Flue pipe cleaning

[Cburke]

Hello everyone! Second seasons now with the new to me Ashford. I was curious how often is everyone cleaning their flue pipes? My old epa stove was once a season. Wood is my primary heat source so I go through quite a few chords a season. I burn well seasoned red and white oak, and run 20 minutes or so wide open per load, than settle it down to a low setting burn. times range typically 12 to 20 hours depending on temps outside, thanks for the advice!

 

[Pinesmoke]

I have always, several decades, cleaned the flue in the fall right before I start burning for the season. That way there are no surprises from critters in there from the summer.

 

[Burnin Since 1991]

Hello everyone! Second seasons now with the new to me Ashford. I was curious how often is everyone cleaning their flue pipes? My old epa stove was once a season. Wood is my primary heat source so I go through quite a few chords a season. I burn well seasoned red and white oak, and run 20 minutes or so wide open per load, than settle it down to a low setting burn. times range typically 12 to 20 hours depending on temps outside, thanks for the advice!

How many cords do you use in a season? I burn 2 per season. If I'm going to use more than 2 cords, I clean it on a nice day in January as well as the fall.

 

[Cburke]

How many cords do you use in a season? I burn 2 per season. If I'm going to use more than 2 cords, I clean it on a nice day in January as well as the fall.

On average 4-6 chords depending on how cold it is. This is my second season in a blaze king so I’d imagine I’ll be on the lower end of that average. But this has been a cold fall for pa so we’ll see what happens here.

 

[Burnin Since 1991]

It wouldn't hurt to take a look at it at some point and see how it looks. No sense cleaning if it doesn't need it.

 

[kborndale]

I clean it once a year in the fall whether it needs it or not.

 

[Murray01]

Hard question to answer. My older BK Princess was every 6-8 weeks. My new BK Princess I did a sweep after 5 weeks of shoulder season burning and only got about a cup where the older BK would have yielded 2-3 cups, the older BK had single walled stovepipe where the new install has double walled stovepipe. Burning 24/7 15% moisture content Jack Pine.

 

[stoveliker]

If you're unsure, do it after you burn one cord to have a look. If fine, do it mid season to have another check. Then end of season (and possibly at the start of the new one for hornets nests etc).
That keeps you safe and allows you to assess how often you should be cleaning the flue. (Assume the wood quality doesn't change.)

 

[BKVP]

If you have a slip joint on the stove, let the fire go out, slide up the pipe and look up the stack. I use to do that years ago but nowadays I sweep it once a year at the end of each burn season. I do it them to remove any creosote, which can harm metals if left to sit.

BKVP

 

[Cburke]

If you have a slip joint on the stove, let the fire go out, slide up the pipe and look up the stack. I use to do that years ago but nowadays I sweep it once a year at the end of each burn season. I do it them to remove any creosote, which can harm metals if left to sit.

BKVP

I do have a slip joint I’ll definitely take a look. And I was going to stick with the once a year sweeping until I was on Facebook one afternoon and saw a bunch of chimney fire posts, it got me thinking lol. Thanks!

 

[Cburke]

And I guess I should have mentioned my reason for asking in the first place is I finally got this stove dialed in to where I can get 24 hour burns on a single load on low, and the house stays comfortable as long as temps stay in the high 20’s but in the back of my head I was worried burning on low would create a lot of creosote build up. But for the most part I rarely see smoke coming out of my chimney. Only the first hour of burn on new loads do I really see anything visible. Maybe I’m just a bit paranoid.

 

[Highbeam]

And I guess I should have mentioned my reason for asking in the first place is I finally got this stove dialed in to where I can get 24 hour burns on a single load on low, and the house stays comfortable as long as temps stay in the high 20’s but in the back of my head I was worried burning on low would create a lot of creosote build up. But for the most part I rarely see smoke coming out of my chimney. Only the first hour of burn on new loads do I really see anything visible. Maybe I’m just a bit paranoid.

It looks like you have a flue temperature meter. I do as well and find it helpful for low burns which I do 95% of the time. I found that running on the ragged edge of cat stall creates very low flue temperatures that caused much faster accumulations in the chimney. So my low setting is still quite low but high enough that the internal flue gas temperature stays above 400 which corresponds with a single wall surface temperature of 200. The point is to be sure that the water in the flue gasses, always present, makes it all the way out of the cap without condensing and forming creosote.

I clean the flue once per year in the spring to reduce corrosion in the pipe system and to be ready to go come fall. It doesn't hurt to do a mor efrequent cleaning and make note of how much stuff you got out to determine if you could have made it all year. You'll always get some. Also look for the color and "dryness" of the sweepings to verify that you're burning cleanly.

 

[Tron]

and find it helpful for low burns which I do 95% of the time. I found that running on the ragged edge of cat stall creates very low flue temperatures that caused much faster accumulations in the chimney. So my low setting is still quite low but high enough that the internal flue gas temperature stays above 400

FWIW, my low burns are oftentimes at the edge of cat stall, especially near the end of the burn, and my flue temperature rarely is above 300. On the annual cleaning I get 1-2 cups of dry creosote (after 1-1.5k burn hours), so no goo or anything.

 

[Cburke]

FWIW, my low burns are oftentimes at the edge of cat stall, especially near the end of the burn, and my flue temperature rarely is above 300. On the annual cleaning I get 1-2 cups of dry creosote (after 1-1.5k burn hours), so no goo or anything.

That’s awesome pretty much exactly what I wanted to hear. I’ll be sure to let you guys know how I make out this season! I’m in love with the new stove! So easy to use got a cold blast coming up today and tomorrow, it’s so nice to load the stove once every 24 hours and have the house warm when I get home from work. I’m amazed at how consistent these stoves are!