Do combustable flu cleaners work?

[FisherGrandpaBearNewby]

When I purchased my home that had a wood burner, the flu was clean as it could be. They had a pack of flu cleaners behind stove so it made me wonder if they had recently cleaned before moving or were they using these regularly. Any testing been done by you veterans. Opinions?

 

[BillBurns]

I used them for a few months, but I actually think it didnt work, or even made the creosote worse. Dry wood and good user are the key. I clean my flue every month, just cause thats how I am, and it takes like 20 mins, so why not?

 

[Southwestpaburner]

When I had my smoke dragon I used rutlands brand I believe it dried up my creosote and made it easier to brush out and to this day I still use it doesn’t hurt and when I sweep I get nice fine dry powder and not a lot of it ,I sweep once before the season and right about now since most burning so far has been slow, cold snap coming I’ll sweep tomorrow or Saturday just for piece of mind

 

[vatmark]

I use the Pine Mountain creosote buster log. We are not full time burners. I do not use it as a substitute for sweeping the chimney but mainly in hopes it loosens things up to make cleaning easier. I have no idea if it actually works.

 

[MongoMongoson]

I have one little section of my stove pipe where I get a small patch of glaze. It is no bigger than my hand. It is at a cleanout T so I think the cleanout T cap leaks air. Someday I will fix that but I sweep at least twice per season so I am not too concerned.

I use the CSL (chimney sweeping log). It does NOT remove creosote, but it does a good job of converting that little patch of glaze into crispy fluffy creosote. I burn the CSL then burn normally for about a week and then sweep.

I have done the exercise of observing the glaze, then burning the CSL and a week later pulling the cap off again to inspect and see that it worked before sweeping.

After I sweep that little bit of glaze that has been converted is gone, so I am not creating a thick layer of it.

So the CSL works, but it does not eliminate the need to sweep.

 

[bholler]

Yes the chemicals do work to make creosote easier to clean but they don't actually clean the chimney. And if you have allot of buildup when that creosote expands from.the chemicals it can actually clog the chimney