Anyone use Timburn products?

[JayMac]

My chimney sweep in Vermont recommended Timburn's HomeSafe Chimney Maintenance Firewood Starter. I was pleased to see Timburn is out of Minnesota since that's kind of my home state, and of course they know wood burning there too.

I ordered the firewood starter with the Kindl-Stone in the the maintenance pack they offer, but I haven't used them yet.

I don't see anything here about the products, so I just thought I'd see if anyone has tips or lessons learned.

 

[Burnin Since 1989]

My chimney sweep in Vermont recommended Timburn's HomeSafe Chimney Maintenance Firewood Starter. I was pleased to see Timburn is out of Minnesota since that's kind of my home state, and of course they know wood burning there too.

I ordered the firewood starter with the Kindl-Stone in the the maintenance pack they offer, but I haven't used them yet.

I don't see anything here about the products, so I just thought I'd see if anyone has tips or lessons learned.

I'm not familiar with the product.

What woodstove do you have?

I've read that you need to be careful of what you burn in a catalytic stove. Basically anything other than wood and paper is not a good idea, though I've used those creosote burning logs in my old Haughs non-cat stove with no issues. (and other fire starting materials)

 

[JayMac]

I'm not familiar with the product.

What woodstove do you have?

I've read that you need to be careful of what you burn in a catalytic stove. Basically anything other than wood and paper is not a good idea, though I've used those creosote burning logs in my old Haughs non-cat stove with no issues. (and other fire starting materials)

I have a Kuma Ashwood. It was the same company that sold/installed it last year who did the cleaning last month. The sweep suggested the product, particularly for normal creosote buildup in the chimney critter guard. It's basically a sort of lighter fluid that is supposed to help with creosote buildup. And the company sells an optional "Kindl-Stone" that you actually soak in the fluid, then lay right on the logs and light. The label and video on the Timburn website say you don't need any other kindling.

I tried it for the first time last night. The stone lit up gently, just like the video shows. And it did start my fire with no kindling. I guess I'm going to keep using it since the sweep recommended it, and I have no reason not to trust him. (It would only be when starting from cold, which for me right now is once a week.)

I just thought I'd seek some feedback about real-world experience since I've gotten good advice out here too.

 

[Burnin Since 1989]

Agreed, if they installed your stove and now recommending a product, it's probably ok. With that said, I always check the manufacturers manual.

I have a Kuma Ashwood.

It's a non-cat stove and the manual is online and they say it's ok to use products as fire starters. I prefer pine cones. But they don't do anything for creosote.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

There should be no need for chimney cleaning products like this if burning reasonably dry wood. You’d have to mechanically sweep chimney anyway. With dry wood, you will only get some dry soot (stage 1 creosote) that need to be removed anyhow.

 

[JayMac]

There should be no need for chimney cleaning products like this if burning reasonably dry wood. You’d have to mechanically sweep chimney anyway. With dry wood, you will only get some dry soot (stage 1 creosote) that need to be removed anyhow.

I feel pretty good about our wood, and the sweep said our chimney looked perfectly normal for a year of burning. He said the critter guard just collects creosote--and what was there was totally normal too. He said we could remove the critter guard (which would have been part of the new liner kit they installed last year), but then we could get, you know, critters. We bought the house a few years ago, so I might look at inspection photos to see if the seller had a critter guard. If not, maybe we don't need one.

He also said other clients who've used this product have had good luck with their critter guards, so I thought I'd try it.