Cleaning my pipes?

[crausch]

This is my first year burning so my question is for the end of the burning season. After reading some posts and seeing some various photos of stove exhausts, I might be a little confused about what to expect in my vent pipe at the end of the year when I go to clean it? I have seen pictures with some heavy ash soot and heard mention of creosote. When I bought my stove, my ignorance led me to believe that pellet stove emissions would be very clean.

When I got my pellet stove, I gave my son all my wood stove tools (shovel, poker, tongs, etc.) and my 6 and 8" chimney brush along with thirty foot of rod. I have to laugh because I now have on order a cute little 3" round brush x 20' cable that all coils up into a small pack. My thought was I would just run this through the vent pipe a couple times. Hopefully requiring very little effort.

Is this all I need to do or will the cleaning be more intense?

 

[Xena]

Going into year #4 and over 10 tons later I've never seen
a drop of creosote in the pipes. I run the brush all the way
up (15+ ft) and down a few times until no more ash falls,
then I vac it up and I"m done.

 

[crausch]

That is what I was expecting. I guess some of these pictures I've seen are just from some gross neglect.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Fly ash is the biggest problem. Just keep an eye on it.

Eric

 

[crausch]

Ok, thanks for the responses. I feel much better about what to expect come cleaning time. I just checked FedEx and my cleaning brush is being delivered today from NorthlineExpress.com, so I should be all set to go at cleaning time.