This morning, after starting up the fire from hot coals, I noticed the sound of falling creosote, a lot of it. It concerned me as I had just loaded up and the fire was really cooking. The stove temp at that point was not very high, maybe 250, and then smoke started pouring out from who knows where... I shut down the air and the smoke quickly subsided. I let the fire burn down and then removed the wood and hot coals, and let the stove cool off. I went up the roof and swept the chimney with a brush. It had last been done in the early spring. After sweeping the stove pipe, which is about 23 feet in a strait line, I removed the flew connector from the stove, it was pretty full. I cleaned it out and put everything back together. I could not see any creosote on top of the insulation blanket, so I decided not to remove the stove's top plate. Everything seems to be ok now, although I notice that the stove temp does not seem to be getting as high as it should and I have seen no secondary burn from the tubes on top. I have had a fire going for 3 or 4 hours now, with the air open all the way, and some of my oldest, driest red oak and locust (3 years). Could I have damaged something? I am also concerned that I had so much creosote build up in such a short period of time. My wood is dry, moisture meter showed around 15% a few months ago, in the pile I have been burning since installing this new stove a couple of months ago.
I would sure love to hear some thoughts on what could be going on...
Thanks
Rob
I would sure love to hear some thoughts on what could be going on...
Thanks
Rob