creosote
- Thread starter carinya
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
- Status
Any opinions on when to clean the chimney ?
Straight after burning season or just before start of new season ?
Straight after burning season or just before start of new season ?
carinya said:
The way I do it (right or wrong):
I think right after the burning season is really important. Creosote + water (rain) = acid, really eats up a chimney, so get it out asap.
BUT, just to be safe, give it a quick sweep just before burning season too, just to make sure nothing has moved in to block it up.
(If I was paying someone, then I'd ask the professional when they think it is best.)
My first year I also cleaned it after 30 days, then 90 day, just to make sure things are burning as expected. This year I will clean it sometime 1/2 way through the season, just to be safe, although it is probably not really necessary.
I have a mid 80's kent in my basement/wood shop hooked up to 23ft 7.5 inch masonary chimney and use it when i go down to putter in the shop. From what I have been told that the Kent was a great stove when it was manufactured but we bought a new stove last year and installed it in the living room with new Class A SS chimney and what a diffrence 20 +/- years have made in the technology of wood burning.
If you are planning on heating your home with wood go ahead and drop the money(easy for me to say) on a new stove, have a good certified sweep come out and check your masonary chimney for cracks/gaps in the tiles and if all is good--hook up the new stove to what you have if it drafts good you should have no worries. Just make sure the stove you replace that Kent with is a good quailty stove.
The biggest diffrence I noticed between our old kent and just about every stove that I looked at manufactured now it the weight of the door. The new stoves today seem much heavier, and what a light show you get when the secondary burn fires up.
We heated our 1800 2ft ranch home with a little over 3 cords (cherry/hard maple/ash) this past winter in the Catskill Mts (1700 ft above sea level).
If you are planning on heating your home with wood go ahead and drop the money(easy for me to say) on a new stove, have a good certified sweep come out and check your masonary chimney for cracks/gaps in the tiles and if all is good--hook up the new stove to what you have if it drafts good you should have no worries. Just make sure the stove you replace that Kent with is a good quailty stove.
The biggest diffrence I noticed between our old kent and just about every stove that I looked at manufactured now it the weight of the door. The new stoves today seem much heavier, and what a light show you get when the secondary burn fires up.
We heated our 1800 2ft ranch home with a little over 3 cords (cherry/hard maple/ash) this past winter in the Catskill Mts (1700 ft above sea level).
Thanks, deck2, for your comments about the old Kent and your new stove.
Well, Mike1234, I cleaned the chimney today. Slightly more than half a grocery sack of crud. Cleaning at this time of year, I would say, is dustier than in October. I'll have to wear a slightly better face mask than the bandana.....
Below is a pic of the two essentials I use for cleaning the chimney. Ooops, left out the third, the ladder.
Well, Mike1234, I cleaned the chimney today. Slightly more than half a grocery sack of crud. Cleaning at this time of year, I would say, is dustier than in October. I'll have to wear a slightly better face mask than the bandana.....
Below is a pic of the two essentials I use for cleaning the chimney. Ooops, left out the third, the ladder.
Attachments
I used one of those scrappers for years. Worked great and I gave it to my neighbor after his chimney fire and he has been using it for fifteen years.
BrotherBart said:
Was that also when you bought your super-efficient non-cat & didn't need to sweep chimney anymore :cheese:
carinya said:
Nope. Long before that. I sweep the pipe for the super efficient non-cat twice per season. Don't need to do it but once but old habits die hard. The greatest benefit came installing the liner into that masonry chimney.
- Status
