Creosote

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Autorotate

Autorotate

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Apr 16, 2014
50
Phila
So apparently I'm the worst fire starter to ever live.....Last year I was burning wood that I thought was dry and had a small chimney fire. I heard the dripping creosote and whistling until it burnt out.

Fast forward this year.....I have year long dried wood. I am on about my 10th fire of the season and heard what I thought was creosote falling down the black pipe again! It is only when I first start the fire.

I had the pipes inspected and professionally cleaned in September. I keep my fires burning hot 350-450 on my thermometer and the only time it cools down is overnight or when I let it burn out.

When I relight the fire (if there aren't coals) I use the newspaper, small sticks, and kindling to get it going. I keep the door open for about 10-15 minutes until the black pipe is nice and hot at the bends. I then shut the door.

Tonight I heard the dripping in the black pipe when the door was open and the fire starting to get hot. Not the stove expanding, but crackling in the pipe. Once it's hot and burning, it's fine.

What am I doing wrong!! Or is this nothing to be concerned about?


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Your pipe will make some noises as it warms up. Hopefully that's what you're hearing.
I don't have experience with the hardwoods available back east, but people seem to agree that many of them need more like 2+ years of seasoning. Having to leave the door open 10-15 minutes could be an indication that your wood is wet.
 
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You're most likely hearing the pipe expanding. Mine does the same when starting the stove from cold with the door open from time to time. You may also be hearing small bits of soot coming off the walls of the pipe as the pipe expands from the heat.
 
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I can tell you that I hear the same thing as my stove pipe heats up from a cold start...and I had an extremely clean pipe on last cleaning/inspection (just a month ago). I agree though, with your history of a chimney fire, if you can season your wood longer than a year you might burn cleaner.
 
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This could be the pipe warming up, but it also could be creosote, I have both. The way I found out which was which was by lightly slapping the black pipe with my hand, if its creosote then you will hear the crackling noise, if you hear no noise then its the pipe just warming up.
 
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I am going to try and give it a tap next time I have to start it. Once it's going, it's fine.

Also, that cap picture was taken over the summer. So not that long ago. But to me it sounds like falling creosote on initial startup. We shall see....
 
First, hire a licensed chimney specialist to look at the chimney and see if it is in fact creosote. If it is, you and he/she can come up with a plan on how to prevent that kind of serious build up. If not, and likely it is not, given what you have said, it could be expansion of the pipe like everyone else has said. Also, consider stink bugs. Seriously, until we get into January, sometimes stink bugs get in the chimney and during the firing phase will start dying and fall down the pipe sounding just like something dripping. Yuk.
 
and by the way, that is a gorgeous soapstone hearth. My wife and I have one similar that extends up to our 10 foot ceilings. Talk about thermal mass!
 
Simple way to check. Pull the stove pipe and have a look. Use an inspection mirror to look up chimney from bottom periodically. That's how I know I'm due to sweep mine. I find the easiest way to clean the stove pipe is to take it outside in a couple sections and blow it clean with an air compressor.
 
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CentralVAWoodHeat said:
and by the way, that is a gorgeous soapstone hearth. My wife and I have one similar that extends up to our 10 foot ceilings. Talk about thermal mass!
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Thank you very much! The comment is much appreciated.

Also, I am going to ask my chimney cleaner to give it a look. He said I was pretty clean when he cleaned it in September. I also burn the creosote logs after about 1 cord of wood. I am just a little paranoid after I heard they steam engine whistle last year.
 
and I wouldn't use the newspaper, those charcoal flakes of paper would fly up and get stuck in the cap. I went to the fire starters and they're great!
 
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FPX Dude said:
and I wouldn't use the newspaper, those charcoal flakes of paper would fly up and get stuck in the cap. I went to the fire starters and they're great!
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Great tip! We use little fire starters we buy at our stove store. They are cheap, plentiful, burn long and make no scary flaming flakes of paper going up the chimney.
 
FPX Dude said:
and I wouldn't use the newspaper, those charcoal flakes of paper would fly up and get stuck in the cap. I went to the fire starters and they're great!
Click to expand...
I would agree with this FPX Dude. I havent used paper in my wood stove in over 4 years. Fatwood, super cedars are some of the more popular fire starters. The thought is that if youre chimney is getting gummed up paper may ignite the creo into a chimney fire. Many including me would say avoid gumming it up in the first place which is sound advice but theres no reason why you cant take preventative measures to begin with. Quite frankly I just hate messing around with paper in the first place.
Autorotate said:
I also burn the creosote logs after about 1 cord of wood
Click to expand...
I tried one of these last year just for fun. I was given one by someone so thought what the heck. I spoke with a local fireman about the creo logs and other measures and he told me that although they may help the only chimney cleaning that was recommended was from a good manual scrubbing (which sounds like you know). Let us know what your sweep finds. Measuring how much creo comes out will help you compare for next time.
 
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Autorotate said:
I should clarify, I have a lot of the fatwood starters that use as well with the paper. But I'll now be getting away from paper all together.
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Oh great. I love em. I find I occasionally get one that just doesn't like to catch but most times they are great. I find many of them come to big so I split them in half so they last longer. Two part way down my top down fire and Im off to the races!
 
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