Creosote and what dissolves it?

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salecker

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Aug 22, 2010
2,329
Northern Canada
AN older friend has an Aspen that has plugged up solid with creosote.
Any tips,or suggestions for him to clean the tubes?
Thanks
 
A piece of high tensile fence wire on a cordless drill is nice for grinding out creosote.
 
His horizontal tubes are plugged solid
 
Use the wire as E Yoder said, slide a piece of pex or copper over the wire for a handle to hold to, just a small bend in the end will clean tubes to bare metal.
 
Use the wire as E Yoder said, slide a piece of pex or copper over the wire for a handle to hold to, just a small bend in the end will clean tubes to bare metal.
Plugged soild like you can not get anything in them
 
Access to the tubes must be an issue then? Haven't seen one of those in person.

With access I would think you could start out running a drill thru it?
 
I took a small wire brush meant for a power drill, and welded it to some 3/8" rod for extra reach. It's pretty aggressive, so you have to be somewhat careful where you jam it, but it works really well dislodging creosote.