Flue Cleaning 2017 - Osburn 2400i

[NW Pa Burner]

I will apologize up front for no pictures, but after two seasons of burning and with the third season starting soon I decided to sweep the flue.

First step was to remove the baffles from the Osburn. Should have went smoother but the cotter pins were a nightmare to pull out of the secondary burn tubes. Latched on with pliers and had to curly them out using the tube as fulcrum. Only removed the middle and front tubes and the middle tube was tough to slide to the side to remove. Once out I noticed some brazing lumps left on the inside and filed those down and reinstall was easy. I purchase replacement baffle insulation before I started and glad I did because it did rip as the weight was too far back to get off the insulation and had to pull towards me. Upon reinstall I placed the weight where it could easily be removed after the first baffle is out. Baffles were nicked a bit but not bad overall. I did switch their locations and thought of flipping them over to maybe prolong their life if anyone as tried that before?

So now to the purpose of the exercise. Once up the ladder I was surprised how little tar/creosote was on the cap and how little creosote was in the liner. No glassy stuff and just a fine dust with no more towards the top than anywhere else along the length I could see. I purchased the stiff brush for the 6" stainless insulated liner but wish I had purchased the soft as I had to trim all the bristles to ensure it would pass through. Tested the brush first on a cutoff piece of the liner. If I didn't trim the bristles most assuredly would have been stuck as I could not get past the bend in the liner where it snakes past the smoke shelf and had to pull back up. After a good inspection up top I put it all back together.

In the insert there was maybe 1.5 to 2 cups of fine dust/ash from the sweeping. Very pleased as the last two seasons I was burning the best seasoned fuel I had, but not ideal by any means. Currently have two years split stacked and two years bucked on poles in the field drying. I feel safer though after seeing the flue.

 

[ThunderMedic]

That's fantastic! I cleaned my Vogelzang Colonial this spring after running almost 4.5 cords through it and I was also shocked at how little came out. As you said, only fine gray powder. One tip that I've gotten from multiple sources is to save your cardboard and burn it all one day a week. This is free heat and burns the creosote out, not allowing any to build up. Has anyone else tried this method?

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[begreen]

That's fantastic! I cleaned my Vogelzang Colonial this spring after running almost 4.5 cords through it and I was also shocked at how little came out. As you said, only fine gray powder.

It's a sign of running the stove well on fully seasoned wood.

One tip that I've gotten from multiple sources is to save your cardboard and burn it all one day a week. This is free heat and burns the creosote out, not allowing any to build up. Has anyone else tried this method?

That's not a great plan and completely unnecessary as evidenced by the clean chimney. If there is a screen on the cap it is bound to get clogged with cardboard ash. If not, there is a good chance of floating pieces of still burning cardboard coming down on the roof and yard.

 

[bholler]

That's fantastic! I cleaned my Vogelzang Colonial this spring after running almost 4.5 cords through it and I was also shocked at how little came out. As you said, only fine gray powder. One tip that I've gotten from multiple sources is to save your cardboard and burn it all one day a week. This is free heat and burns the creosote out, not allowing any to build up. Has anyone else tried this method?

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It is also a really good way to start a chimney fire if there is any creosote in the chimney. Not to mention possibility overheating the stove the chemicals from the ink ect ect.

 

[ThunderMedic]

Not saying you're wrong, but I've always scribed to the idea that small, regular, controlled chimney fires are better than a large, random, uncontrolled ones.

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[bholler]

Not saying you're wrong, but I've always scribed to the idea that small, regular, controlled chimney fires are better than a large, random, uncontrolled ones.

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No chimney fire is better than a "controlled" one. A chimney fire is a chimney fire they burn hot enough to destroy you liner chimney or whatever you have. And doing it repeatedly will destroy it as well as pyrolize the wood making the danger of a house fire much greater. Proper burning techniques maintenance and good dry fuel will make it a non issue. And btw you do realize if your house did catch fire from a chimney fire you purposely started you could be charged with arson right?

 

[ThunderMedic]

With doing this weekly, there is never enough creosote built up to catch fire. Think of it like regenerating the DPF on a diesel.

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[bholler]

With doing this weekly, there is never enough creosote built up to catch fire. Think of it like regenerating the DPF on a diesel.

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That is completly wrong do you inspect the system every time? Do you measure temps the whole time to ensure you are not overheating? How often do you scan your chimney for damage? What you are describing is extremely irresponsible and dangerous.

 

[NW Pa Burner]

Not sure I would try the cardboard trick or if it would make a difference with what I saw in my liner. With the dusty nature of what i brushed out I doubt it could build up too much in that form.

Neighbor has setup in garage with flue fires constantly. If he didn't have those constant flue fires I would be scared to think what a months worth of buildup would burn like. Or that other picture posted on the site with the firemans flue.


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[ThunderMedic]

As a firefighter I've seen too many times what can happen when creosote is allowed to build up. It's a time bomb in your chimney.

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[begreen]

With doing this weekly, there is never enough creosote built up to catch fire. Think of it like regenerating the DPF on a diesel.

Not necessarily so. If one is smoldering poorly seasoned wood in the stove and the smoke feeds into a cold chimney then a fair amount of creosote can accumulate in a week. If that ignites with the next big burn it can overheat the chimney. If this is a masonry chimney and it is touching wood at some point, it is pyrolyzing the wood. The wood gets drier and closer to the flash point each time this happens. Then one day, it ignites, even though "been doing it this way for the past xx years".

It's not worth the risk. With proper burning or dry wood there is little to no creosote build up to begin with.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

You could just run a brush through chimney whenever you are worried about buildup.

 

[bholler]

As a firefighter I've seen too many times what can happen when creosote is allowed to build up. It's a time bomb in your chimney.

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And you dont think i see it as a sweep? We see the damage caused by fires all the time many of which were never reported to the fd. Many times the people didnt even know they had a fire but they can still damage the chimney making it less likely to protect the house next time. I just cant beleive a firefighter would condone purposly setting a part of your house on fire no matter how controlled you think it is. Just burn good wood correctly and clean the chimney no need to set it on fire.