Thought i'd take advantage of todays warm weather to clean the chimney before the next polar blast arrives. I started burning off and on since Sept 11th. Since this is my first cleaning with this stove Im not quite sure what to think about my findings.
The chimney is only 12 ft so i figured with that short length the gases wouldnt cool enough to create much creosote. The cap was quite encrusted in a wet flaky creosote but cleaned off easy enough. The pipe itself was dirtier than i expected, similar to my smoke dragon wood furnace when i clean that.
![[Hearth.com] Cleaning the Austral](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/146/146232-44f876ff85fbea6efe58212548a2850c.jpg?hash=6bixxf0zKx "[Hearth.com] Cleaning the Austral")
![[Hearth.com] Cleaning the Austral](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/146/146233-f098bba3381c0c7e0d4e185a5ddc2d02.jpg?hash=GmZVuxmPLL "[Hearth.com] Cleaning the Austral")
a nice inch or so high pile of creosote that must have fell back down the chimney during use to pile up at the bottom of the pipe. Kind of concerns me that could pile up enough to block off air flow up the chimney if left to long. And over time how do you clean out the pieces that kind of roll away from the opening that you cant reach?
![[Hearth.com] Cleaning the Austral](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/146/146234-5a61af50e19c60c92ea2fabc98e6974b.jpg?hash=2t1zpm2ppm "[Hearth.com] Cleaning the Austral")
I also noticed some creosote chunks just laying on the roof around the chimney, im assuming it just blew off in the wind and didnt come out as part of a chimney fire?
![[Hearth.com] Cleaning the Austral](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/146/146235-9f517c831108451057692946fa69813a.jpg?hash=zVjXExkra2 "[Hearth.com] Cleaning the Austral")
all told i had about 3/4 a coffee can of dry flaky shiny creosote. Guess i expected less with such a short chimney but maybe thats normal? Woods at 15% so thats not an issue. Just don't see much difference creosote wise between the Austral and my Vogelzang wood furnace.
![[Hearth.com] Cleaning the Austral](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/146/146236-1f2b7783d129b0250ad2f8b703608c81.jpg?hash=SxhelJP3Or "[Hearth.com] Cleaning the Austral")
The chimney is only 12 ft so i figured with that short length the gases wouldnt cool enough to create much creosote. The cap was quite encrusted in a wet flaky creosote but cleaned off easy enough. The pipe itself was dirtier than i expected, similar to my smoke dragon wood furnace when i clean that.
a nice inch or so high pile of creosote that must have fell back down the chimney during use to pile up at the bottom of the pipe. Kind of concerns me that could pile up enough to block off air flow up the chimney if left to long. And over time how do you clean out the pieces that kind of roll away from the opening that you cant reach?
I also noticed some creosote chunks just laying on the roof around the chimney, im assuming it just blew off in the wind and didnt come out as part of a chimney fire?
all told i had about 3/4 a coffee can of dry flaky shiny creosote. Guess i expected less with such a short chimney but maybe thats normal? Woods at 15% so thats not an issue. Just don't see much difference creosote wise between the Austral and my Vogelzang wood furnace.
