Cleaned my chimney for the first time...Pics

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trailrated

trailrated

Feeling the Heat
Dec 8, 2009
343
Maryland
I'll probably be bashed for this but today was the first time I cleaned my stove. Its been close to 2 full burn seasons. I have monitored it though by getting on the roof and checking it from time to time. I took a trip to the local hearth store today and got me a poly brush, rods and a moisture meter! Love the moisture meter. Found out some of my wood is drier then I thought and some wetter than I thought. Anyhow, last year I burned marginal wood, this year was much better and about 85% of my burning has been pine all winter. I love the stuff. I just had the loose powdery creosote and had a bit more than I was expecting. Cleaning was pretty easy, removed the burn tubes and the ceramic baffle and ran the brush through. Took about 30 minutes. I have about 17 feet of chimney..straight up.

On a side note.......is it normal upon burning again after a cleaning, to smell the little bit of creosote left in the stove? This stuff stinks!

Chimney1.jpg


chimney2.jpg


creosote.jpg
 
Just out of curiosity...why would you burn 2 seasons without throwin the brush through it???
 
Wow can't believe you didn't have smoke in the stove and a fire in the stack. Keep up on the cleaning now that you have the brushes.
 
I've definitely seen worse but now that you have the tools I'd say bump that schedule up a bit.

What you had in the chimney isn't as "powerful" a creosote as the solid black large chunky or glaze like stuff. But still, it needed attention.

Good job well done. Thanks for the pic also.

pen
 
GAMMA RAY said:
Just out of curiosity...why would you burn 2 seasons without throwin the brush through it???
Click to expand...

Yea waiting almost 2 seasons isn't the right thing to do, but IMO people sweat creosote build up to much. Like I said I kept an eye on it and what I was seeing I wasn't concerned. I may be kinda new to wood burning but I'm familiar with creosote.
 
My first sweep..... first year of burning, and with new stove installed in the middle of the season..... So this is about 3 months of on off burning, marginal wood... Oak, Poplar, Pine, Pallets, 2x4, anything i thought was dry... This is what i got.... I thought i was doing pretty well with dryish wood, but maybe not.
 

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Hankjones said:
My first sweep..... first year of burning, and with new stove installed in the middle of the season..... So this is about 3 months of on off burning, marginal wood... Oak, Poplar, Pine, Pallets, 2x4, anything i thought was dry... This is what i got.... I thought i was doing pretty well with dryish wood, but maybe not.
Click to expand...

How tall is your chimney?
 
It must be a bit over 18ft. I'm using a SootEater and went from top down, I don' t think i hit the bottom.
 
trailrated said:
I'll probably be bashed for this but today was the first time I cleaned my stove. Its been close to 2 full burn seasons. I have monitored it though by getting on the roof and checking it from time to time. I took a trip to the local hearth store today and got me a poly brush, rods and a moisture meter! Love the moisture meter. Found out some of my wood is drier then I thought and some wetter than I thought. Anyhow, last year I burned marginal wood, this year was much better and about 85% of my burning has been pine all winter. I love the stuff. I just had the loose powdery creosote and had a bit more than I was expecting. Cleaning was pretty easy, removed the burn tubes and the ceramic baffle and ran the brush through. Took about 30 minutes. I have about 17 feet of chimney..straight up.

On a side note.......is it normal upon burning again after a cleaning, to smell the little bit of creosote left in the stove? This stuff stinks!
Click to expand...

That's a fairly big pile of creosote. Looks like an annual sweeping is needed. Good to hear there were minimal issues, but this could have turned ugly.
 
2 seasons, yeah..that's pushing it. But now you have the tools, and it's only a 30 minute process. And now you'll be curious, so scrub it every month or two. Won't do anything but help. IMHO, looked like you were burning correctly.
 
I agree, I was pushing it. I'll finish out this season and give it a cleaning before the start of next winter for sure.
 
good pics to post for all to see.
Definitely needed it, will have allot better draft too.
 
After reading some of the posts on here you should be able to burn for years and be able to "white glove" the chimney... which is no way true at all.

Your photos seem to be normal levels of buildup, especially for 2 years of burning.

I was asking my Dad about the chimney in their place and how much creosote he gets. They have been heating the house with wood since the early 80s. Well seasoned wood, chimney is about 25ft long.

He normally gets 1/3-1/2 of a 5 gal pail.
 
Creosote accumulation will vary with the installation, stove, burning temps, amount wood burned and dryness of the wood. With an interior flue, EPA stove and dry wood, we've done well. But that doesn't mean others will. Your dad may be getting normal accumulation for an 80's stove or perhaps is this a cool, exterior flue? But that is a lot of creosote. We got about half a coffee can after about 8 cords of wood burnt.
 
Good Job at cleaning it. I had my first chimney fire early this week and believe it wasnt fun.
 
Every stove and chimney is different. On my stove (huge stove always burned hot, short straight chimney) I didnt clean it for the 3 years I used it, but I was on the roof every spring to check it. Any more than 1/8 of an inch or so, Id throw a brush down there.
 
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