Creosote fire!....

[bag of hammers]

I thought I was the only one stupid enough to do that.

lol - thanks Lumber-Jack for the chuckle. Nice to know I'm not alone. Sadly this just one of my many stupid human tricks...

 

[BrotherBart]

burn a creosote sweeping log at the very last fire. that in my experience is the only thing that dries up the tar enough so that before i start the next season i brush the chimney and most of it comes off.

Yep. For 21 years I went through a six bottle case of Anti-Creo-Sote a year in the tile lined 11x7 and the old insert. I figure not needing it now as an offset of the cost of the liner.

 

[Spinny]

as you can see i burn a (smoke dragon) my defiant. when i first started using it bh.c (before hearth.com) i was smoldering the fire and had no idea not having a window to see my fire. now i use a stove top thermometer and life is different. within 3 weeks of burning i had a massive chimney fire. but with all i know about burning and my stove and the nature of the beast i still get creosote in the chimney. mind you it is 80 % less than before but i still have buildup. it's not from my burning technique or i don't think it's my stove but it's my chimney. 8 x 12 clay flue. outside chimney and no insulation. no matter what i do i get creosote. when i burn as a updraft stove i run it at 600 stove top or 350 to 400 smokepipe. when it runs as the down draft with secondary burn the stove runs at 500 stove and smoke pipe at 325 to 350. last night it was cruising at 500 stove. look out side at the chimney and no smoke just heat waves. i start with a top down start every time time twice a day. and i still get creosote and running a brush down a chimney with a 1/16 of a inch of tar at the top and crust lower does nothing for the tar.

my point is sometimes you could be doing your best and creosote will still happen. like what was said earlier in this thread you may not have a full blown chimney fire but extended runs of no smoke and just heat will start to crust up and bake off buildup. i agree burning ultra hot for a hour once a day does nothing. nothing but clean off the connector pipe if needed. but as far as what temp does a chimney fire start that is always different. with my experience with chimney fires and i have had lots it's not how hot your running your stove it's stuffing in some cardboard or opening up the door when you have a half loaded stove and the flames go up the pipe for that quick minute that carries a spark up the chimney it attaches to the creosote and the rushing air up the chimney creates a amplifier and puff. here is where having a shut off to my secondary air pays off. if that never happens i don't have a chimney fire. but getting that stuff off the chimney is not going to happen right thru to the next burn season unless i (i don't mean to start off a big argument with what i'm about to say) burn a creosote sweeping log at the very last fire. that in my experience is the only thing that dries up the tar enough so that before i start the next season i brush the chimney and most of it comes off.

i have people around here that burn low and slow all fall winter and spring. there is so much creosote in their chimney that it is leaking out the seams of the cement block. he never sweeps his chimney and never has any chimney fires. it baffles me.

just my .02 cents worth

frank

Do you burn wood that is well seasoned? I have a stainless flue that goes up the center of my house from the basement (30 ft). I hate going out and seeing smoke but I don't know what to do about it. My house is well insulated and the heat just stays trapped so I can't run the thing wide open. My wood has only been seasoned for one year and I'm hearing talk that makes me think my wood isn't dry enough,....well...I know it could be drier. Its just a matter of what to do in the meantime while I accumulate a stockpile.... I have been hearing that if you put truly dry wood on the fire it doesn't hardly smoke at all. I don't know because I don't have any.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

have you thought about running short loads? shorter hotter fires? I dunno much about the unit you are running but if the house holds heat maybe you could burn short intense fires then let it die back to coals. beats trying to keep the flue hot with a low fire

 

[fbelec]

i got a handle on my wood 2 years ago. i was burning 1 to 2 year cut split and stacked. now i am 2 to 3 year seasoned wood. you know your wood is dry when you pick up a split and it weighs next to nothing i've got some pine splits that weigh a touch heavier than a half full beer. so it's dry. and their in the 18 to 20 inch range. i have noticed that dry wood doesn't smoke as much. dry pine is hardly any smoke.
i agree with stoveguy. if your house is warm put in a half of a load and burn it at 600 or 650 a ton less smoke and creosote. the chimney is happy, the stove is happy, and the driver of the stove can sleep better.

 

[fbelec]

Yep. For 21 years I went through a six bottle case of Anti-Creo-Sote a year in the tile lined 11x7 and the old insert. I figure not needing it now as an offset of the cost of the liner.

i have never used the spray. does it work well. have you ever used a csl? i'm trying to see if there is any difference.

 

[fbelec]

fbelec, unless I missed something it sounds like you have a handle on the situtation and know what you are doing, flue temps look good, out side non insulated chimneys are tough to deal with.
Had a friend who had an outside block chimney and he could not keep the condensation out of it, I suggested he build a insulated chase around it and the problems went away and the stove worked much better.

right now i have to live with the mason chimney. it's not to bad because of the top down starts. i think that made the biggest difference because i'm always starting a cold stove. the block chimney does take some abuse i must say. i had to rebuild the top sections 3 years ago very cheap to rebuild but hard on the back. those 12 x 20 blocks weigh a ton. it not a very tall chimney so if i have to rebuild again i might do block again because of price i just need to find some insulation for the clay liner.

 

[BrotherBart]

i have never used the spray. does it work well. have you ever used a csl? i'm trying to see if there is any difference.

Spray works to dry the stuff. Never used the csl.

 

[fbelec]

Spray works to dry the stuff. Never used the csl.

how did you use use it? it dries what?

 

[BrotherBart]

Like it says on the bottle. You spray it on the kindling fire and it dries out the we creosote in the flue. Same thing the CSL does.

 

[jatoxico]

Flame impingement is the most common cause of chimney fires. Pipe gets a coating of creosote in the connector pipe or chimney smoke chamber and flame gets to it and it is off to the races.

I did this with my old insert in the back yard a few years ago to show you what happens in the pipe when you toss those pizza boxes in the wood stove.

View attachment 119385

Hmm so you've got me thinking. I have gotten into the habit of throwing in 5-6 sheets of newspaper before I start building my fire to clear the cold air since I have had smoke back in the house once or twice. I light it and leave the door open a bit and it can really roar, but the visual you posted makes me wonder if I'm playing with fire, pun intended. Bad practice on my part?

 

[fbelec]

paper from a cold start shouldn't do anything like a chimney fire. even if you have some buildup it's from cold. now if your chimney was up to 400 degrees and you have buildup and put in crumbled paper you light that torch better known as a chimney