Does rain clean a masonry chimney?

[EatenByLimestone]

I normally brush the chimney a few times each winter from the bottom up. Midway though last year I broke the head off my brush so I didn't clean the chimney at the end of the year. It was no big deal since I never really get anything in it anyway. (All creosote tends to stay on my singlewall.) So here we are in December and tomorrow we should have our first winter storm. Starting off snow, going to rain, then back to snow... Great way to bring down trees and power lines. It would be nice to have the stove running at peak if we loose power. MIL has also been feeding wood and keeping it at a smolder since she can't remember to add air when loading *sigh*. I picked up a new brush this morning and ran it up. I didn't get much creosote, but there was plenty of wet detritus in the bottom of the chimney. I've never seen that before. There was enough for me to grab a little shovel for flower gardens and scoop it out. I wonder if the rain this year washed ash and anything else down to the bottom where it collected? Could I have had some creosote build up in the chimney and the rain wash is off?

Matt

 

[firefighterjake]

You might get some washed off by rain . . . if the chimney is not capped and the creosote you produced was the dry, fluffy powder type vs. popcorn or the shiny stuff . . . but I wouldn't rely on just the rain scouring the chimney clean. There really is no replacement for checking and cleaning the chimney with a brush . . . but you knew that didn't you.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I did. That's why I normally brush it a few times a year. I didn't at the end last year and was a bit surprised by the amount of gunk at the bottom. There were leaves and stuff, but I don't think it was compost...

Matt