1st Time DIY Chimney Cleaning.....

[kbrown]

Well, I thought I would share with the world pictures of my first time chimney cleaning of our wood insert after using it for half of the season last year. Now, let me start by being very open about saying that we really had no clue as to the correct way to be burning in a wood stove and knew by the looks of our chimney cap as the season progressed that we were a creosote factory. So, on Sunday I climbed up and began the task of cleaning since after reading posts here that this was something that I figured I could do. The equipment used was a 6" brush with 4 - 4'flex poles, some wire brushes, shop vac, & scraper.

The chimney cap was unbelievable. It was at least 80% blocked by buildup and looked like the bottom of an oven after baking a pie as there was dried creosote that had driped down the edges of the cap. Once that was removed and taken apart, it cleaned up very easily with a wire brush. Then on to the flex liner. We have about a 15' exterior wall chimney run with the only bend being as it passed through the damper area and into the insert. Once again, no problem as the brush slipped easily down; I put a small chain on the end so I could then pull it down the last 1/2 foot through the insert. I would estimate that I scooped out about a gallon of crispy black flakes that came from the liner as well as a bunch that had built up on top of the secondary burn tube just below the vent. There is a picture of that if you look close enough, it looks like a round 2" tall round "patty". BTW, the pictures show the top of the insert after removing the two refectory panels and the burn tube cover. The top looked like it had large pieces of "scales" hanging from the top and sides. I scraped all those off and cleaned it up with a brass wire brush. While there, I also addressed a problem that I had posted numerous times about regarding a problem with the front bricks and a bad glass wash system. Just as many of you suggested, the installers had put the wrong bricks in the back and front edge; they had reversed them. Once I corrected that it looked much better and think the glass wash will work much better this season.

For the first time of doing this, I would say that it's very simple to do. What I am wondering is if the amount of creosote I removed would be considered normal or not. Both pics are the before shots. I will post another showing it with the correct bricks installed on the back top row.

 

[kbrown]

Here is a picture with the correct bricks along the top in back. Those two bricks have a cut out in order to fit around the burn tube. I am so much more educated from this site and this year I am checking the wood with my moisture meter as well as making sure we do a better job of managing the damper. Last year we had pretty dry oak and some ash from a standing dead tree, but I think we were too quick to close down the damper on the fires and therefore produced more heavy smoke that was our creosote issue. We had our first burn of the season this morning and the wife said she left the damper wide open for the first hour then slowly closed it down over the next hour. With only 4 medium splits of ash in it, it got toasty warm she said...82F from a beginning house of 66F. Fire was done in about 4-5 hours.

Edit: This is also my after cleaning shot. I think I did ok...you can see part of a shiny liner and the inside had been scraped clean. I am taking all honest comments on this as I certainly want to make sure that I am doing it correctly and it's safe.

 

[budman]

Nice job on the clean up ,but i would say that was quite a bit of curd to have for
only half of the season.But as you have stated this was your first year burning.

 

[Highbeam]

Even if you master the burning of your stove, you can still expect that cap screen to plug up and cause a diminished draft. You must either frequently check and clean it or remove it. I removed mine. Your 80% clogged cap was greatly reducing your draft and the cleaning would have been very noticable.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

heatit, let's just say it is a good thing you got that thing cleaned!

 

[kbrown]

heatit, let's just say it is a good thing you got that thing cleaned!

Thanks. I felt the same way; damn lucky that it didn't light up on us. So what would be the suggested interval on when to clean it? I've heard some talk about every month, but in the dead of winter there is no way I am walking up on the roof.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

It depends upon the wood and how long one has been burning. I usually say new burners should check monthly. We've been burning for a couple of years now and still check our chimney about 3 times a year.

 

[firefighterjake]

heatit, let's just say it is a good thing you got that thing cleaned!

Thanks. I felt the same way; damn lucky that it didn't light up on us. So what would be the suggested interval on when to clean it? I've heard some talk about every month, but in the dead of winter there is no way I am walking up on the roof.

I agree with Backwoods . . . it's a good idea to check monthly (especially if you're a new burner) . . . and in my case, since I can clean from the bottom and it only takes 5 minutes or so, I routinely run the brush up through the chimney . . . then again I am the anal retentive better-safe-than-sorry sort of person.

 

[quads]

It looks like it was ready for a good cleaning. You should probably at least check it once a month and clean if it looks bad. First thing I'd do is get that cap off of there and leave it off at least during the heating season, as bad as that thing was plugged.

