How often to cleaning the stack?

Last year was my first year of burning and I used about 8 face cords of good seasoned wood. I have a straight stack all the way up with no bends. Should I clean it this year or can I go another season? The reason I ask is because there is a guy at work that has been burning for awhile and he says he cleans his stack every 20 face cords or so....He also has a straight stack with no bends. Thoughts please...

It won't hurt you to check it out. Then you will know what it looks like after 8 face cords. That will tell you when you need to clean it.

I debated the same thing this year too. I only burned 1/2 of what I normally would burn and thought I would get away with no cleaning this summer either. However, after knowing that many of the fires I did have were more like shoulder fires, colder burning fires. When I was on the roof a few weeks ago the cap and screen had a typical amonut of soot and creosote built up. I will most likely have my sweeper come and clean. The stove did not burn extremely hot last year.

Clean it.
If it's not bad, you will have "peace of mind"
A "Better safe than sorry kinda deal". Preventative maintenance pays big dividends.

That says it all.... Why risk it.

Your buddy may have better wood, technique, and habit.... Or maybe not?

Either way, it takes a minute to check it (if you can). If you dont want to, due to other circumstances, then the price for a Sweep os still worth the "Peace of Mind". IMO

Like Dexter said, if you are able to check it yourself it won't take long at all. I recommend going to Home Depot and getting 5-6 fiberglass rods, and a cleaning brush attachment, which in total should cost you less than $50 easily. You would make up the price of a professional sweep within one time, and you can then clean it out at your leisure at whatever frequency you feel is necessary.

My stove doesn't burn the cleanest despite having seasoned wood, so I clean my chimney out a few times a burning season. Its nice having the peace of mind, and it only takes me 20 minutes from start to finish if that.

You have no idea how your flue looks based on what your friend's looks like. You could go buy his house and start burning the same wood, under the same conditions, and might need to change the cleaning intervals based on that.
If you can do it yourself, check it, then check it again in the middle of the burn season to get a feel for how it's doing. That's when you'll have peace of mind.
I check mine a couple times during the season (very easy for me) just to make sure I'm burning well, and usually end up running the brush down just because I'm already up there.
It's a very good question, and shows you're thinking about how to take care/control of things.
Good on 'ya.

Mine is very easy to clean so I do it every year. Some seasons are cleaner than others.

i didn't even bother last year but this fall i will. i have 3 flues, 3 stoves. the last time i swept them out i got a little bit of soot. not enough to fill a sandwich bag. i inspected the flues and there was no glazing, no build up. i burn seasoned wood only and burn the stoves hot at least once per day. but that's my setup. your mileage may vary.

As PapaDave said . . . just because someone has a similar set up does not mean much. His wood could be different in terms of moisture content . . . he might not be running the stove as efficiently . . . etc.

Me . . . I highly recommend folks check the chimney at least twice a year . . . a few minutes work to determine if it needs cleaning or not is so much better than having your sleep disrupted at 3 a.m. to what sounds like a Boeing 757 taking off in your chimney . . . and then having a meet-and-greet social hour with your local firefighters at 3:15 a.m.

Personally . . . I check and clean my stove monthly . . . not because I need to . . .but because it's so easy to do on my stove . . . plus in my line of work it would be really, really bad for me to have a fire in my own home as I am the City's Fire Prevention Officer.

That would be pretty embarrassing indeed!

dzych2, I clean ours in January (I clean from the bottom up) then again at the end of the year. I could clean once a year and still be okay but it puts the mind at ease knowing it is clean.

zap

Last winter was our 2nd buying season. we had 2 year dry wood. I also thought we may not have done well, due to the low temp fire cause of the weather. When the guy came to clean it, though, he said we did perfect! Just a little ash, no creosote! I do have my chimney cleaned (once a season), because I cannot/should not go up on the 2nd story roof because of my bad knees & lack of a proper ladder.

There are no hard and fast rules for how often to clean the chimney. With new wood burners I always recommend checking it monthly and clean as necessary. Others can go longer if they burn good fuel and have good burning habits.

Just to show how things can vary, on our last stove, we cleaned the chimney usually 4 times per winter and a few times even more. When we installed the Fireview, we also put up a new chimney. It exits the rear of the stove, goes through the wall into a tee, then up the side of the house. It is shorter than recommended and we do not have a chase. Yet, in the five winters we've burned this stove (our only heating source), we have cleaned our chimney exactly one time. It is still clean.

The rule of thumb says to clean it annually, but that is just a guideline. Check the chimney. If it needs cleaning, then clean it. If not, be thankful.

I clean once a year in summer, during shut down.
Our summer has been crap, so not getting the chance!

Dude all winter long i keep a ladder ready to go and I bought the sweeps myself I get up on the roof once a month just for peace of mind. Personally I would be checking it more often than once a year, and clean it upon shut down in the spring, because that crap takes on moisture and actually swells up in the summer time. I put a plate over my pipe to keep the birds out and I disconnect the stoves. Clean the stoves out good in the spring so u going easy in the fall. I sailed merchant ships as an engineer my whole life, theres one damn thing i hate and thats being caught short, with thought, preparation and work you'll be ready for anything.

Plenty of sound advice already. I just want to add my weight to what has already been said......Clean it and check it often. There are too many variables burning wood to not keep a close eye on things.

I clean my stack around 5 times a heating season. Yes, it's overkill, but that is how I got my name in the first place! I can easily clean my 22ft flue out from bottom to top. I do it once in the fall, prior to burning (you never know if something got in that flue over the spring/summer and built a nest or something, so it don't hurt to clean/check it out), once in late December, once in late February, once in late April, and after the last fire of the season. I used to clean it once a month from November to May, but after learning my burning habits, learning how to properly season my firewood, and the characteristics of the stove, I have since cut it back to every other month of the heating season. It gives me great piece of mind that everything is fine in there, and it puts wifey's mind to rest too. My kids, wife and home mean everything to me, so the extra time to check it out and clean it is good insurance IMHO.....

That peace of mind is great. We used to clean really often as it was a necessity. Since getting the Woodstock stove, we rarely clean....but we still check on a regular basis.