Silver Creosote Flakes....HUH?? (picture)

[BurnIt13]

Weird one here. I just finished cleaning out my chimney using the soot eater. Saw something new today.

I have an Englander 30 and 23ft of double wall Selkirk pipe (17ft of stainless chimney pipe and 6ft of double wall stovepipe.

Thanks to you guys I know burn only dry wood, well as dry as I can get it anyways. Usually oak and maple in the high teens. I tend to burn on the hotter side to avoid creosote buildup and do my best to make sure there is no visible smoke coming out the chimney.

I go through about 3ish cords of wood a year give or take. I clean my chimney about 2-3 times per year for piece of mind. I usually get about 1-2 cups of soot with each cleaning.

So here we are. I just cleaned the chimney for the first time this year. The last time I cleaned it was January/February earlier this year. I'd say between this shoulder season and the second half of last season I've burnt 2 cords of wood since the last cleaning. I ended up with about 2-2.5 cups of soft dry brown soot.

So I'm done cleaning and examine my pile of soot and something catches my eye.....SHINY FLAKES What the heck! I thought I improved my techniques! It actually looks like metal! Not shiny black flakes....but shiny SILVER FLAKES At first I started freaking out that metal flakes were metal coming off of the inside of my chimney but I don't think that is the case. They are extremely fragile and turn to dust when handled. They are very small. None larger than an 1/8 of an inch or so in diameter.

Any idea??? Just regular creosote that was flaky and had a reflective type of surface? For what its worth....I bought some Rutland "Creosote Kwik-Shots" on clearance and have burned about 8 of them with some hot fires during the shoulder season. I figure it would dry any nasty stuff up if there was anything in there before I scrubbed it. Could this have any effect?

Am I out of my mind?

 

[Sprinter]

At first I read that it was black shiny flakes that would have been early stage 2 creosote, but not much of it. I don't know what shiny silver flakes would be!

OTOH, maybe it is little flakes of creosote that just look silvery because they're so small.

 

[BurnIt13]

I'm hoping it was just due to the 8 or so "creosote remover" kwik shots I've burnt this shoulder season. Either way....burnt decent load of pine + oak last night and got about 8 hours out of it. Seems to be burning fine.

 

[Jags]

I am thinking the kwik shots might have something to do with this.

ETA - are you harvesting your wood from very sandy locations? Could it be silica?

 

[Slow1]

Why are you burning those "kwik shots" anyway? With dry wood and proper burning that seems like a waste of money at a minimum and who knows what you are doing to the air quality... (I do wonder what these things put in the air...).

 

[BurnIt13]

Why are you burning those "kwik shots" anyway? With dry wood and proper burning that seems like a waste of money at a minimum and who knows what you are doing to the air quality... (I do wonder what these things put in the air...).

I bought them on clearance at the end of year last spring. It was something like $2 for a 3 pack. I consider it peace of mind. If there was some junk somewhere in the chimney...maybe these creosote things would help loosen it up or dry it out before I sweep. Can't hurt.

They do make for a nice green light show though Kind of looks like the Northern Lights when the secondaries are rolling .