Chimney sweeping and cleaning up the Oslo. Couple ? for the experts.

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Mad Tom

Member
Jan 19, 2010
244
Vermont
Installed my stove last January. Weekend and night burns for about 3 and a half months of burning in my stove between now and then. Lots of cold starts.

I have 3.5 feet of double wall coming out of the stove. A 90 out to a T then 20 feet of pipe in a chase.

Went up to sweep the pipe and was surprised how dirty it was. It was about an 1/8 inch layer of brownish dusty stuff in the pipe. Turned black when it got on me. Mostly near the top. The brush slid easier as I went farther down. Creosote or just ash dust?. found similar stuff in the back of my stove when I took it apart to clean it out. The cap had a thin layer of what I know is creosote underneath it. Shiny, crunchy stuff I scrubbed with a tooth brush. Ended up maybe having about a quart and a half come out of the main pipe. I know that my wood last year could of been drier.


Took the Oslo apart, thank god I read the manual and took the top plate screws out before I put it all together. Thin layer of grayish dust on white mat. Did some scrubbing around the inside of the stove with the toothbrush. Cleaned out good around rear exit. Vacuumed it all out.

I have been having problems getting my stove up to temp this fall. After cleaning today, the first load I had it humming at 625. Have been having troubles getting it past 450 previously.

My questions are, 1. Is that fluffy stuff in the pipe bad or real bad?.

2. When cleaning the stove, did I improve performance? I forgot to look for the entrance to the secondaries but
they seemed to burn much better today. Are they located near the stove exit?. Scrubbed in there real good.

3. I used an Imperial Poly brush In the pipes. The bristles were thick but spread out more than I thought they
would be. Is this brush any good or should I get one with more bristles?.
 
Gray fluffy is good ( as in getting rid of it). Black shiney is bad.

Less than dry wood would do what happened to your chimney last season. Hopefully, your wood is dryer (drier?) now, if it was an issue last year.


I'd check the chimney in a month or so, and see how you are doing.


I'd add your location to your profile or signature, as well as the stove/insert youare burning. It helps when people know your location.
 
I doubt cleaning your stove improved performance. I clean mine each year by taking the entire top off 'cuz it's easy! I usually have an inch or two of fly ash laying to the rear where the flue exits the stove, and maybe a half inch or more laying across the insulation blanket.

I would say your sweep job is just fine. Doesn't sound like anything wrong at all. The black stuff on your cap ain't that unusual.

My bet is you have wood that is seasoned better now and that is the reason for the improved performance. I've found that good dry wood makes a HUGE difference in the oslo performance. Stuff that's seasoned two years or more is the best!

My oslo runs real different depending on how I load it too. If I put big splits in there it takes longer to reach temp. than if I put a whole bunch of 2 or 3 inch stuff in the firebox.

Plus, outside temp's play a big part in performance too.
 
ansehnlich1 said:
I doubt cleaning your stove improved performance. I clean mine each year by taking the entire top off 'cuz it's easy! I usually have an inch or two of fly ash laying to the rear where the flue exits the stove, and maybe a half inch or more laying across the insulation blanket.

I would say your sweep job is just fine. Doesn't sound like anything wrong at all. The black stuff on your cap ain't that unusual.

My bet is you have wood that is seasoned better now and that is the reason for the improved performance. I've found that good dry wood makes a HUGE difference in the oslo performance. Stuff that's seasoned two years or more is the best!

My oslo runs real different depending on how I load it too. If I put big splits in there it takes longer to reach temp. than if I put a whole bunch of 2 or 3 inch stuff in the firebox.

Plus, outside temp's play a big part in performance too.



I was wondering why ,from say the last 3 weeks with crappy burns to today, the day I cleaned everything, there is such a difference in burn temp. Same wood, just a cleaner stove and pipe.
 
Doing The Dixie Eyed Hustle said:
Gray fluffy is good ( as in getting rid of it). Black shiney is bad.

