cleaning between the stove pipe and the cleanout

[jody]

Hey Guys,
have been donig some reading and searching, but so far havent' seen anything that helps.

background info
-was running a oil furnace
-adding a wood stove now(after I changed out my oil furnace for electric about a year ago).
-getting a SS liner put in where the old oil furnace used to run

So, the problem I have is, betwen where the stove pipe will go, and where the cleanout is, is completely clogged. It is thick yellowish and black solid mass. Doing some digging I think it might be lots of sulfur deposits with caked in soot.

I'm pretty sure this has never been cleaned(bought the house 2 years ago), in 30 years or so, because there is about 2 feet of this stuff. Using the "mirror" trick the rest of the chimney above the stove pipe seems pretty clear.

So, the question is...
-should I clean this stuff out? Not sure if the liner would have a T, then keep going to the cleanout, or just have an elbow?
-if it is a T, and I need to get rid of this stuff, any hints at getting to it? it is pretty "dense" so a normal sweep from the roof wouldn't work, and the chimney is about 1 1/2 feet in, so I would need to use something flexible. I used a screw driver and got some of it(it was plugged right to the cleanout door), but can't really reach the rest of it.

picture attached shows it a bit clearer at what I am looking at.

sorry, tried to link to photobucket, but wouldn't allow it.





Thanks,
Jody

 

[jody]

hmm..seems I might have found the answer. Guess I will need to give the installer a call to see what method they plan on doing...



BrotherBart Posted: 07 October 2008 01:29 PM [ Report ] [ Ignore ] [ # 2 ]
..
Two ways to do it. One is that you get a liner long enough to reach down to the cleanout door. Then you cut a piece of it and attach it to the bottom of the tee and then use the tee cap to cap the piece down by the cleanout door. The second way is to just install the tee and the liner and then stick a shop vac hose through the thimble into the tee and vacuum the crud out when you sweep the chimney.

I recommend method number two.

 

[begreen]

I'd be inclined to clean the crap out. The yellow substance could be sulfur which could be acidic and corrosive.

 

[jody]

Thanks. Yea, I think it is. It does seem to be corroded away abit where I did clean it out.

Would a normal (flexible?)chimeny cleaning rod normally do the trick? Is it normal to clean the chimney from the bottom up? I'm going to take a look at some of the cleaning rods to see how flexible they were, but any hints or suggestions would be appreciated.

I was thinking once I get a "path" through it(near the back), I could use a rope with with something tied on to it to get the through the stuff near the front.

Jody.

I'd be inclined to clean the crap out. The yellow substance could be sulfur which could be acidic and corrosive.