105 gallons of creosote

A friend had his chimney swept over the weekend, looked good. The sweep said he got 21x5 gallon buckets of creosote out of a chimney once The homeowner didn't really see the big deal, kind of had a "Yeah, it was time for a cleaning" attitude. The sweep gave him a safety talk that didn't seem to sink in. Disaster waiting to ignite. Anyone else heard any crazy sweep stories?

Unless that was a really long chimney or a really large flue, I think the sweep was pulling his leg. 105 gallons is the approximate TOTAL volume of a 6" pipe 70' long!

Wow about 20 years ago I cleaned out my parents VC Vigilant connected to a masonary flue and almost filled a 5 gallon ash container with shiny creosote. My mother used to think she needed to close off the air once the stove got to 300 or so. It turned out to be oversized for their house. After that they had a professional sweep come twice a year.

I'll admit it is a little had to believe, but it's less than half the volume of a 13"x13"x25' chimney.

he probably charges by the bucket

Guess my 1/2 full coffee can wasnt too bad then

Somebody needs to recheck their math...

That is a lot.

I have a neighbor that has not cleaned his masonry chimney since the house was built 30 years ago..

I could be wrong, what is it?

Your math is correct. Not that I'm believing the 21 full buckets story, but your math is right.

On here, we tend to kind of assume certain things about a "chimney".. the math is correct for a 6" prefab or liner... but a good old made in the dark ages by hand by uncle Dave while putting back a few cool ones... 12 x 12 tile flue, or no tile.., on 30 feet of chimney, that hasn't been cleaned in a long time... could happen.A FULL 5 gallon bucket is about .70 cuft.. said chimney is 30cuft.. if pretty clogged.. and cleaned well.. 40+ buckets possible..

My dad burned a slammer install on a 28 foot masonry chimney for years, cleaned it every couple years with a bowling ball dropped down the center. When he finally put in an EPA insert, with a liner, they pulled a lot of crap out of the chimney. A LOT.. measured not in buckets, but wheelbarrows.. several.. He gets a couple cups every year now...

I just removed my 8" galvanized fireplace insert chimney, to replace it with a new 6" stainless triple wall type for my new stove on the way. I've lived in the house for 15 years, and the house was 10 years old when I moved in, so a total of 25 years old. I had never cleaned or had my chimney swepped, and doubt it was done prior to me moving in. When I removed the old chimney and separated the pipe sections, I could see in it nicely, and too my surprise, there was nothing but a smudge of black sute in the pipe which could wiped off with a simple swipe of the rag. I've burn the worst wet wood on the planet in the old fireplace over the years. You name it, I burnt it.

Makes one wonder about all this "Chimney Sweep" non-sense, doesn't it? I'm not saying don't clean it, but I don't believe 99% of the chimney sweep hype. Just sayin. Have at it!

When we had our old woodfurnace, it was on a 32' chimney with either a 6x11 or 7x12 flue. I thought I was getting everything, but I didn't realize all the nooks and crannies. The most I ever pulled from there was a few 5 gallon buckets, I would sweep it once a month to be safe. Now we have a liner and a newer furnace and I pull a few cups or so each time I sweep (normally twice a season). I've seen trash can fulls come from dad's chimney, so bad we had to chisel it out. After that he started burning hotter.

Like the bowling ball story. For some reason I'm picturing your Dad like Peter Boyle the father on Everbody Loves Raymond.