Dry wood but chimney is getting dirty

[Bspring]

I have a Big Jack wood furnace and found that if I choke it back to almost no air I can get an all night burn. Even if the house is warm I will fill it up at night and give it very little air. It will smolder for a few hours until the house cools off and then the fan will kick on giving it a little air. I started this at the beginning of this season. I think this is causing my chimney to get really dirty. I clean it at the end of every season and it usually has a thin film but now it is worse than I have ever seen it. Is the smoldering the cause of the junk in my chimney?

 

[Chimney Smoke]

Absolutely. Smoldering fire = smoke and creosote

 

[brenndatomu]

Yup! I had a BJ, tough to keep a clean chimney! Best bet is to load up with large DRY, pieces for an overnight burn. A few small splits for a quick HOT fire on those warmer days. Just FYI, I quit using the combustion blower on mine, it just blasted away the wood. Just ran it like a wood stove, set the blower flapper for appropriate size fire. It takes a bit to figure out the best setting for your heat load, but you'll get it. No smoldering. Clean your chimney at least once a month.