raybonz said:
Cal-MI said:
I used to have a tile-lined masonry chimney and a homemade steel stove. I had several chimney fires. No problem. Then I bought a can of powder and sprinkled some on the fire every week or so. It reduced the creosote to a gray powder that fell down to the bottom cleanout. No more weekly brushing required and only a tiny amount of residue to remove once a year.
But now I have a high-efficiency fireplace insert with a corrugated stainless steel chimney liner. The literature on the stove says to not use any chemical cleaner. Is this good advice? Why or why not?
The cleaner powder worked extremely well in the other stove with tile chimney.
Sounds like a recipe for disaster.. Start burning seasoned dry wood and this conversation will come to an end..
Good Luck,
Ray
The problem is that all the research and papers I have read about creosote were written years ago and apply to traditional stoves that burn on an elevated grate and do quite well with green or dry wood. I have had 37 years experience heating with such.
But now the situation has all changed. Modern high efficiency stoves do not have a grate, have restricted air input and secondary air input, and need absolutely dry wood. I have found no research on such stoves, only anecdotal tales. I have verified that they do indeed need very dry wood. But I do not have any left. The best I can do is get dead downed trees that are cured, dried of the sap and checked, but retain ground moisture. I expect a couple months indoors would dry them out. But I will not need firewood in a couple of months.
For some reason my stove appears to be losing the strength of its draft. I am loath to go on the roof right now as it is steep and deep in snow. And I have minimal life insurance.
I did remove the baffle and look up the chimney. It appeared unrestricted for the first three feet and I could not see farther than that past the slight bend. But then I was stuck, as the baffle was too heavy for one person to replace unassisted. A couple of days later I was able to get assistance in replacing the baffle.
When the snow goes off the roof, I will happily climb up there and brush the stack and obtain muscular assistance in reassembling the baffle. Meanwhile, no one appears to have an answer to the question I asked and folks talk all around it.
The literature on the stove says to not use any chemical cleaner. Will the powder damage a SS chimney liner or iron stove? (THE UNANSWERED QUESTION)