Found some small creosote flakes. Indicative of anything?

[ashemtnman]

Howdy you'uns,

I live pretty far out in the "boonies" in a holler in NC at 3600ft and we heat half of our house with wood.

During the winter we burn almost 24/7 in our wood stove fireplace insert (The Colonial) from December Thru February and then on/off in the shoulder season months from September - November and March - May. I burned a Creosote Buster Log a couple days ago.

When walking outside today I found these small creosote chunks on the ground near the chimney. Are these chunks indicative of a chimney fire having happened at some point? Or does it simply mean the draft blew some loosened chunks out?

Appreciate any insight on this. We clean the woodstove pipe yearly and haven't seen creosote chunks outside the woodstove pipe before.

 

[MongoMongoson]

Howdy you'uns,

I live pretty far out in the "boonies" in a holler in NC at 3600ft and we heat half of our house with wood.

During the winter we burn almost 24/7 in our wood stove fireplace insert (The Colonial) from December Thru February and then on/off in the shoulder season months from September - November and March - May. I burned a Creosote Buster Log a couple days ago.

When walking outside today I found these small creosote chunks on the ground near the chimney. Are these chunks indicative of a chimney fire having happened at some point? Or does it simply mean the draft blew some loosened chunks out?

Appreciate any insight on this. We clean the woodstove pipe yearly and haven't seen creosote chunks outside the woodstove pipe before.

With my older pre-EPA stove, I would get all kinds of creosote crispies stuck to or dangling from the chimney cap. A lot of times I would find them in the cleanout at the bottom of the chimney, even though I never had that kind of accumulation in the chimney itself. I imagine in a high wind, they can end up on the roof but I can't see that from the ground.

I haven't seen these with my newer EPA stove.

Can you get a look at your cap to see if you might have some accumulation on it?

Hopefully bholler or another pro will take a look at your pic and give you their opinion.

My grandfather had a place not far from Boone. You live in some beautiful country.

 

[MR. GLO]

Howdy you'uns,

I live pretty far out in the "boonies" in a holler in NC at 3600ft and we heat half of our house with wood.

During the winter we burn almost 24/7 in our wood stove fireplace insert (The Colonial) from December Thru February and then on/off in the shoulder season months from September - November and March - May. I burned a Creosote Buster Log a couple days ago.

When walking outside today I found these small creosote chunks on the ground near the chimney. Are these chunks indicative of a chimney fire having happened at some point? Or does it simply mean the draft blew some loosened chunks out?

Appreciate any insight on this. We clean the woodstove pipe yearly and haven't seen creosote chunks outside the woodstove pipe before.

View attachment 276092

What's your cap look like?

 

[Woody Stover]

Are these chunks indicative of a chimney fire having happened at some point? Or does it simply mean the draft blew some loosened chunks out?

I would think a chimney fire happened. I would look down the chimney more often. Most of the creo will be at the top, where the chimney cools. But if you had a chimney fire, there must have been condensation of creo further down. Probably a result of an old stove that doesn't burn clean. Time to get a newer stove, either new or used. Caveat Emptor on used stoves...

 

[ashemtnman]

Can you get a look at your cap to see if you might have some accumulation on it?

Not currently. I'll have to borrow my father's extension ladder to get to the roof.

The entire roof is sheer, smooth, steep metal and inaccessible without my an extension ladder. I might could climb the ridge behind the house to get a look at it. I'll give it a try of tomorrow.

On the plus side all the metal roofing affords some protection in the event of a chimney fire...

 

[ashemtnman]

I would think a chimney fire happened. I would look down the chimney more often. Most of the creo will be at the top, where the chimney cools. But if you had a chimney fire, there must have been condensation of creo further down. Probably a result of an old stove that doesn't burn clean. Time to get a newer stove, either new or used. Caveat Emptor on used stoves...

The only thing that has me thrown for a loop is I've never seen sparks or flames bursting from the cap. Growing up everyone says that a chimney fire sounds like a jet engine and produces sparks, flames or billowing black smoke visible from the top of the chimney.

Perhaps it was a slow burn chimney fire that didn't cause a roar?

 

[Tar12]

I always clean 2-3 times per season so I can sleep at night...having said that it is very easy for me to do so and takes 10-15 minutes to do it. If you can clean from the bottom up invest in a sooteater...I went up on my metal roof a week ago and found some flakes as well and found a dirty cap... the locust I was burning fooled me with the single moisture test I took. It wasnt terrible but if I had not checked and ran it all season it would have been a chimney fire in the making.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

The chunks look pretty big. I may get a flake from my cap now and then anywhere fron a grain of rice size to no more than a pea. Your creo looks glazed.. shiny ..where it should look dull and dry looking. I'd sweep at least 1x mid season.. I bet if you sweep it now you have alot of creo come out.. the whole process is no more than 30 minutes..

 

[ashemtnman]

Got a look at the cap today. All black with creosote. Sorry for the not so great pics. I was sliding down the roof as I grabbed them.

I added some pics of how steep the roof is so folks understand how hard it is to get up there haha.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Be careful up there. Whether or not a chimney fire happened is not as important as not falling off your roof. If you can’t access it safely ( appears to be the case), I’d see if there are any chimney pros in that area that can take a look and give you their assessment. Maybe save those chunks to show them. I’m not a pro, so this is just my opinion. At minimum, you could use a sweeping now.
Firewood needs to be cut split stacked and covered for a good year. If using dense wood like oak or hickory, at least 2 yrs.

 

[MR. GLO]

The bigs logs always get ya ...they take so long to dry.

 

[shoot-straight]

I've had that before too. I get Some buildup on my cap like you. Not sure if the fragments are my cap actually lighting off or not. Wouldn't doubt it. I have jet engine draft, not unbelievable that paper or something on startup got sucked up there and lit it off. Like you I have A steep roof too!

My answer was the sooteater. Clean from bottom several times during the season. Leave some of the strings long and get enough extensions to go all the way up and knock the crap off the cap.