Cleaning a liner on an Old Timer

[NorthEastSteve]

hello everyone,

new here so not sure if I'm posting this in the right area. Just bought a home this spring with a wood stove insert, never had wood stove insert before so I'm a bit of a rookie.....I have a few questions and will try to give you as much info as I can. I'm sorry if i don't use the right terminology. Any input is appreciated.

Not sure of exact model or # but shows "old timer" on bottom left corner. Confirmed it has a stainless steel 6 inch liner. Wood stove is on second floor as liner cant be that long. See pics.

1. Wonder what the best method for cleaning liner? I read about nylon brushes, vs wire brushes, heard wire can cause damage to liner? This true? Any suggestions?

2. There is a clean out door at the bottom of the chimney on the outside 1st floor, it was full of ash, but I think this may be from the fireplace that use to be used, before the insert was installed? Any input? I don't see anywhere in the wood stove for ash to drop out so it appears to be a sealed wood stove.

3. If there is no clean out for the wood stove insert, how often should you clean out the ash in the stove? Only when needed?

4. I've used the wood stove several times and it seems that I need to keep the damper/choke not sure right name, OPEN all the way or it will not burn very well. (ive read to keep the stove very hot will help with build up, so I always try to keep a hot stove with lot of flames). Sometimes I even have to crack the door to stove to allow more air to come in for the wood to catch and the flame to stay lit. I cut and split a dozen plus trees around march-may this year and stacked them. So there just getting to the 6 month mark of being seasoned/dry, so that could be my problem, but just curious if it could be anything else?? I also noticed that if I turn on the electric fan connected to the stove that moves heat around room, it does heat room well, but it seems to take heat away from stove making it harder to keep flame going. Is the fan taking heat away from stove or is that just in my head? My problem may very well be the wood is not seasoned enough but just want to see if there are other possible causes, since ive read that wood can be seasoned after 6-9 months, although that seems to be the minimum time and longer is better.

5. I read on a post here that you should not see very much smoke coming out of chimney only when starting and when adding wood, is this true? If so can you explain why?

 

[begreen]

Nylon brushes will be best for a liner. I would suggest having a sweep do it the first time so that you can watch and learn the technique and have a professional assessment of creosote levels before cleaning.

Based on the description the burning issue sounds like partially seasoned wood. Seasoning time depends on several factors but hardwoods like oak take a couple of years to season, after it has been split and stacked. Do you know what type of wood this is?

The importance of seasoned wood - Dry vs Wet

This is a somewhat extreme case comparing dry wood @ 16% moisture and wet wood @38%. 38% is just under dripping wet or like green wood that was split recently. Adding a second video. Short and to the point. Further thoughts: https://hearth.com/articles/chimneysweep/howetwd.htm

www.hearth.com

 

[NorthEastSteve]

begreen, thanks for the feed back.

I did have the chimney swept by a pro and I did question and watch him, but I just wanted some more opinions on brush style. When he swept chimney he mentioned there wasn't much debris likely from the old owner not using the stove much, this home was just used as a summer home by prior owner. I was also looking for a recommendation on what brush to buy? I found some online with fiberglass poles that you can link together and have a nylon brush, do you have any recommendations? I also read some tie a rope to the brush/1st pole extension incase it breaks or comes un done in chimney you can pull it back out? do you recommend this?

I'm hoping that the wood is the issue because that would be the easiest fix lol. Its tough to say on the kind of wood, I'm not an expert on wood, I know all are hard woods, believe most are oak and some I was told are red oak.

I did watch your video and the wood im using deff doesn't look like the wet wood in your video, the wood I have used will light but it seems like the flame is hard to stay lit and it just seems to be hot coals then a actual flame. Should it normally be a flame or just hot coals with little to no flame?

Do you think its okay to burn this practically seasoned wood for the year to help heat the house as stove is my primary heat source until my ductless heat pumps (mini splits) get installed. I read that if its not seasoned right you will lose about 25% of heating power. If I burn the practically seasoned wood it will likely be harder to light and burn and put more creosote in chimney, but is it still okay? I was thinking if I do continue to burn and have issues I may sweep chimney a few times throughout the year to make sure that it doesn't build up to much.

Any input on the clean out door? or when to empty ash?

Any input on smoke from chimney or amount of smoke you should see out of chimney?

Also I read that wood stove inserts last about 15-20 years, is there anyway to tell how old my stove insert is?

Thank you for your feed back appreciate it !