Last Years Chimney Cleaning

[thewoodlands]

I saw quads post so I thought that I would post these pictures from when I cleaned our chimney for the first time last year (our first year burning) I'll clean it again on Sunday and post those.

The first two pictures are looking up the chimney, the third is what was in the cap when I took it off (I clean from the bottom up) then the next picture is the soot on white plastic and the last is what came out of the chimney after cleaning it.


I cleaned it after burning four face cord, I also use anti creo-soot spray when burning which seems to work.


zap

 

[midwestcoast]

Similar to the stuff I saw, but I had more (3 or 4 cups) from a whole season & my cap screen & ring had a thin build-up of the harder stuff. So you push the brush up & leave it in, then take the soot out from the top? How big is that container in last pic?

 

[thewoodlands]

Similar to the stuff I saw, but I had more (3 or 4 cups) from a whole season & my cap screen & ring had a thin build-up of the harder stuff. So you push the brush up & leave it in, then take the soot out from the top? How big is that container in last pic?

The container held four pounds of sugar. I put plastic on the ground under the clean out then run the brush up and down and it just falls like snow on the plastic, most came fron the top section of the chimney.

I think the anti creo-soot spray works well, I'll find out Sunday when I clean it again after about 12-13 face cord has been burned since the last cleaning.


zap

 

[pen]

now this is evidence of good burning practices.

Well done.

pen

 

[thewoodlands]

now this is evidence of good burning practices.

Well done.

pen

Thanks pen, this site (the members) helped me out big time, it was my first year burning wood other than at my FIL & MIL camp. I'll take a picture tonight of the inside of the chimney just to see what it looks like after 12-13 face cord has been run through it and post tonight.


zap

 

[quads]

I saw quads post so I thought that I would post these pictures from when I cleaned our chimney for the first time last year (our first year burning) I'll clean it again on Sunday and post those.

The first two pictures are looking up the chimney, the third is what was in the cap when I took it off (I clean from the bottom up) then the next picture is the soot on white plastic and the last is what came out of the chimney after cleaning it.


I cleaned it after burning four face cord, I also use anti creo-soot spray when burning which seems to work.


zap

My post from 4 years ago! HAHA!

Anyway, very nice! I'm not sure my chimney looks that clean even after I clean it! Very good burning practices with a modern stove. Keep up the good work!

 

[thewoodlands]

I saw quads post so I thought that I would post these pictures from when I cleaned our chimney for the first time last year (our first year burning) I'll clean it again on Sunday and post those.

The first two pictures are looking up the chimney, the third is what was in the cap when I took it off (I clean from the bottom up) then the next picture is the soot on white plastic and the last is what came out of the chimney after cleaning it.


I cleaned it after burning four face cord, I also use anti creo-soot spray when burning which seems to work.


zap

My post from 4 years ago! HAHA!

Anyway, very nice! I'm not sure my chimney looks that clean even after I clean it! Very good burning practices with a modern stove. Keep up the good work!

Because my wood was not seasoned a full year I never closed the air down even for overnight burns last year, burned to much wood but it seemed like it worked. Quads have you been cutting?

zap

 

[quads]

Because my wood was not seasoned a full year I never closed the air down even for overnight burns last year, burned to much wood but it seemed like it worked. Quads have you been cutting?

zap

Your modern stove probably helped immensely to prevent creosote buildup, even though your wood hadn't seasoned long enough.

No, I haven't been cutting lately. I am going through withdrawals from it! I don't cut in October and November due to all the hunting seasons, because I don't want to disturb the guys that still hunt. I will be out there cutting again the Monday after Thanksgiving, you can bet on it!

 

[thewoodlands]

Because my wood was not seasoned a full year I never closed the air down even for overnight burns last year, burned to much wood but it seemed like it worked. Quads have you been cutting?

zap

Your modern stove probably helped immensely to prevent creosote buildup, even though your wood hadn't seasoned long enough.

No, I haven't been cutting lately. I am going through withdrawals from it! I don't cut in October and November due to all the hunting seasons, because I don't want to disturb the guys that still hunt. I will be out there cutting again the Monday after Thanksgiving, you can bet on it!

Quads this is just over a year ago with some nice dry cherry.

zap

 

[pen]

The fires of hell.

outstanding

pen

 

[quads]

Quads this is just over a year ago with some nice dry cherry.

zap

Very cool!

Do you know that I have never actually seen a modern stove in real life! I have only seen pictures of them here, on Hearth.com! Funny thing is, everybody around here, everybody I know actually, heats with wood. They heat their homes, garages, and sheds. But yet no one has a modern stove. My 45 year old stove is more modern than many of them! Some of my friends and family have upgraded, but when they did they bought outdoor boilers. So I have seen a few outdoor boilers, but no modern indoor stoves.

