Is this acceptable (creo pics)

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Loco Gringo

Feeling the Heat
Jan 17, 2011
416
Western North Carolina
Been burning about a month now off and on. Mostly 2 yr old red oak thats been covered with good air flow for 2 yrs now. Burned a little poplar that was dropped last yr and I split a few months ago. It felt dry as hell. Could the poplar be the culprit? Liner is unlined btw in an external chimney. Whata yall think? Looks like too much to me. I always get a good hot 1 hr burn fire before I reduce air yet it still smokes a bit. I was thinking that since I have about a 1/2 brick worth of slack in my upper firebrick which I split on the sides, that I could seperate them in the center causing a better draft and a hotter flue temp which could reduce the build up.
 

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The stuff that is there looks like the beginings of crescote glaze
 
While there isn't a ton of creosote there, what is there looks pretty glaze-ish (bad) to me.

My suggestions:

Ditch that poplar, it too takes at least a year to dry out.

Don't burn hot for one hour, burn hot all the time. That means a stove top temp no less than 475 - 500 during the active burning phase. If that's too hot a stove for your needs then you need to shut the stove down and use another source of heat or open a window.

Pour vermiculite or perlite around that liner to help keep in some heat so it doesn't have as much of an opportunity to condense in the pipe.

Don't close the air down on your stove completely, leave it open a little bit. There should be no visible smoke from the chimney if you have it adjusted right.

Sweep that chimney to see if you can get it out to be safe. If it's unfriendly, perhaps try a creosote powder or similar.

Good luck.

pen
 
Thank you so much pen. Ive been meaning to order a gal of anti-creo soot but Ill have to resort to buying the powder from my local Ace I guess. FWIW, I do burn between 400 and 500 degrees. Ive gotta stop choking it down. I was so used to doing that with the old stove. Ill brush it tomorrow and get back to you.
 
If you want to burn low and/or sub par wood, just go get the ACS spray. Seasons over now so you have all summer to visit your local hearth shop and buy a bottle. A few sprays each morning will help maintain a cleaner chimney. I never had any luck with the powders, but ACS works great. That aside, any decent stove with a decent chimney and good wood should be able to be fired up, stoked chuck full of splits and the air shut down all the way or pert near to all the way with a mostly smokeless burn.

I said "pert near" because your from North Carolina
 
Loco Gringo said:
Thank you so much pen. Ive been meaning to order a gal of anti-creo soot but Ill have to resort to buying the powder from my local Ace I guess. FWIW, I do burn between 400 and 500 degrees. Ive gotta stop choking it down. I was so used to doing that with the old stove. Ill brush it tomorrow and get back to you.



Like Frank said grab yourself some ACS spray, we have been using it since we started burning (2 years ago) and it works great.




Zap
 
Pen I got about 1/2 a cup of glazed creo from a fast brushing. Heavy and crystal like. Franks and zap, thatnks for the imput I assure you Ill have some Anti creo soot in the near future.
 
Loco Gringo said:
Pen I got about 1/2 a cup of glazed creo from a fast brushing. Heavy and crystal like. Franks and zap, thatnks for the imput I assure you Ill have some Anti creo soot in the near future.

While the anti-creosote doesn't hurt, needing to use it is a bit like taking chemo therapy, you only do it after you have the cancer.

Just keep ahead on your wood supply by burning stuff like that well seasoned oak you have and you'll never need that anti-creosote stuff. Prevention is the key.

Thanks for sharing.

pen
 
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