Cleaning Hearthstone Heritage Chimney

[rwilson]

Hello All,

I was wondering if any veterans out there have some advice on the best way to clean my Heritage for this coming season. It has been sitting since last winter. I have a telescoping black pipe, but didn't know if that was the best way to clean it or to remove the baffles and sweep everything into the stove itself. I'd like to keep the room containing the stove as clean as possible.

Any suggestions are welcomed! This will be my first cleaning, and I want to make sure to do it right!

Thanks to All!!

~ Ryan

 

[hibeam]

Hi Ryan, this is highbeam and I own a heritage with top exit flue to vertical chimney. I've cleaned it several times now and removed that baffle even more times. Just two days ago I popped that baffle out of there in two minutes to check stovepipe fitment, it's pretty easy and the baffle is more durable than you'd think. Mine has the cotter pins that must be straightened but are reusable at least 7 times so far.

So your process is to straighten the cotter pins and remove the baffle by pushing it up in the rear and lowering the front of the baffle betweeen the front tubes. Slide it forward through the front door. Now shut the stove doors, this is important. Get on roof and sweep the chimney until your brush bottoms out in the firebox. Remove the brush and put it away. Then bring your shopvac inside and open the doors, suck out all brushed creosote and be sure to suck the accumulations off of the stove's interior surface above that baffle. Suck out behind the secondary air manifold where the rear stove outlet sets, it holds a good cup of junk. Replace the baffle being sure that it is slid all the way back. I like to suck out all the ash and start from new as though it was a new stove. Also run your vacuum over each of the secondary air holes to suck them out for good measure.

Leave the telescoping pipe alone. You will create scratches in the pipe if you retract it and then expand it. You might strip screws, lose the crew holes, make a mess, scratch the stove, drop it, etc. The best way is to pop out that baffle. You need to clean above it anyway.

Happy burning.

 

[rwilson]

Thanks highbeam, I figured you would have the answer! Quick followup questions... is anything holding the baffle in, or is it just sitting "Freely" on top of the secondary burners? The cotter pins look like they just go through the burner tubes and don't do anything to the baffle. Do those need straightened just so there is enough room to remove the baffle?

Next question... I have a damper installed directly out of the stove coller, so I cannot push the brush all the way through, into the firebox. Do I need to remove the damper so I can get the brush all the way through, or will it be okay to leave the bottom 5 inches of the black pipe "untouched"?


Thanks again

 

[hibeam]

I'm jealous of your damper. It didn't work out for me. To clean the whole pipe you'd need to pull the damper out. I don't expect much junk to accumulate that near the stove so if you skipped it, I don't think it would be too bad. Be careful not to smash the damper shaft with the brush from above. Here's what I would do.. suck out that section of pipe from below with the vac. You will be able to inspect it pretty well from inside the firebox with either a mirror or by sticking your head in the box depending on how dirty you want to get. You should be able to reach up there quite a ways for peace of mind. A small brush in your hand can polish up the damper section if needed.

The baffle usually comes somewhat cemented in place from the factory. Mostly for shipping and also becuase they go hog wild with cement on these things. The tech told me that the cement isn't necessary so remove whatever cement is holding the baffle in place and don't put it back. Those cotter pins are pushed in from above. On the top of the baffle is a stainless steel plate with small holes in it that retain the top of the cotter pins and prevent them from being pulled through the baffle. Those cotter pins MUST be straightened out to remove the baffle. Be sure to do a good job of straightening them to make it easy to replace them. Don't force the baffle, it will come out easily once you make the right moves with it.

If you need to repair any dents in the baffle, like from needle nose pliers while bending cotter pins, you can simply smear rutland black furnace cement over the dent. A tub cost 4$ and lasts for a long time. I've fixed a few dents in mine but luckily no cracks. Bend those cotter pins back pretty well when you're done so that they don't interfere with wood loading too much.

 

[rwilson]

Thanks again highbeam for all of your detailed info! I cleaned out my chimney this weekend, and everything went fairly smoothly. I removed the baffle like you said, and it was extremely easy. I was very suprised how durable it actually felt. I was worried it was going to be extremely brittle and fragile, but it was fairly rugged. I'm also glad you told me about the cement, because I had small chunks falling down while I was removing the baffle, and I would have thought I was breaking it if I didn't know about the cement! I did have to rotate a metal piece on the front burner tube to get the baffle out.

Once the baffle was removed, I looked up into the pipe and could see the damper and about 6 inches above. It was all very clean. Next, I closed all the doors and my step-father helped out on the roof. He pushed the broom all the way to the damper as I washed the creosote fall down. In the end there was about 6 cups of black powder that I swept up. Is that an okay amount of creosote to have after a year of burning??

I did run into a little problem reinstalling the baffle. I put it in backwards, but didn't know until I was done. Because it was backwards, the baffle "ripped" a little where the cotter pins go through. So, now the holes in the baffle for the cotter pins are 3-4 times larger then they need to be. So, my next question is, do I need to worry about a little hole like that in the baffle? If so, should I use the furnance cement to fix it or just order a new baffle?


Thanks again highbeam! Your input is greatly appreciated!

 

[Highbeam]

Glad it worked out. Depending on how long your chimney is, wood condition, and burning style that may be a fine amount of creo. I only get about 3 cups of brownish junk from my 14' burning softwoods. It is probably fine as you are allowed like a 1/4" accumulation according to some guidelines which would be a LOT of creo.

The cotter pin holes in the baffle are hogged out on mine too. Getting the pins back into the tubes takes some rocking and when the baffle moves on those pins the soft material gives a bit. I haven't fixed them since I know that they will just get widened again next time. Be sure that the little piece of metal is in place on top of the baffle to keep the cotter pins from pulling through.

I couldn't remember if that stainless steel bracket pinned to the front tube had to be removed or not to get the baffle out. I always take it out and clean around it.

Sometimes you will get some pretty big chunks of cement fall down. Might get more next time too as not all of them are loose enough to fall the first year.