 

[thewoodlands]

The fires of hell.

outstanding

pen

That was about 700-725(stove top) and way too hot for that time of year but it was our first year burning so I had to practice!



zap

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Quads this is just over a year ago with some nice dry cherry.

zap

Very cool!

Do you know that I have never actually seen a modern stove in real life! I have only seen pictures of them here, on Hearth.com! Funny thing is, everybody around here, everybody I know actually, heats with wood. They heat their homes, garages, and sheds. But yet no one has a modern stove. My 45 year old stove is more modern than many of them! Some of my friends and family have upgraded, but when they did they bought outdoor boilers. So I have seen a few outdoor boilers, but no modern indoor stoves.

quads, the outdoor boilers sprang up all around this area a few years ago. Now not so many going in but perhaps some of the reason is because there have been lots of problems with them. Also, everyone I've spoken too says they burn a lot more wood now than they ever had in the past. Lots more. We also have a neighbor who is on his 3rd boiler as the first 2 went bad within the first 2 years.

 

[quads]

quads, the outdoor boilers sprang up all around this area a few years ago. Now not so many going in but perhaps some of the reason is because there have been lots of problems with them. Also, everyone I've spoken too says they burn a lot more wood now than they ever had in the past. Lots more. We also have a neighbor who is on his 3rd boiler as the first 2 went bad within the first 2 years.

A friend of mine heats his house, same size as mine, with a boiler. I use about 4-5 cord per year. He uses 12+. Of course, he has a more even heat throughout the house, but I like it cooler in the bedroom anyway (farthest away from the stove for me). He burns green wood, trash, and whatever else he can fit in the door. Also, if the power goes out he has no heat. Electricity makes no difference to my stove!

If my old stove makes a little creosote, so be it. Sure beats the smell of pieces of old car tires my friend mixes in with the green wood in his boiler! Don't get me wrong, I am by no means saying people with boilers burn that stuff, but he does.

 

[firefighterjake]

Quads . . . it seems to be about the same situation in my neck of the woods here in Maine . . . most folks are still using older pre-EPA stoves . . . and in fact some folks will swear that the best woodstoves going are the older "air tight" models and no matter what you tell them you can't convince them any differently.

Of course, it makes it hard to tell who is burning with an EPA stove . . . since they burn so clean and you often cannot tell if that chimney you see on a house is for the oil boiler, oil furnace, woodstove or what have you if you never see any smoke coming out of it . . . about the only way I can usually tell that someone may have a clean burning woodstove is if I see a stack of wood in their front or side yard and it is slowly disappearing as the winter progresses.

And just like you . . . a number of years ago we too saw the rush of folks going with the outdoor boilers . . . and some folks still love those things . . . I even considered one myself since the appeal of loading it once or twice a day and heating the whole house was appealing, but besides concerns with loss of power and the added expense of adding plumbing and the up front cost what really sealed the deal for me was seeing folks plow through so much wood . . . heating my house with 4-6 cords of wood sounds a lot better to me than 10-12 cords of wood . . . I mean I love working on wood, but I don't want to spend all of my time working on the wood . . . even today I see folks with these boilers throwing everything under the sun into the boilers -- stacks of pallets, green wood, unsplit wood, etc. . . . and of course they then smoke like a slumbering dragon.

 

[quads]

Quads . . . it seems to be about the same situation in my neck of the woods here in Maine . . . most folks are still using older pre-EPA stoves . . . and in fact some folks will swear that the best woodstoves going are the older "air tight" models and no matter what you tell them you can't convince them any differently.

Of course, it makes it hard to tell who is burning with an EPA stove . . . since they burn so clean and you often cannot tell if that chimney you see on a house is for the oil boiler, oil furnace, woodstove or what have you if you never see any smoke coming out of it . . . about the only way I can usually tell that someone may have a clean burning woodstove is if I see a stack of wood in their front or side yard and it is slowly disappearing as the winter progresses.

And just like you . . . a number of years ago we too saw the rush of folks going with the outdoor boilers . . . and some folks still love those things . . . I even considered one myself since the appeal of loading it once or twice a day and heating the whole house was appealing, but besides concerns with loss of power and the added expense of adding plumbing and the up front cost what really sealed the deal for me was seeing folks plow through so much wood . . . heating my house with 4-6 cords of wood sounds a lot better to me than 10-12 cords of wood . . . I mean I love working on wood, but I don't want to spend all of my time working on the wood . . . even today I see folks with these boilers throwing everything under the sun into the boilers -- stacks of pallets, green wood, unsplit wood, etc. . . . and of course they then smoke like a slumbering dragon.

At one point in time I almost bought an outdoor boiler too Jake. The biggest thing that changed my mind was the $6000 price tag. I couldn't justify the price when my old 1970s stove had been heating my house for so many years, for free. The other thing was, there is nothing better than putting my feet up by the old stove on a cold snowy night. I'd look pretty silly setting out there in the yard with my feet up on the boiler!