This is carried over from another thread, since I don't want to further hijack that thread....
[quote author="webby3650" date="1262043305"]Have you had your flue inspected? If you found "puffy" creosote there is a good chance you have some busted tiles in there. There are some exceptions but if I find one I find the other.[/quote]
Good question.
I was cleaning out my stove yesterday since it was too warm to need the stove. The stove was nice and white inside after a long slow burn the night before. Everything looked good, but I decided to try to get a look up the flue while I was at it. A mirror and light showed bright, clean metal all the way up to the elbow, but I couldn't see beyond that. I tried to get a look from the clean out door (lined masonry chimney). I couldn't get a good angle since the door is right behind the stove, so I figured it looked good enough for now. When I went to take the mirror out, I came up with some pieces of puffy creosote. Turns out the whole bottom trap was filled level with the bottom of the clean out door.
The landlord has a sweep clean the chimney once a year (usually in late fall). We've been here for almost 20 years and, as far as I know, the previous tenants didn't use this flue. Therefore, it must have been me, but at what point? I'm sure I made some bad mistakes with all this way back when, and I used to get yelled at by the sweep for burning wet wood at low temps.
The sweep (same one has serviced this chimney since I moved here) never mentioned anything amiss when he came this year. I work in the home, so I am always here to ask nosey questions and the guy said everything seemed fine. Before I installed the new stove I looked up with a light and mirror and felt around. The tiles looked fine at the lower end. I assume a chimney fire would cause most of its damage higher up.
There was no evidence of any broken tiles at the take out door. This would lead me to believe that any damage is not extensive. I also assume that these guys know their stuff. They just repaired the outer brick on the external portion of the chimney since it was starting to erode. Seems they would have mentioned any damage to the landlord since it would have, at the very least, put money into their pockets.
Your comments have me concerned. Is it possible to have a major chimney fire and not realize it? I've heard some tinkling in the flue pipe when I first got the stove, but I've been running it hot as hell since then... mostly good dry wood (2-3 year old stuff that came with the stove when I bought it). I was told that the VC Vigilant had a reputation as a major creosote factory, but that it was mostly because folks ran it way too cold because it was often installed in rooms too small. My basement install lets me run it quite high since that has been the secret in getting the whole house toasty.
I have run maybe a good cord of wood through this setup since mid-November. I used to run 4-5 cord through the same flue with my old stove and haven't had a big creosote problem since the early days of ignorance and sizzling red oak. I feel that I am doing everything possible to run this new beast properly. I would be both shocked and dismayed to find I have a problem since it seems to run so well compared to the old stove. Maybe the puff is from an earlier time and the sweep didn't get down below the door level and into the trap (seems to have been "leveled off" right at the bottom of the door). Or the guy cleans out the gunk and is not competent to make a good inspection (which doesn't seem likely since they design and build entire chimneys).
I will be calling another sweep and paying out of my own pocket for an extra cleaning, but I am concerned right now. Any advice will be appreciated.
[quote author="webby3650" date="1262043305"]Have you had your flue inspected? If you found "puffy" creosote there is a good chance you have some busted tiles in there. There are some exceptions but if I find one I find the other.[/quote]
Good question.
I was cleaning out my stove yesterday since it was too warm to need the stove. The stove was nice and white inside after a long slow burn the night before. Everything looked good, but I decided to try to get a look up the flue while I was at it. A mirror and light showed bright, clean metal all the way up to the elbow, but I couldn't see beyond that. I tried to get a look from the clean out door (lined masonry chimney). I couldn't get a good angle since the door is right behind the stove, so I figured it looked good enough for now. When I went to take the mirror out, I came up with some pieces of puffy creosote. Turns out the whole bottom trap was filled level with the bottom of the clean out door.
The landlord has a sweep clean the chimney once a year (usually in late fall). We've been here for almost 20 years and, as far as I know, the previous tenants didn't use this flue. Therefore, it must have been me, but at what point? I'm sure I made some bad mistakes with all this way back when, and I used to get yelled at by the sweep for burning wet wood at low temps.
The sweep (same one has serviced this chimney since I moved here) never mentioned anything amiss when he came this year. I work in the home, so I am always here to ask nosey questions and the guy said everything seemed fine. Before I installed the new stove I looked up with a light and mirror and felt around. The tiles looked fine at the lower end. I assume a chimney fire would cause most of its damage higher up.
There was no evidence of any broken tiles at the take out door. This would lead me to believe that any damage is not extensive. I also assume that these guys know their stuff. They just repaired the outer brick on the external portion of the chimney since it was starting to erode. Seems they would have mentioned any damage to the landlord since it would have, at the very least, put money into their pockets.
Your comments have me concerned. Is it possible to have a major chimney fire and not realize it? I've heard some tinkling in the flue pipe when I first got the stove, but I've been running it hot as hell since then... mostly good dry wood (2-3 year old stuff that came with the stove when I bought it). I was told that the VC Vigilant had a reputation as a major creosote factory, but that it was mostly because folks ran it way too cold because it was often installed in rooms too small. My basement install lets me run it quite high since that has been the secret in getting the whole house toasty.
I have run maybe a good cord of wood through this setup since mid-November. I used to run 4-5 cord through the same flue with my old stove and haven't had a big creosote problem since the early days of ignorance and sizzling red oak. I feel that I am doing everything possible to run this new beast properly. I would be both shocked and dismayed to find I have a problem since it seems to run so well compared to the old stove. Maybe the puff is from an earlier time and the sweep didn't get down below the door level and into the trap (seems to have been "leveled off" right at the bottom of the door). Or the guy cleans out the gunk and is not competent to make a good inspection (which doesn't seem likely since they design and build entire chimneys).
I will be calling another sweep and paying out of my own pocket for an extra cleaning, but I am concerned right now. Any advice will be appreciated.