did I/am I about to have a chimney fire?

[hobie1canobie]

I've been burning year old oak and have been trying to burn it hotter to avoid creosote build up. I've only been burning 3 weeks, but my chimney has gone from brand new to this (see pic).

There is build up on the interior of the rain cap and part of the circular metal rim is bent a little. There is also discoloration on the exterior of the pipe itself.

Is this... normal? Or am I playing with.. err.. fire?

 

[Dustin92]

I'm no expert, but you can never be to careful. I would definitely run a brush up it, just to be on the safe side. That should give you an idea of how much is actually being deposited inside the pipe. I do know that others will chime in and tell you year-old oak is not ready. 2-3 years normally. Heck, I'm burning 2 year old elm that sizzles and hisses.

 

[Nick Mystic]

Your cap looks pretty dirty from your photo. Can you get a good look at it with some binoculars? I'm fortunate that my roof is easy to get onto and I have easy access to my chimney/rain cap. When I have any questions it just takes a few minutes to get up in the roof and check things out. If you can get to your cap I'd suggest going up top and taking a quick look to see what you're dealing with. If the cap is getting clogged up you can at least pull it off and give it a good cleaning even if you can't do a full sweep right now.

 

[Jags]

It is possible that it is a cap only problem. The cap being the coolest part. BUT the only way you will know is to inspect it and/or sweep it. It is always advisable that a new user sweep more frequently till they get a handle on what is happening (or not happening).

And to answer your question: No, I don't consider that normal. It deserves attention.

 

[bholler]

That doesn't look to good after only 3 weeks id inspect it if possible and probably clean it. Do you have a moisture meter? Because I regularly get oak to 20% in a year I know allot of guys here say it takes 2 to 3 years but I and others do it in a year regularly so it might be ok but you should check it.

 

[begreen]

If you check be sure to do this on a freshly split face of the wood and not the end grain.

 

[mepellet]

I also have similar discoloring on the outside of the chimney on the top couple feet. I was told it was normal and was due to smoke on reloads. Sometimes it seems as if it cleans up a little on its own after a rain event.

 

[bholler]

yes begreen end grain will be way drier.

 

[blazincajun]

The last chimney pipe looks like it experienced some extreme heat just below the cap.

 

[cableman]

Mine looks worse then that! But i havnt been able to get up to mine for 2 months. The discoloration just wipes rite off, its not from extreme heat.

 

[hobie1canobie]

Thanks all. I do not have a moisture reading device, but I will look into it. I am going to get up there tomorrow and inspect the cap and the rest of the chimney. Seems just stupid not to look into it.

 

[unhdsm]

Mine looks like that all the time and I never have any real creosote in there. One good rain and it looks shiny again. It's still worth checking it out but I wouldn't worry too much. Please report back about what you find.

 

[pen]

Never hurts to stay on top of things.

A coworker swept his wood furnace chimney and cleaned his connector pipes Sunday morning...... He called the fire company to his house Wed morning for a chimney fire.

Believe some leaky single wall connections and warmer temps allowing the unit to idle excessively were why he wound up in this boat.

 

[unhdsm]

Never hurts to stay on top of things.

A coworker swept his wood furnace chimney and cleaned his connector pipes Sunday morning...... He called the fire company to his house Wed morning for a chimney fire.

Believe some leaky single wall connections and warmer temps allowing the unit to idle excessively were why he wound up in this boat.

I agree it really doesn't take long when something isn't working correctly.

 

[Kevin Dolan]

That doesn't look to good after only 3 weeks id inspect it if possible and probably clean it. Do you have a moisture meter? Because I regularly get oak to 20% in a year I know allot of guys here say it takes 2 to 3 years but I and others do it in a year regularly so it might be ok but you should check it.

At one year split and stacked mine hisses and spits like a p......d of raccoon ,at 2 years it hisses and a 3 it burns beautifully.

 

[bholler]

Yeah but Ontario's climate is quite a bit different than Pennsylvania's the op is from ma so I don't know about there. I know some pa guys say they need 2 to 3 years to but that is not what I have experienced.

 

[Kevin Dolan]

Yeah but Ontario's climate is quite a bit different than Pennsylvania's the op is from ma so I don't know about there. I know some pa guys say they need 2 to 3 years to but that is not what I have experienced.

Yes I guess your climate is somewhat milder. What stove are you using?

 

[Warm_in_NH]

Looks like a Selkirk set up. My Selkirk cap came with a heavy coating of oil on it. Turned black like that within my first couple real fires, I attributed it yo the oil burning off OR the stickiness of it catching all the soot and coating itself.

My pipe also has same discoloration at the top. I've swept from the bottom twice and not much creosote either time and an overall clean looking pipe.

My neighbors is the same....

Never hurts to inspect just so you k now where you stand.

 

[bholler]

I use a cawley lemay 600 my father dries the same as me and he has a quad 3100. and yes we have moisture meters and oak tests right around 20% after about a year cut split and stacked single layer thick covered on top.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Is this... normal? Or am I playing with.. err.. fire?

I'd say that looks pretty normal for burning unseasoned wood.
Yes you are playing with fire, be careful.

 

[hobie1canobie]

I got up there today and it looked like only the cap had real build up. I took it apart and got the big stuff off. Pic is before cleaning. The dirtiest part was the top, and it is the coolest/uninsulated part of the cap. I suppose this makes sense.

The discoloration on the outside of the chimney pipe, as some of you suspected, was able to be cleaned off. You might be able to see a cleaned circle area in the pic. But it didn't come off easily, so I just left most of it. Inside the pipe it was fairly clean. It reminded me of wiping your finger on the top of the refrigerator - I could swipe a finger print but that was all. The pic actually looks dirtier than it really was because it is a blurry camera phone pic. The flue pipe was a little dirtier, but it cleaned up easily. Maybe about a 1/4 cup of soot from a 4 ft of flue pipe.

I've ordered a Sooteater and will send it up there as soon as it comes in, but I feel comfortable to burn until then.

I am using a Harman TL 300. It is supposed to be a real clean burning stove, and while wet wood is wet wood no matter the stove, once I get in in after burn mode there is no smoke coming from the chimney. Is no smoke irrelevant if I am burning at 300? Or maybe my new thermometer 12 inches up on the flue per the manual is not giving me an accurate reading?

 

[hobie1canobie]

I bought a heat sensing gun and found my thermostat seems relatively accurate. I also bought a moisture meter. The reading on the outside of the wood is 14-18%, on the inside of fresh split pieces is 20-24%.

 

[lindnova]

It is the reading on the inside on a fresh split that matters. Get ahead on your wood for next year. You may be surprised how much better wood under 20% burns.

 

[hobie1canobie]

It is the reading on the inside on a fresh split that matters. Get ahead on your wood for next year. You may be surprised how much better wood under 20% burns.

Well, the wood was split in November, but today I split the largest piece I could find and took the reading from that one. So it was a fresh split of a pre-split...

 

[1750]

Thanks for the good pics. If that was my pipe, I'd feel good to keep burning, as there didn't look like really much there to combust. (If you more experienced burners disagree... by all means, pipe up!).

Good luck!