Well, I thought I would share with the world pictures of my first time chimney cleaning of our wood insert after using it for half of the season last year. Now, let me start by being very open about saying that we really had no clue as to the correct way to be burning in a wood stove and knew by the looks of our chimney cap as the season progressed that we were a creosote factory. So, on Sunday I climbed up and began the task of cleaning since after reading posts here that this was something that I figured I could do. The equipment used was a 6" brush with 4 - 4'flex poles, some wire brushes, shop vac, & scraper.
The chimney cap was unbelievable. It was at least 80% blocked by buildup and looked like the bottom of an oven after baking a pie as there was dried creosote that had driped down the edges of the cap. Once that was removed and taken apart, it cleaned up very easily with a wire brush. Then on to the flex liner. We have about a 15' exterior wall chimney run with the only bend being as it passed through the damper area and into the insert. Once again, no problem as the brush slipped easily down; I put a small chain on the end so I could then pull it down the last 1/2 foot through the insert. I would estimate that I scooped out about a gallon of crispy black flakes that came from the liner as well as a bunch that had built up on top of the secondary burn tube just below the vent. There is a picture of that if you look close enough, it looks like a round 2" tall round "patty". BTW, the pictures show the top of the insert after removing the two refectory panels and the burn tube cover. The top looked like it had large pieces of "scales" hanging from the top and sides. I scraped all those off and cleaned it up with a brass wire brush. While there, I also addressed a problem that I had posted numerous times about regarding a problem with the front bricks and a bad glass wash system. Just as many of you suggested, the installers had put the wrong bricks in the back and front edge; they had reversed them. Once I corrected that it looked much better and think the glass wash will work much better this season.
For the first time of doing this, I would say that it's very simple to do. What I am wondering is if the amount of creosote I removed would be considered normal or not. Both pics are the before shots. I will post another showing it with the correct bricks installed on the back top row.
The chimney cap was unbelievable. It was at least 80% blocked by buildup and looked like the bottom of an oven after baking a pie as there was dried creosote that had driped down the edges of the cap. Once that was removed and taken apart, it cleaned up very easily with a wire brush. Then on to the flex liner. We have about a 15' exterior wall chimney run with the only bend being as it passed through the damper area and into the insert. Once again, no problem as the brush slipped easily down; I put a small chain on the end so I could then pull it down the last 1/2 foot through the insert. I would estimate that I scooped out about a gallon of crispy black flakes that came from the liner as well as a bunch that had built up on top of the secondary burn tube just below the vent. There is a picture of that if you look close enough, it looks like a round 2" tall round "patty". BTW, the pictures show the top of the insert after removing the two refectory panels and the burn tube cover. The top looked like it had large pieces of "scales" hanging from the top and sides. I scraped all those off and cleaned it up with a brass wire brush. While there, I also addressed a problem that I had posted numerous times about regarding a problem with the front bricks and a bad glass wash system. Just as many of you suggested, the installers had put the wrong bricks in the back and front edge; they had reversed them. Once I corrected that it looked much better and think the glass wash will work much better this season.
For the first time of doing this, I would say that it's very simple to do. What I am wondering is if the amount of creosote I removed would be considered normal or not. Both pics are the before shots. I will post another showing it with the correct bricks installed on the back top row.
