the blower down at the hearth level?

pdxdave · Mar 4, 2015

fhopping1234 said:
My in-laws recently had a wood burring fire place insert added to there open brick fireplace. Its was professionally installed and has a blower unit also. After the unit was installed my mother-in-law noticed that she would dust the house and a day later you could run your finger across something and there was black soot. She had the company come back out and check everything but they said that everything was normal. I told her that this could not be normal, but I have no experience with how and why this is happening. If I could come up with a solution, I would be her favorite son-in-law for life!

Anyone have any ideas?

If it's the same or similar model to my old insert - then they weren't lying, everything is 'normal'.

flamencogirl · Mar 4, 2015

Before installing my current insert about 5 years ago I had an older insert with no stove pipe. In the first few week after installing I had a lot of soot and when the blower was on, occasional sparks. I called the people who installed it to come and check things out. Turns out there was a bunch of crud in the chimney on the fire shelf that was pulled down by the fan and would catch on fire as it came across the hot stove. We cleaned it off well and have not had that problem again.

bholler · Mar 4, 2015

flamencogirl said:
Before installing my current insert about 5 years ago I had an older insert with no stove pipe. In the first few week after installing I had a lot of soot and when the blower was on, occasional sparks. I called the people who installed it to come and check things out. Turns out there was a bunch of crud in the chimney on the fire shelf that was pulled down by the fan and would catch on fire as it came across the hot stove. We cleaned it off well and have not had that problem again.

Uhhhh was everything else inside the chimney and fire box cleaned really well if not you could have a very dangerous situation there. A fire between the 2 liners can be very very bad

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Soot after insert install

fhopping1234

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pen

There are some who call me...mod.

begreen

Mooderator

pdxdave

Burning Hunk

flamencogirl

Member

bholler

Chimney sweep

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