Hello,
First time here, tons of good info.
I have a Vermont Castings Resolute (1985 vintage, 2 front doors) that was in our house when we bought it 3 years ago and have used it as the primary source of heat. I've had to clean the chimney at least twice a season because of crusty creosote blocking the flue. Here is a little background info; 7" square clay lined brick chimney, single story ranch house. 6" round stove pipe into flue, mix of hardwood split 1-2 years ago in covered 3 shed (open on one end). I have a thermometer on the stove pipe (so I can see it from the couch) maybe 12" up from the griddle and average 400°. I always run with damper open as it seems to run too cold with it closed. I put the thermometer on the griddle top last night and it was a good healthy temperature, slightly higher than the stove pipe.
A few nights ago I was running in fire place mode (doors open) and all of a sudden I started to get that smokey smell and you can feel the heat coming out of the doors rather than up the flue. I shut the door and let it burn down. The next night I went up on the roof and the flue was almost totally blocked with light crusty creosote about 2 feet up from the thimble. I just cleaned it in the beginning of this season and it has only had light use so far... what is going on? It seems to happen all of a sudden, has done it once before but it was later in the season so I just figured it was 'time'. I had been running in fireplace mode for the past few weeks but the flue temp was good (wasn't too cold) so I figured it was fine.
My wood is well seasoned, proper flue and stove pipe size, what else could cause this? I'm wondering if the thermometer is out of whack and showing higher than it is, it looks as old as the stove. My wood consumption is good, heat output is more than enough for the 1200 square for ranch. No problems with draft when the chimney is clear.
Should I run it hotter? Is my wood not seasoned as well as I thought? I recently replaced windows but draft is good when lighting so I doubt that has anything to do with it. I also have a big cast iron crock with water on the griddle all of the time, is that sucking the heat of the exhaust gasses?
Next question: I noticed while I had the stove pipe off that the fireback (behind the damper right below the outlet) is filling with ash... do I need to clean that out? I didn't see anything in the manual under service and maintenance about that.
Thanks,
Chris
First time here, tons of good info.
I have a Vermont Castings Resolute (1985 vintage, 2 front doors) that was in our house when we bought it 3 years ago and have used it as the primary source of heat. I've had to clean the chimney at least twice a season because of crusty creosote blocking the flue. Here is a little background info; 7" square clay lined brick chimney, single story ranch house. 6" round stove pipe into flue, mix of hardwood split 1-2 years ago in covered 3 shed (open on one end). I have a thermometer on the stove pipe (so I can see it from the couch) maybe 12" up from the griddle and average 400°. I always run with damper open as it seems to run too cold with it closed. I put the thermometer on the griddle top last night and it was a good healthy temperature, slightly higher than the stove pipe.
A few nights ago I was running in fire place mode (doors open) and all of a sudden I started to get that smokey smell and you can feel the heat coming out of the doors rather than up the flue. I shut the door and let it burn down. The next night I went up on the roof and the flue was almost totally blocked with light crusty creosote about 2 feet up from the thimble. I just cleaned it in the beginning of this season and it has only had light use so far... what is going on? It seems to happen all of a sudden, has done it once before but it was later in the season so I just figured it was 'time'. I had been running in fireplace mode for the past few weeks but the flue temp was good (wasn't too cold) so I figured it was fine.
My wood is well seasoned, proper flue and stove pipe size, what else could cause this? I'm wondering if the thermometer is out of whack and showing higher than it is, it looks as old as the stove. My wood consumption is good, heat output is more than enough for the 1200 square for ranch. No problems with draft when the chimney is clear.
Should I run it hotter? Is my wood not seasoned as well as I thought? I recently replaced windows but draft is good when lighting so I doubt that has anything to do with it. I also have a big cast iron crock with water on the griddle all of the time, is that sucking the heat of the exhaust gasses?
Next question: I noticed while I had the stove pipe off that the fireback (behind the damper right below the outlet) is filling with ash... do I need to clean that out? I didn't see anything in the manual under service and maintenance about that.
Thanks,
Chris