Uh oh.....I plugged my cap about 60% last night.

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Corie

Corie

Minister of Fire
Nov 18, 2005
2,442
Camp Hill, PA
Threw in two very questionable logs last night. Had the air control wide open for about an hour and stack temp. was still only at 600 deg F. I knew that was trouble, but it was late and i wanted to hit the sack. Cut the air down half way, which was a mistake. Woke up to a LOT of coals, BLACK firebricks in the back of the stove and very noticeable plugging on the screen of the cap.


Nuts..............



We have an ice storm coming today, so I'm thinking I can't get up on the roof to take care of it. Wonder if I can burn it off?
 
Shame on you Corie! You know better than that. ;-P

How bad is it plugged? Can't be too bad after one night? What about connecting brush rods together from the ground and smacking the cap. Maybe a couple taps would make the crap fall off?
 
That's a good idea Todd. I wonder if that will work...........



It doesn't look THAT bad, but I know better, that's for sure. I wish I had a catalytic stove, not that it would have helped in this case.
 
Corie, that will probably work. We've done that a couple times and it bought us some time.
 
Why not just take the screen out, and put it back in during spring to keep the critter out of the pipe.
 
rdrcr56 said:
Why not just take the screen out, and put it back in during spring to keep the critter out of the pipe.
Click to expand...

Those screens have a purpose besides keeping critters out. They are also a spark arrestor to help avoid burning your home or someone elses home down to the ground.

Safe burning!
 
[quote author="Corie" date="1197743102"]Threw in two very questionable logs last night. Had the air control wide open for about an hour and stack temp. was still only at 600 deg F./quote]

What was your stovetop temp. if your stack temp. was 600? Kinda hot ain't it?
 
Jim, I was kind of fishing to see if we could get the screen vs. no screen debate going again :lol:
 
Wow, two logs plugged the screen that bad? What the heck were those made of? Maybe it is that real light fluffy type of creosote that will flake off the minute some wind or water hits it.
 
Whenever I talk stack temperatures, I'm talking internal, as I have a probe thermometer. If you're interested in the temperature of the gas, why not measure the temperature of the gas.


Yeah, I'm hoping its just the flaking stuff. I just lit a fire right now, so I'm hoping for something good to happen.
 
what does your cap look like... that weird i never heard of 2 logs clogging a cap before now you got me wondering....hmmm better check mine
but when ever i see black bricks or creosote in my stove i won't close it down i try to get it hot and then give it more air when i would damper down ..(instead of all the way down give it more air) usually its clean by morning
 
I get black bricks in mine, but they disappear as they appear... usually when I have a log-end close to the brick. It shoots out the black spot, and the log and the black spot burn simultaneously, so the spots are gone when the log is. You mean you had black bricks after the fire was out or mostly out?
 
Corie said:
Whenever I talk stack temperatures, I'm talking internal, as I have a probe thermometer. If you're interested in the temperature of the gas, why not measure the temperature of the gas.
Click to expand...

That makes sense. What temp. would 600 % internal read on a thermometer that is on the outside of the stack like most of us have? I remember reading once that the internal temp. can be up to 50% higher than what the stovepipe thermometer reads; don't know how accurate that statement was. Thanks.
 
I mean black bricks in the AM when the stove was out. I screwed up, but it seems to running good, hot and clean now. I think everything is OK and I was doing a little extra worrying.
 
Corie said:
I mean black bricks in the AM when the stove was out. I screwed up, but it seems to running good, hot and clean now. I think everything is OK and I was doing a little extra worrying.
Click to expand...
Corie,just sit by the stove and have a couple of cold ones and all will be good. :lol:
 
I suppose I shouldn't tell you all that I used a pellet gun to unclog my screen late last season, right before a storm hit. I noticed the draft wasn't doing so well, so I grabbed my binoculars and took a look at the screen. Too much snow and ice to climb a ladder and clean it, but a second story window in another part of the house made a great sniper hole! It actually worked really well for only about a half hour of time spent.
 
A 30.06 might work pretty good for cleaning things out too....
 
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