chimney question

[fbelec]

i burn 24/7. but i have a old stove. sometimes it glazes the chimney. if i stick the brush down it, that would make a big mess. is there anything i can do to the chimney that will make the glaze not so messy so that i can sweep it during the heating season.

i know burn hotter. i am doing smaller hotter fires but sometimes it happens anyway.

 

[webbie]

Use some of the anti-creosote chemicals - they loosen up the soot and make it easier to remove.

BUT, I don't know what you mean about the mess. Anything to do with sweeping will make a mess. Turning the stove off and disconnecting the chimney pipe and taping a heavy trash bag on the bottom as you sweep...or other similar techniques - should keep the mess down.

 

[fbelec]

i throw in the chemical more often that they say to but the top 5 feet of the chimney gets glazed.
when i say mess, i mean the brush. i didn't want to load up the brush.

to bad we couldn't control the burn on a chimney fire. my chimney has never been as clean as after the fire.

 

[BrotherBart]

i throw in the chemical more often that they say to but the top 5 feet of the chimney gets glazed.
when i say mess, i mean the brush. i didn't want to load up the brush.

to bad we couldn't control the burn on a chimney fire. my chimney has never been as clean as after the fire.

What? I have been brushing creostote laden chimneys for thirty years and nothing ever stuck to the brush. Not the tar or the glazed creosote.

Even it it did, better that it walks away with you and the brush than staying in the chimney.

 

[fbelec]

i throw in the chemical more often that they say to but the top 5 feet of the chimney gets glazed.
when i say mess, i mean the brush. i didn't want to load up the brush.

to bad we couldn't control the burn on a chimney fire. my chimney has never been as clean as after the fire.

What? I have been brushing creostote laden chimneys for thirty years and nothing ever stuck to the brush. Not the tar or the glazed creosote.

Even it it did, better that it walks away with you and the brush than staying in the chimney.

that why i asked brotherbart. i figured i put some of the hearthnet experience to work for me.
why i haven't brush the tarry creosote is i thought of it to be like roof tar and did not want to spread it all the way down the chimney. thanks

 

[BrotherBart]

I am kinda surprised that the chemical hasn't turned the stuff dry and flakey if you have been burning hot enough.

 

[fbelec]

it does for the most part, but that top 5 feet is where it gets shiny.
my chimney is all out side and was put up in 1978. it's a 8x12 clay.
kind of big but the stove manual says its ok for that size. my stoves pipe is 8 inch. would have been nice as 8 square but it was there before me.

 

[hardwood715]

to bad we couldn’t control the burn on a chimney fire. my chimney has never been as clean as after the fire.

Whoa! Sounds like the old timers round here, "Whats that stuff you spray in yer stove for?, We never used that crap, just let er burn hot till ya see the reflection on yer driveway from the chimney! Cleans her like the day she was built!" Yeah as I'm muti tasking on the phones, one call to 911, the other to Nationwide Insurance Co.

 

[BrotherBart]

Over the years I figure I have had at least one small chimney fire every year. Had to be as clean as that chimney was sometimes when it came time for the annual cleaning. That and the "popcorn" puffs of expanded creosote laying on the smoke shelf and behind the insert. Probably fairly small fires because of the religious use of anti-creosote chems. I never knew when a single one of them happened but since we live under the take-off and approach path to Dulles Airport I have been sent running out to check the chimney many a time. Especially when that darned Concorde was flying. That thing blasting off sounded just like the chimney was blowing off of the side of the house.

But I was sitting in my neighbor's den one night enjoying a beverage, good conversation and the warmth of his big insert and BAM! That thing took off just like every chimney fire horror story you have ever heard. The roar, the shriek of the air sucking in and the flames shooting for the sky out of the chimney. That is when I discovered he didn't even own a chimney brush. I gave him one as a present.

 

[Roospike]

LOL .....The conversation ended and the beverage went with you ?

 

[BrotherBart]

LOL .....The conversation ended and the beverage went with you ?

You bet. The conversation turned to "What the hell is that?" Sip. "Close off the air." Gulp. "I am going outside to look at the chimney." Sip, sip. "Wow, that this is blasting. Any beer left?". That fire busted every tile in that chimney.

This same guy and I were digging my long driveway out at midnight one time when it was three degrees and the snow was blowing like crazy. We were both crusted with ice. He went to his Bronco and pulled out a fresh beer. I told him I couldn't believe he wanted a cold beer when it was three degrees and he was covered with ice. He looked me straight in the eye and said "You're either a beer drinker or you're not!". Cracked me up.

A Marine, of course.

 

[Roospike]

Ah yes , Nothing like being in the moment .

 

[recppd]

Not for nothing, but I thought I've read several threads on here DISCOURAGING the use of anti-creosote chemicals? Are they for masonry chimneys only, or can you use them with stainless liners too? I cleaned my liner for the first time this year and it yielded only about one cup of fine powder! I was pleasantly surprized...