This was a dirty chimney

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bholler

Chimney sweep
Staff member
Jan 14, 2014
33,572
central pa
I am posting this to give some perspective. I see guys on here all the time who who freak out if they get a gallon of stuff their chimney. I agree that is not as good as it should be with a modern stove but here are some pics of what i took out of one chimney today.
1105151223a.jpg 1105151224.jpg 1105151223.jpg
Yes that is 20 gallons out of a rectangle stainless lined and insulated chimney and there was another 3 or 4 that hadn't been brought out yet
 
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Wow! They are lucky they didn't have a serious chimney fire. That's a lot of fuel. What stove do they have?
 
An efm wood boiler. And wet wood. I took almost that much out last year as well. That one was really bad but it is not uncommon to get over 5 gals out of a chimney. We also have lots that are less than a gallon though. And there were a few fires i am sure
 
The wost one i have done so far was 65 gals. They had a 12 by 12 almost plugged the entire 35 feet. The one today was only 22 feet
 
Glad I don't live around those belching chimneys.
 
Jags said:
Wow - that much in one year...and the operators are okay with that? Maybe ignorance IS bliss.
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No they are not they know it is not right but we have been trying to work with them on it but they will not change. Some people just wont change
 
It must not bother them too much if they resist changing their habits after seeing the results.

I think "You are going to have a chimney fire..." would be part of my discussion with them.
 
Jags said:
I think "You are going to have a chimney fire..." would be part of my discussion with them.
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well obviously it is some people just dont get it
 
Called getting your money's worth for a chimney sweeping.
 
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yeah they got allot more work for the same amount of money. Well not the same we did charge more but not four times which is about how much longer it took. We did tell them the price will go up each year though if things don't change. The first year was a normal sweeping price this year was almost double
 
bholler said:
No they are not they know it is not right but we have been trying to work with them on it but they will not change. Some people just wont change
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Does cleaning their chimney take a lot more time and therefore cost them a lot more? Seems like it should and that should be some incentive to clean things up.
 
My point in posting this was not to bash them it was to give some perspective. Most of us here are a little opsessive about wood burning and do it well. And we also pick apart people just starting for doing little things wrong. I just wanted to show that most people here even the ones doing things not quite right are way better than many others out there.
 
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begreen said:
Does cleaning their chimney take a lot more time and therefore cost them a lot more? Seems like it should and that should be some incentive to clean things up.
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read my previous post lol
 
mellow said:
Now that would make one heck of a bonfire.
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Yeah and it would smell great to lol. There have been sweeps that have tried to come up with ways to burn creosote for heat but i have yet to see a successful stove
 
Odd they are conscientious enough to call for routine cleaning but not enough to feed more air or burn better fuel.
 
jatoxico said:
Odd they are conscientious enough to call for routine cleaning but not enough to feed more air or burn better fuel.
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It is not that they are conscientious it is that they have learned that if they try to go more than a year it plugs up and they cant burn. And the way it is now they cant clean it. Hell we cant even get it completely clean.
 
bholler said:
It is not that they are conscientious it is that they have learned that if they try to go more than a year it plugs up and they cant burn. And the way it is now they cant clean it. Hell we cant even get it completely clean.
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I originally was going to ask if they were waiting till the system was giving them trouble before they called. There's my ans.
 
jatoxico said:
I originally was going to ask if they were waiting till the system was giving them trouble before they called. There's my ans.
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That was what happened the first time we were called out after putting in the liner but now they call every year
 
It's them danged insulated liners that do it. ;hm
 
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Well I won't ever worry about my creosote again. The first time I did it I don't think the pipe had been swept in ten years and it was loose. Got a lot and made a huge mess. My technique has gotten much better and way less to make a mess with
 
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