Buildup in chimney??

[mjstef]

Flame Monaco ZC fireplace. These are pics after burning 1 face cord of oak @ <10% and Maple around 20% in the last 2 weeks. My concern is their is no way to access the roof in the winter to clean the chimney. Unit seems to be burning properly with nice rolling secondaries. Chimney is 18' tall. Any suggestions???

 

[begreen]

Looks like too cool running. That can be common in milder weather. How is the wood moisture being checked? Have you placed a 2" stove thermometer on the stove body yet?

 

[mjstef]

Looks like too cool running. That can be common in milder weather. How is the wood moisture being checked? Have you placed a 2" stove thermometer on the stove body yet?

Still using my laser heat gun. Nobody sells anything smaller than 2 1/2" Called a half dozen places and searched all over online. The mag mount is not accurate i'm sure but it is my only point of reference other than the laser gun.

 

[begreen]

I have picked up and given a few SBI thermometers to friends. Pretty sure they are around 2". Tel-tru makes 2" too, but fretting between 2 and 2.5" is not worth it.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/thermometer.140214/#post-1885688
https://www.teltru.com/p-496.aspx?searchEngineName=dual-magnet-thermometer-dm

 

[blacktail]

Looks like you have access to clean from the bottom.

 

[kennyp2339]

Bottom up cleaning is a great idea, also it was hard to tell but the one pic looks like the cap, if theres a screen on the cap you may want to remove it because that can get clogged up and it would be hard for a brush to clean it out from the ground, maybe a soot eater is on order for this application. As BG suggested the best bet is to burn hotter, hopefully things improve as it gets colder out

 

[mjstef]

Begreen,

I would need something 1 3/4 or smaller. The flange across the top allows air behind making temps off 100* plus or minus. The area on either end would fit a 2.5" but is outside of the envelope of the firebox. Check these photos out for a better understanding......

 

[SuperJ]

I'm pretty sure that those magnetic thermometers are calibrated for their intended usage scenario. This means that they won't indicated correctly in other scenarios, like if you stick them in the oven (probably read high since it assumes part of the thermometer is in the room not saturated with the same temperature). I think the opposite is true to where your thermometer might be fooled by reading off the small metallic surface area or the radiant heat coming thru the glass.

 

[begreen]

Visually, it looks like the fireplace is being run a bit cool. Not sure why. Maybe too small fires, maybe not perfectly seasoned wood? You'll know better with the first chimney cleaning. Have a professional sweep do it while you are there and request a full report

 

[Sconnie Burner]

Not to be negative but I don't think oak would ever get down to 10% or less. Im guessing that its 20% or more in the middle. Split a larger split in half and check the fresh split face.
And my guess is if your not splitting the maple either it will be close to 30% or more in the middle. I've been wrong before but my guess is these are surface readings.

 

[mjstef]

Not to be negative but I don't think oak would ever get down to 10% or less. Im guessing that its 20% or more in the middle. Split a larger split in half and check the fresh split face.
And my guess is if your not splitting the maple either it will be close to 30% or more in the middle. I've been wrong before but my guess is these are surface readings.

The oak i have has been in a pole barn for 3 years and is 6" or smaller splits. I split a few in half and was getting mostly under 10%. The split maple is 1 year old and running in the low to mid 20's....

 

[Squisher]

see if you can get access to another moisture meter to confirm. Readings need to be taken at room temperature on a freshly exposed face.

Low twenties maybe ok? Mid twenties=to wet IMO.

shiny, and liquidy creosote comes from either burning to cool or wet wood and often a combination of both.

You can't be doing everything right and getting buildup like that on your cap. Something is off.

 

[BIGChrisNH]

I burned a lot in milder temps last year and had more build up than ever before when I swept the chimney. I probably burned 4 cords and had a good amount of goo at the very top of the chimney (about 35 feet of chimney total). I also burned plenty that was mid twenties moisture content so I can attest to the truth of what squisher says above. If you don't have access to the roof it's probably worth looking into a soot eater if that will work with your set up. Soot eater will not work with my set up unfortunately, so I just sweep twice a year.

 

[mjstef]

I burned a lot in milder temps last year and had more build up than ever before when I swept the chimney. I probably burned 4 cords and had a good amount of goo at the very top of the chimney (about 35 feet of chimney total). I also burned plenty that was mid twenties moisture content so I can attest to the truth of what squisher says above. If you don't have access to the roof it's probably worth looking into a soot eater if that will work with your set up. Soot eater will not work with my set up unfortunately, so I just sweep twice a year.

How well does the Sooteater work? Read a few reviews and on stated that an extension broke off in the chimney and he had to go on the roof to recover it......

 

[Doc C]

I don't know why everyone says it's just not possible to get moisture readings as low as some people get?

Every area of the country is different. Every type of wood is different.

I know how to read a moisture meter and own 2 of them. I can consistently get readings below 10%.

People tell me it's not possible but it happens.....regularly...and that wood becomes my I need heat in a hurry wood! I have a whole rack that is dedicated to that situation.

Granted my lower numbers are usually on pine and fir.

Now I will jump on the moisture meter problem bandwagon....or is it off the bandwagon? I can never remember.

I agree that if there is buildup of creosote then something is off and definately worth verifying the moistute meter is being used correctly.

I find if I press the probes into the wood I get a lot different reading then if I jab the probes into the wood real good. Just something to try next time you check your moisture.

 

[Squisher]

I think people are skeptical of readings less than 10% because the goal is to get under 20%. Like 15-20%.

It is hard to dry wood less than 10% and easy to not get accurate readings from a moisture meter so I think that's why people 'jump' on the accuracy of such low readings.

 

[BIGChrisNH]

mjstef I did not have any luck with the soot eater unfortunately. I think it would work well if you didn't have to bend it at angles, and if you had the luxury of stove pipe that you could disconnect that just went straight up. You could also use it for top down cleaning i suppose but I got the darn thing to prevent having to go up on the roof, never mind going up on the roof with even more stuff than I usually do. For me, I open the clean out which is behind my stove, then bend the rods and begin shoving the brush head up the flue bit by bit. But, I get to a point where it just won't go anymore, probably about 6 to 8 feet up. So, I ended up inventing some new curse words and literally throwing it in the woods. For others, it probably works just fine, depends on your set up.