 

[Greg123]

heatit, let's just say it is a good thing you got that thing cleaned!

Thanks. I felt the same way; damn lucky that it didn't light up on us. So what would be the suggested interval on when to clean it? I've heard some talk about every month, but in the dead of winter there is no way I am walking up on the roof.

I agree with Backwoods . . . it's a good idea to check monthly (especially if you're a new burner) . . . and in my case, since I can clean from the bottom and it only takes 5 minutes or so, I routinely run the brush up through the chimney . . . then again I am the anal retentive better-safe-than-sorry sort of person.

I have an external Stainless chimney with a tee clean out at the bottom. I’m going to clean my chimney out monthly because like firefighterjake I’m anal retentive better-safe-than-sorry sort of person. It only takes a few minutes to run the brush up and get everything cleaned out. Question I have is should the my double wall pipe coming up from the stove be cleaned just as often?. Just curious what others do that clean there chimney's Frequently.

 

[firefighterjake]

heatit, let's just say it is a good thing you got that thing cleaned!

Thanks. I felt the same way; damn lucky that it didn't light up on us. So what would be the suggested interval on when to clean it? I've heard some talk about every month, but in the dead of winter there is no way I am walking up on the roof.

I agree with Backwoods . . . it's a good idea to check monthly (especially if you're a new burner) . . . and in my case, since I can clean from the bottom and it only takes 5 minutes or so, I routinely run the brush up through the chimney . . . then again I am the anal retentive better-safe-than-sorry sort of person.

I have an external Stainless chimney with a tee clean out at the bottom. I’m going to clean my chimney out monthly because like firefighterjake I’m anal retentive better-safe-than-sorry sort of person. It only takes a few minutes to run the brush up and get everything cleaned out. Question I have is should the my double wall pipe coming up from the stove be cleaned just as often?. Just curious what others do that clean there chimney's Frequently.

Answer: Only if you have OCD . . . Quite honestly, if you're burning good seasoned wood and burning correctly I would suspect that an annual cleaning would be fine. I didn't clean my stove pipe (also double walled) until this Fall and other than a little bit of fly ash and a very small amount of creosote it was very clean. Based on this observation I will continue to do an annual cleaning on the stove pipe, but monthly checks/cleaning of the chimney.

 

[Greg123]

heatit, let's just say it is a good thing you got that thing cleaned!

Thanks. I felt the same way; damn lucky that it didn't light up on us. So what would be the suggested interval on when to clean it? I've heard some talk about every month, but in the dead of winter there is no way I am walking up on the roof.

I agree with Backwoods . . . it's a good idea to check monthly (especially if you're a new burner) . . . and in my case, since I can clean from the bottom and it only takes 5 minutes or so, I routinely run the brush up through the chimney . . . then again I am the anal retentive better-safe-than-sorry sort of person.

I have an external Stainless chimney with a tee clean out at the bottom. I’m going to clean my chimney out monthly because like firefighterjake I’m anal retentive better-safe-than-sorry sort of person. It only takes a few minutes to run the brush up and get everything cleaned out. Question I have is should the my double wall pipe coming up from the stove be cleaned just as often?. Just curious what others do that clean there chimney's Frequently.

Answer: Only if you have OCD . . . Quite honestly, if you're burning good seasoned wood and burning correctly I would suspect that an annual cleaning would be fine. I didn't clean my stove pipe (also double walled) until this Fall and other than a little bit of fly ash and a very small amount of creosote it was very clean. Based on this observation I will continue to do an annual cleaning on the stove pipe, but monthly checks/cleaning of the chimney.

Jake thanks , that's what I thought, since that would be the hottest part of the system and if your doing it right you shouldn't have much build up. But some times the OCD get's the best of me

 

[bren582]

Interesting thread guys.. I was also concerned with my first wood burning season through my 16 ft insulated liner in an external masonry chimney. I checked the cap often and saw no indication of clogging. I burned approx 3 cords over a 6 month period and just cleaned my chimney for the fist time last week. I was surprised that I only got approx 6 ounces or so of fine dust out of the liner. I burned mostly Oak, Cherry Locust and Maple. It seemed pretty well seasoned and from what I read here that makes a huge difference..

Here's a few pics taken from the top showing how well the 6 inch poly brush worked.. Pulled it through 3 times..

 

[cmonSTART]

Looks good! Honestly, I just yanked my screen out of my cap.