Less than dry wood would do what happened to your chimney last season. Hopefully, your wood is dryer (drier?) now, if it was an issue last year.


I'd check the chimney in a month or so, and see how you are doing.


I'd add your location to your profile or signature, as well as the stove/insert youare burning. It helps when people know your location.



Thanks Eileen!.
 
Mad Tom said:
I was wondering why ,from say the last 3 weeks with crappy burns to today, the day I cleaned everything, there is such a difference in burn temp. Same wood, just a cleaner stove and pipe.

If you had enough stuff inside your pipe, you would slow your draft so the improved draft could explain your better burns.
 
Random thoughts . . .

I think Wendell, Eileen and Ansehnlich covered everything I would have said . . . but since I'm working on upping my post count so I can get enough tickets to win the stuffed monkey . . . .

Brown, dusty stuff in the creosote . . . don't worry about it. That isn't bad . . . I mean you don't want to let the whole chimney get chocker blocker full of the stuff since that would affect draft, but the really bad stuff is the black, shiny creosote -- that is the stuff that can catch on fire.

Scrubbing the cap and the stove with a toothbrush . . . wow . . . does your wife know you used her electric toothbrush on this job? ;) :) I can't even imagine being that detail oriented to use a toothbrush to get things that clean . . . even when I do my final thorough cleaning in the Spring.

Gray dust on the blanket . . . again . . . don't worry about it . . . I vacuum this off each Spring as part of my final cleaning . . . I don't want too much of the ash impeding the draft.

My first thought as to why you had better temps was dryer wood . . . or colder temps . . . or a combination. I suppose one could make a case that cleaning it improved the flow of the air which would improve the draft . . . but I imagine things would have to be pretty bad to make that much of a difference in the stove's performance.

To answer your questions . . . anything described as "fluffy" is always good -- fluffy pillows, fluffy beds, fluffy puppys, etc. Ash is not evil . . . creosote however is the enemy.

Performance . . . again, I suppose you could get better performance if the stove was wicked clogged with ash . . .

The poly brush should be fine . . . you're just using the brush to knock the creosote off the sides of the chimney -- you're not cleaning out the plumbing for the NY Water District. It doesn't have to be perfectly clean.
 
firefighterjake said:
Random thoughts . . .

I think Wendell, Eileen and Ansehnlich covered everything I would have said . . . but since I'm working on upping my post count so I can get enough tickets to win the stuffed monkey . . . .

Brown, dusty stuff in the creosote . . . don't worry about it. That isn't bad . . . I mean you don't want to let the whole chimney get chocker blocker full of the stuff since that would affect draft, but the really bad stuff is the black, shiny creosote -- that is the stuff that can catch on fire.

Scrubbing the cap and the stove with a toothbrush . . . wow . . . does your wife know you used her electric toothbrush on this job? ;) :) I can't even imagine being that detail oriented to use a toothbrush to get things that clean . . . even when I do my final thorough cleaning in the Spring.

Gray dust on the blanket . . . again . . . don't worry about it . . . I vacuum this off each Spring as part of my final cleaning . . . I don't want too much of the ash impeding the draft.

My first thought as to why you had better temps was dryer wood . . . or colder temps . . . or a combination. I suppose one could make a case that cleaning it improved the flow of the air which would improve the draft . . . but I imagine things would have to be pretty bad to make that much of a difference in the stove's performance.

To answer your questions . . . anything described as "fluffy" is always good -- fluffy pillows, fluffy beds, fluffy puppys, etc. Ash is not evil . . . creosote however is the enemy.

Performance . . . again, I suppose you could get better performance if the stove was wicked clogged with ash . . .

The poly brush should be fine . . . you're just using the brush to knock the creosote off the sides of the chimney -- you're not cleaning out the plumbing for the NY Water District. It doesn't have to be perfectly clean.


Thanks Jake!.
 
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