Creosote from my smoke dragon

[ikessky]

I was nervous before I climbed up to the roof to clean the chimney. It was my first year burning, I was pretty sure that some of my wood wasn't 100% dry, and we burned 24/7 from November through March. Well, I'm happy to say that the chimney swept out easily and I got less than 1/3 of a 5 gallon bucket. It was very light powdery stuff with a few airy chunks in it. Most of the chunks came from where the chimney extended above the roof. Needless to say, I'm pretty happy with the outcome. It just goes to show that if you are willing to do a little research and take some suggestions from members here, that you can get good performance even with a smoke dragon!

So, I put the rain cap back on, put some new refractory cement around the tee snout, and put the stove pipe back together. I think rather than fiddle with anything else, I'll just fill the original clean out door with insulation and call it good. Well, aside from recoating the crown with concrete.

 

[BrotherBart]

Yeah I think lining a chimney for the non-EPA stoves goes a long way for performance and holding down the creosote. The ones that make the mess are the ones burning straight into unlined flue tiles. I lined my chimney and was gonna keep my old stove a year or two more and see but discovered a cracked firebox when I lit it off with the new increased draft. I will always wonder what the pipe would have looked like after a season with a liner.

Stuff the part of the chimney above the roof with rockwool and it will probably be just soot all the way up.

 

[ikessky]

Yeah I think lining a chimney for the non-EPA stoves goes a long way for performance and holding down the creosote. The ones that make the mess are the ones burning straight into unlined flue tiles. I lined my chimney and was gonna keep my old stove a year or two more and see but discovered a cracked firebox when I lit it off with the new increased draft. I will always wonder what the pipe would have looked like after a season with a liner.

Stuff the part of the chimney above the roof with rockwool and it will probably be just soot all the way up.

My thoughts exactly BB. I have to get on my horse and get some rockwool on order before the weather actually gets cold!

The draft is great in this liner. While reaching in to get all the stuff out, you can feel the air pulling past your hand.